Stationery Pads
System 7.0 supports stationery pads, which are special documents used as
templates. Opening a stationery pad should not open the document itself;
instead, it should open a new document with the same contents as the stationery
pad. To turn any document into a stationery pad, the user selects it, chooses
Get Info from the File menu, and clicks the Stationery pad check box in the information window. The Finder tags a document as being a stationery pad by setting the isStationery bit in the file's Finder flags field When the user opens a stationery pad from the Finder, the Finder first checks your application's 'SIZE' resource to see if your application supports
the Finder creates a new document from the template and prompts the user for a name. The Finder then starts up your application as usual, passing it the name of the new document.
If the isStationeryAware bit is set, the Finder informs your application that the user has opened a document and passes your application the name of the
stationery pad. To support stationery, your application should
• specify the isStationeryAware constant in its 'SIZE' resource
• always check the isStationery bit of a document passed to it by either
The isStationery bit alone identifies whether a document is stationery. If the isStationery bit is set for a file that the user wants to open, your application
should copy the template's contents into a new document and open the document
in an un titled window.
sfFlags field of the standard file reply record to determine whether the
always passes your application the stationery pad itself, not a copy of it,
regardless of the setting of the isStationery bit. When the user opens a
checks your application's 'SIZE' resource. If your application does not support
user that the stationery pad itself, not a copy of it, is being opened. As you can
see, the user can still easily change the template and mistakenly write over it
by choosing Save without assigning a new name. You can prevent this
unnecessary user frustration by making your application stationery-aware.
You can supply the icon to be displayed for stationery pads created from your
application's documents by using the resources described in
If you do not supply your own stationery pad icon, the Finder uses the default stationery pad icon illustrated in the first figure in Icon resources.
In your documentation, tell users to choose the Get Info command to make
stationery pads. You may also want to give examples of useful stationery pads
created with your application. For example, if your application supports text
and graphics, you may provide samples of stationery pads for business
letterheads or billing statements.