Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
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Earlier this week I gave a presentation at the mini'app'les Main Mac SIG on Web design solutions for Mac OS X (sort of a broad overview, but mainly aimed at beginners). After the presentation I was asked if I could give a presentation at the Mac OS X SIG on Services as I had pointed out a number of services that I use in conjunction with some apps.
So in preparation for the presentation on services I thought I'd put together this post and test it on you guys (don't you feel lucky ). I'm going to break this down into three areas: Services (in the Services menu), Input Managers and System Services (and their additional services). Philosophy of Services Services date all the way back to the very first version of NEXTSTEP. The idea was that no app should have to stand alone and some basic functions shouldn't need to be duplicated in a number of apps. What was originally envisioned was that one developer who was very good at one set of features would make an application. Then other developers who were good at other features would make other applications or services that would be shared with the first application. The user could then pick and choose what features they needed and put together the software on their system. Additionally, features that are needed in a number of applications (like spell checking) would be made part of the operating system and shared with all apps that needed those features. This meant that developers wouldn't need to reinvent the wheel to have these features as part of their application. I've written about services in NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP (here) and some of the resources NeXT bundled with NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP (here). Services These are some of the services I use in Mac OS X on my systems and a quick discription of what services they provide. DEVON Technologies ServicesInput ManagersAntiWordService- MS Word to plain text utilityDEVON Technologies Application These are services that actually modify the standard menu items for Cocoa applications. So rather than hunting through the "Services" menu for these, these are placed in the menu systems about where you would expect to find such a feature. DEVON Tech HotService- moves the "Services" menu to main menusSystem Services These are services provided by the system itself to all Cocoa applications (and in some cases, Carbon applications too). Spell Checking- This is a system wide spell checking feature available to any Cocoa app that allows you to type in text. It includes a check as you type feature and a customizable dictionary. Once a word has been added to the dictionary in one application it becomes available to all other applications that use this service. It also provide spell checking correction via a contextual menu. So, that's pretty much where I'm starting from on this. Any ideas or comments are welcome. Thanks. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: San Francisco, CA
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You could always add a bit on the Speech services. They're very fun to play around with.
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Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
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Yeah, I also realized that I forgot that "find" in Cocoa apps is a service.
See, that is why I need input! Thanks. |
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is the next Chiquita
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Thanks for light reading on services. I wondered what was up with this and now you come along with this.
Much obliged. |
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Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2004
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Quality post. The only thing I could add would be a polite shout out to Service Scrubber for cleaning up your services menu. Apps polluting your Services menu is the Mac equaviliant of Windows installers dropping shortcuts on your desktop. I freaking hate that.
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Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
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Service Scrubber looks great! It reminds me of a system preference that used to be in NEXTSTEP/OPENSTEP for doing the same thing (which Apple removed for some reason).
Thanks |
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