
Routing
An Overview of Routing
There are lots of ways for a user to route an item, but most of those actions start from the Action button. FIGURE 12.1 shows an entry on the Notepad and the choices presented to the user when the Action button is tapped.

FIGURE 12.1 : Routing an item from the Notepad.
The most common routing choices are those shown in FIGURE 12.2. These choices are in turn divided into two different types:
- Transports (the choices above the line)
- Route scripts (the choices below the line)
The items above the separator line are called transports. A transport is present in this button if it is registered with the system. This registration is determined indirectly by special viewDefs. These routing viewDefs are called routing formats. The items below the line are called route scripts and, unlike transports, are specified directly.

FIGURE 12.2 : The Action button.
When the user selects a particular transport in the Action button--for example, print--a new slip appears (see FIGURE 12.3). Within this slip is a format picker. FIGURE 12.3 shows a print format picker with three items. These are the routing formats available for this transport.

FIGURE 12.3 : A routing slip with multiple routing formats.
It is possible for a routing format to obtain additional information from the user with an auxiliary view (known as an auxForm); for example, FIGURE 12.4 shows the Memo format, which provides a Name and Subject picker to specify the Memo headings.
Thus, implementing routing involves two major tasks:
- You tell the Action button which route scripts you are offering.
- You create your routing formats and register them with the system.
Let's start with the implementation of the Action button.

FIGURE 12.4 : Using the Memo format in the Print transport.
An online version of Programming for the Newton using Macintosh, 2nd ed. ©1996, 1994, Julie McKeehan and Neil Rhodes.
Last modified: 1 DEC 1996