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There are two issues here: 1. The task bar, application, and process metaphor in Windows is not conducive to drag-and-drop onto taskbar items. Dropping onto an
by cosmotic 5y ago
There are two issues here:
1. The task bar, application, and process metaphor in Windows is not conducive to drag-and-drop onto taskbar items. Dropping onto an exe would start a process and pass the file as an argument, but doing this onto a window doesn't make sense. Does it start a new process from the file the window's existing process is based on? This would rely on that program recognizing it's already running and sending a message the other instance to open the dropped file then exit. If a program isn't document-oriented, this could be even harder to tell what to do. Theoretically windows could send a drop message to the process passing the window handle...
2. I vaguely recall a patent issue in the 2000s around this issue. At the time, lots of drag-and-drop actions resulted in explicit error messages indicating Microsoft knew what the user wanted to do but that it wasn't able to respond as the user intended. I quickly searched for the patent but could not find it.
- vxNsr 5y agoRegarding 2, we’re rapidly approaching the expiration date on any relevant patents from the early 00s. I wonder what software will look like 10 years from now when all the great ideas can be commoditized…
- ddingus 5y agoMaybe a lot better?
- saurik 5y ago> Does it start a new process from the file the window's existing process is based on? This would rely on that program recognizing it's already running and sending a message the other instance to open the dropped file then exit. You make it sound like this is somehow crazy complex behavior that no one would have implemented, but this is table stakes for a Windows application as otherwise double-clicking files that are supposed to open in your program wouldn't work.
- cosmotic 5y agoIt is crazy complex. Task bar items don't represent exe files, they represent windows spawned by process started from exe files. Excel has many different behaviors depending on how you open a file. In fact, you can get excel into a state where double clicking a file opens in a hidden instance of excel that you can never see. If you drag a file to a notepad window taskbar item, should it open in that window? should it open a new window in that process? Should it start a new process with that file? Should users have control over how that happens or should application developers? Or both? Or Microsoft? On macos, theres only ever one instance of an application open so these questions are easy answer. On windows, they arent.
- woojoo666 5y agoit's not that complex. If you drag it to the notepad icon, it opens a new process. If you drag it over the icon and then over to one of the small window previews that pop up, it sends the file to that window