modification date tracking

[Sean Ahern]

On Jan 21, 2006, at 11:52 AM, Warren Young wrote:
> Okay, let me clarify: if we say that we want OO to remember these  
> things, then they have to be saved _somewhere_.
>
> You can argue that OO shouldn't remember these things from one run  
> to the next, but I'm sure they didn't add these features for no  
> reason.  You'll be fighting against someone else's wishlist if you  
> take that tack.

I wasn't suggesting that those things should be thrown away, or saved  
to some place other than the document file itself.  I was thinking  
instead that the "modified" state of the document should not be based  
on those things.  For instance, in a Powerpoint file, I believe the  
current zoom level is saved to the file so that you have the same  
view when you reopen the file.  However, changing the zoom level does  
not mark the document as "modified," and does not require that you  
save the document before you quit Powerpoint.  (I'm not positive  
Powerpoint behaves in this manner, but the example is illustrative  
nonetheless.)

The distinction is: state which is considered part of the content of  
the document and state which is merely for the convenience of the  
document's author and not content per se.

Someone else just pointed out that, in some cases, things like  
hoisting, selection, and expansion can be considered document  
content, and not just convenience.  There's some validity to that  
argument, and I hadn't considered those cases.

-Sean

--
Sean Ahern
Oak Ridge National Laboratory