[plt-scheme] Multimedia file format questions

On Oct 1, 2004, at 7:49 PM, Don Blaheta wrote:

>   For list-related administrative tasks:
>   http://list.cs.brown.edu/mailman/listinfo/plt-scheme
>
> I teach an intro CS class that uses ProfessorJ, and I wanted to write
> some scripts to manipulate the .bjava files they handin, so I've been
> learning a lot about snips and mzscheme's OO implementation in the last
> day or two.  But I have a few questions:
>
> * Is there some way to actually load a file in the PLT multimedia file
>   format, other than calling the load-file method on something that
>   implements editor<%> ?  Is the file format actually documented
>   anywhere (all signs point to no)?  (This is less of a big deal now
>   that I know I can get text% from the command line using mred -z,
>   actually.  But I'm still curious.)

Yes, you're right: not really. Partly that's because we've not 
documented the main file format and partly that's because it's 
extensible. That is, each snip gets to decide how it writes its own 
content out.

> * I need to get at java-interactions-box%; I tried to simply
>   (require (lib "tool.ss" "profj")) but it turns out that class is
>   not actually exported.  I'm still quite new to the PLT module
>   model---is there some way to get around this?  (How does DrScheme do
>   it?)

Again, it's because DrScheme is extensible. What actually happens: 
drscheme loads too.ss from profj (after reading it's info.ss to find 
the file) and then it hooks itself into drscheme.

But, in principle, a java-interactions-box% doesn't have to be inside 
drscheme. Kathy probably just hasn't had a need to separate it out.

> * Tangentially related: is there a MIME type for the multimedia file
>   format (I presume .scm, .bjava et al would use the same MIME type)?
>   Due to forces not under my control I'm forced to serve course files
>   from an IIS server, and if IIS doesn't know the MIME type for a given
>   file extension, it plugs its ears, says "la la la", and pretends the
>   file doesn't even exist, sending a 404.  (Auggghh.)

Oh, I don't know. application/octct (or something similar) is usually 
what I use when attaching them in email.

Robby