Creating About Slips for Extensions

One of the Newton 2.x OS Q&As
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This document was exported on 7/23/97.


NEW: Creating About Slips for Extensions (4/27/97)

Q: The default behavior of tapping on an icon in the Extensions folder is to bring up a generic notification. How can I make it so that tapping on it brings up my own informational slip?

A: Here are the steps to follow if you want an Extension to display a custom slip when it is tapped:

1) Change your part to be a form/application part instead of an auto part. This is necessary so that a slip can be displayed when the icon is tapped.
2) Add a layout to your project that is just a floater with the information you want to display. Mark this layout as the main layout. A view based on this floater will open when a user taps on your part's icon.
3) Add the following code to a text file in your project. This will ensure that the icon will show up in the Extensions folder and not the Unfiled Icons folder:
SetPartFrameSlot('labels, '_extensions);

Note that form/application parts and auto parts have two important differences in the behavior of their InstallScript part method.
* The InstallScript for a form/application part only takes one argument, whereas the InstallScript of an auto part takes two arguments.
* The InstallScript of a form/application part is EnsureInternal'ed, an auto part's InstallScript is not.