Re: Snow Leopard - Lost File Extensions & Custom Icons

Chris Ridd <chrisridd@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On 2009-09-08 09:39:32 +0100, James Jolley <jrjolley@xxxxxx> said:

On 2009-09-08 09:27:32 +0100, Chris Ridd <chrisridd@xxxxxxx> said:

You may not be able to - Apple's subtly changed how files are
related
to applications in SL, but I don't know if it is considered a bug
by
Apple or not. More details at <http://db.tidbits.com/article/10537>

including some workarounds.

Interesting article, daft thing to go and do though eh? Seriously.

It does seem a little daft. We'll have to wait and see if this gets
fixed or is considered "working as designed".

It's good riddance as far as I'm concerned. I've always felt creator
codes were a millstone around the Mac's neck; why should a text file
created in BBedit always open in BBedit?

Don't get me wrong, I like application binding; I'd like to have the
option to have three text files, each of which open in a different
application when double-clicked. In fact, I do that often (specifically
with HTML files; some open in a browser, some in a text editor. it
depends what they're for).

However, the decision as to which application opens the file should be
*mine*, not some upstart pipsqueak application whining that "I made it
so it's mine and I'm keeping it".

A file of a given type should, by default, open in the default
application that handles that type. It should be possible to mark that
same file to open in another app (without changing its type) but it
should be the user that makes the choice, nothing else.

The actual file type should preferably be determined using the UTI. If
this isn't available then it should fall back on the type code. If
*that* doesn't exist it should use the file extension. And yes, that
means you can have an image file called filename.txt (you'd be able to
see the file type by its icon, however, which would be based on the
filetype).

The filetyping can gracefully degrade to lesser filesystems; the above
UTI-identified image file would be renamed to filename.txt.jpg if moved
to a filesystem that didn't understand UTIs, and conversely a filetype
coming in that could only be identified by the extension - filename.png
- or Type code - moov - could have the UTI set appropriately (you could
poke about in the file to confirm your assumptions based on the
extension).

You could even return file extensions back to where they orginated, as a
piece of metadata distinct from the filename itself. Every file on a Mac
could have an "extension" metadata associated with it (html, txt, jpg)
which represented the extension if it were actually on a lesser
filesystem. Any file moved onto another filesystem would transparently
have this "extension" value appended to its filename after a dot.

I could go on, because I'm sad and I love this subject. But I won't,
becaus I'm on an iPhone keyboard and it's too cramped for essays. All
I'll say - for now - is that the Leopard system of filetyping and
application binding is a kludgy mess caused mainly by a fudged attempt
to handle several different methods of typing and binding, and I welcome
the apparent attempts to tidy this up a bit. It still needs a shedload
of work done on it though.

Unfortunately that lot doesn't help the Larry with his problem. But the
problem *does* show that the current system leaves a lot to be desired.

-zoara-


--
email: nettid1 at fastmail dot fm
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Extra PC file extensions
    ... The,xxx extension is there to *preserve* RISC OS filetypes ... hold it there until you bring it back (or to another RISC OS ... [When going from foreign system to RISC OS] ... this becmes the filetype presented to RISC OS for the ...
    (comp.sys.acorn.networking)
  • Re: GIF
    ... >> specify which one is used when I open a file with an HTML extension. ... >> specify that I wanted to use Firefox instead of IE to open HTML files? ... >> Or Nullsoft Winamp rather than Microsoft Windows Media Player to open ... >changes color, and when you let up on the mouse button, it opens. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Running program files on XP with non-executable extension?
    ... >> Will start up word and load a document regardless of file ... >> Renaming it to book.xyz still opens it. ... > have unregistered extensions default to give the ... > the associations by extension kept to a minimum. ...
    (comp.security.misc)
  • Re: Running program files on XP with non-executable extension?
    ... >> Will start up word and load a document regardless of file ... >> Renaming it to book.xyz still opens it. ... > have unregistered extensions default to give the ... > the associations by extension kept to a minimum. ...
    (alt.computer.security)
  • Re: uIEC update (pricing info)
    ... If extension-hiding is enabled, such files will be stripped of the relevant extension and the filetype will reflect the type accordingly. ... It will read and write files inside D64 images ... For any file it cannot recognize via P00 header or extension, it will display the PETSCII-compliant name and the filetype will be PRG. ...
    (comp.sys.cbm)
Loading