How to create a new MIME type for a Sugar activity?

[Bert Freudenberg]

On Feb 12, 2008, at 4:17 , Albert Cahalan wrote:

> On Feb 11, 2008 10:33 AM, Karl <karl.ramberg at comhem.se> wrote:
>> Albert Cahalan wrote:
>
>>> Whatever you invent, Etoys will claim it in the next release.
>>> It does not matter if Etoys has any ability to handle the data.

As mentioned earlier, please file bugs for files that Etoys cannot  
read. All the mimetypes it lists should work.

>>> I'm half serious too, as is clear to anybody who has looked at
>>> the list of MIME types claimed by Etoys and tried them.
>>> Almost none make sense. It's like some kind of land grab.
>>
>> Well, Etoys is a multimedia environment and should handle
>> most media types. For authoring active essays where you
>> combine simulation, text, pictures  etc you must be able to
>> access the media.
>
> I don't think "access the media" means that you should claim
> that you can open the file. When you list a MIME type, you're
> claiming something more than just an ability to open the file.
> You're claiming appropriateness as a default handler.
>
> I expect that you can open an image without claiming that
> Etoys is suitable for opening images. If not, then please file
> a bug for the datastore.
>
> Only the application/x-squeak-* things are appropriate.
> (maybe not even all of those, but I don't know what each
> type is for)

I did try to get clarification on the intention of the mime types  
declaration from the Sugar guys, but so far I got nothing conclusive.  
The last response was "... the etoys developers should know if it  
makes sense initiate an etoys project from a png, I have read good  
arguments on both side." (#2535) Possibly the understanding of the  
matter has improved in the last half year?

The main problem to me appears to be that it is very simple and  
discoverable to open an object from the journal, if an activity  
claims support for its mime type. OTOH, copying an entry from the  
journal to the clipboard and then testing all activities if they  
would accept the drop is rather awkward. It doesn't really rhyme with  
the Journal idea.

Would you guess that Etoys can open ZIP archives? Well, okay, by now  
every subscriber to this list knows ;) But seriously, if Etoys was  
not made the default handler for a mime type (which is not Etoys'  
fault), what harm does it do to announce its ability to open that file?

- Bert -