IIRC, this is part of the OLE container architecture.  An OLE
container file is a mini-file system.  There is a "well-known"
location for the properties that you mention. I once wrote a
VSE program that would built an HTML index of a bunch of files
by extracting these properties using VSE's OLE support.  It 
seemed like a good idea before I started...

-david

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Shields [mailto:Mike_Shields at gscmobilesolutions.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 4:30 PM
> To: squeak at cs.uiuc.edu
> Subject: Win2k "Resource fork" (WAS: RE: DLL conflicts)
> 
> 
> I believe Win2k introduced the use of the extra datastreams for adding
> characteristics like Owner, Subject, Keywords, Editor, Author, etc.
> 
> As far as I can tell, the only place they can be set is when 
> right-clicking
> a file, hitting "Properties" then clicking the "Summary" tab. 
> The layout of
> the pane suggests that certain file types get additional 
> types of "forks"
> created for them, (e.g. Image data describing compression 
> type, etc.) as
> well as generic data for all types like "Description" and 
> "Origin", each
> replete with many data that can be specified. I can't seem to 
> locate where
> else it would store the data save a supplementary datastream 
> alongside the
> file. (A hidden description file of some sort would be de rigeur for
> Microsoft) This is on NTFS in 2k. 
> 
> I would have to assume the API is fleshed out in this area, 
> even if only for
> preset forks.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ned Konz [mailto:ned at bike-nomad.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2001 4:22 PM
> To: squeak at cs.uiuc.edu
> Subject: Re: DLL conflicts
> 
> 
> On Tuesday 13 March 2001 11:52, Duane Maxwell wrote:
> 
> > There's actually a lot of interesting stuff in the file 
> system we were
> > defining.  Basically, we extended Apple's dual-fork files 
> with n-fork
> > files, indexed with four-character codes (Apple's OSType).  The
> > conventional file is the 'data' fork, which is what you get 
> if you simply
> > open the file.  The libraries could be files with a 'libs' 
> fork, with
> > extended  ELF segments (in order to include fetch 
> information) indexed by
> > MD5.
> 
> Windows/NT's NTFS file system supports multiple data streams, 
> as well. 
> However, I don't know that anyone has done anything with them 
> (other than 
> storing Apple resource forks on them, of course). We had to 
> provide for them
> 
> in the design of the Microsoft Tape Format. You'd think that 
> if they were so
> 
> useful, people would use them. (I don't know whether the 
> Win32 API gives any
> 
> access to them, though; that may get in the way of widespread 
> use, since
> many 
> people don't like to use the undocumented Nt layer).
> 
> Of course, Windows still hasn't grasped the idea of "file 
> type" (as distinct
> 
> from "file extension") yet. They could use one of the forks 
> to store file 
> type, creator, etc. data (as, I believe, OS/2 did).
> 
> -- 
> Ned Konz
> currently: Stanwood, WA
> email:     ned at bike-nomad.com
> homepage:  http://bike-nomad.com
>