Extending the X Cut-and-Paste Facility

The ToolTalk Document and Media Exchange Message Set can support an extensible, open-ended translation facility. The following scenario illustrates how an extensible multimedia cut and paste facility could work:

1. Maria opens two documents that are different media types.

2. Maria selects a portion of Document A and cuts the portion using the standard X-windowing cut facility.

3. Maria then pastes the cut portion into Document B.

   a.

   Document B negotiates the transfer of the cut data with Document A.

   b.

   If Document B does not understand any of the types offered by Document A, it requests that Document A sends it a tagged media type. Document B uses the tagged media type to broadcast a ToolTalk message requesting a translation of the media type to a media type it understands.

   c.

   A registered translation utility accepts the request and returns the translated version of the media type to Document B.

   d.

   The paste of the translated data into Document B is performed.