GS/OS: Disk Dialog Enhancement Request

A school wants to "alter" the way the Apple IIGS works with 5.25-inch disks. They have "standard" Apple IIGS systems with 3.5-inch and 5.25-inch disk drives. The students use the 5.25-inch drives for their data disks and run the applications from the 3.5-inch drives.

They start up the Apple IIGS with a 3.5-inch disk, and they get the 3.5-inch disk icon and the 5.25-inch disk drive icon. If a student puts a 5.25-inch disk in the drive and double-clicks the drive icon, the system mounts the disk and shows the 5.25-inch disk icon. If the student double-clicks the disk icon before a disk is inserted, the Apple IIGS says that the disk is unreadable (there is no disk), and asks the user to "Eject" or "Continue". The students insert their disks, because they know the system can't eject something that's not there. Then, they click "Continue". The Apple IIGS then formats (erases) their data disks.

Can you change the dialog box that asks if you want to "Eject" or "Continue" to "Stop" or "Continue" (or something to that effect)? Can the drive detect that there is no disk inserted and give a different dialog box?
In GS/OS 5.0.2, you get two dialog boxes when an empty 5.25-inch drive icon is double-clicked. (This also occurs when the 5.25-inch drive contains a blank or unrecognizable disk.)

The first dialog is the one you describe with the "Eject" and "Continue" buttons. The second is a dialog asking to "Cancel" or "Initialize". This is where the user has the opportunity to stop the initialization process.

Because the first dialog is dismissed only with a mouse click, the possibility of pressing the Return key too many times is eliminated. However, the second dialog defaults to the "Initialize" button; therefore, pressing the Return key causes the disk just inserted to be erased. However, if the "Cancel" button is clicked, the initialization process is terminated. Thus, there is a two-step process to invoke the initialization operation.
Published Date: Feb 18, 2012