Routing Multiple Items

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

Routing Multiple Items (5/15/96)

Q: How can my application route multiple items at one time?

A: The target must be a "multiple item target" created with the CreateTargetCursor function.
For instance, your application could use a GetTargetInfo method like:

        func(reason)
    begin
        local t := CreateTargetCursor(kDataClassSymbol, myItemArray);
        local tv := base; // the targetView

            return {target: t, targetView: tv};
    end;


The first argument to CreateTargetCursor is used as the class of the target, which is used to determine what formats and transports are available. You must register formats on that data class symbol in your part's InstallScript function.

The item array passed to CreateTargetCursor can contain any items, including soup entries or soup entry aliases. If you include soup entry aliases, they will automatically be resolved when accessing items using the GetTargetCursor function.

Print formats that have their usesCursors slot set to nil will automatically print items on separate pages -- print formats must use the target variable to image the current item. To print multiple items, set the format usesCursors slot to true and use GetTargetCursor(target, nil) to navigate through the items.

If either the format (the usesCursors slot) or the transport (the allowsBodyCursors slot) does not support cursors, the system will automatically split the items into separate Out Box items.