Bug Fixes

• BPath::Unset() properly sets the object's InitCheck() status to B_NO_INIT.

BMimeType

• The new static StartWatching() and StopWatching() functions let you register for notifications of changes to the system-wide MIME database (the database that the FileTypes app talks to).  As the database changes, your app will receive B_META_MIME_CHANGED messages:

  Field	Type	Meaning
  "be:type"	B_STRING_TYPE	The MIME type that changed.
  "be:which"	B_INT32_TYPE	The type of change (new icon, new preferred app, new description -- see the table below).
  "be:extra_type"	B_STRING_TYPE	This and the next field report changes to the icons of a supported type. This field is the supported type itself...
  "be:large_icon"	B_BOOL_TYPE	...and this is true if the large icon changed, and false if the little icon changed.

  Here are the "be:which" candidates

  Value	Meaning
  B_ICON_CHANGED	One of the icons for the type (given by "be:type") changed.
  B_PREFERRED_APP_CHANGED	The preferred app for the type changed.
  B_ATTR_INFO_CHANGED	An "extra attribute" for the type changed.
  B_FILE_EXTENSIONS_CHANGED	The list of file extensions that are mapped to this type changed.
  B_SHORT_DESCRIPTION_CHANGED	The type's short description changed.
  B_LONG_DESCRIPTION_CHANGED	The type's long description changed.
  B_ICON_FOR_TYPE_CHANGED	One of the icons for the type given in "be:extra_type" changed.
  B_APP_HINT_CHANGED	The "app hint" for this type changed.  This only applies to type that are application signatures: The app hint is an entry_ref that points to a specific executable that should be used when an app with this signature is launched.

  Note that there are some lacunae here: For example, you're not told when a whole new type is created.  But it's a start.

BNode

• New Dup() returns a duplicate of the object's file descriptor, suitable for use in normal POSIX calls. The caller is responsible for closing the desciptor that Dup() returns.

BResources

The BResources class hasn't changed, but your attitude towards it should.  You can use a BResources object to read an application's resources (icons, signature, etc.), but you shouldn't use it to write the resources.  To set an application's resources, you should use the FileTypes application or the xres tool.

As before, you can use the BResources API to create a private database file, although you're encouraged to use attributes rather than resources for this pursuit.

BResourceStrings

The new BResourceStrings class is a convenient interface to the strings that are stored in a resource file.  Each string is represented as a BString object.

Miscellaneous

• Every root directory has a 64-bit "be:volume_id" attribute that uniquely and persistently identifies its volume.

• New get_path_for_dirent() finds the pathname to a given dirent structure.  dirents are returned by BEntryList's GetNextDirents() function.  The function is defined in kernel/fs_query.h.