liberte@zaphod.ncsa.uiuc.edu (07/14/88)
I like to double click on various document icons just to see if they will open. Many times it is a text file or a MacWrite file which cannot be opened in that way (I dont use MacWrite). So it occured to me that what is needed is a mapping between creators and applications. Thus I could specify that whenever I double click a text file, I really want to read it with Word or whatever. Is it possible to patch the finder with this kind of mapping? Such a mapper would reduce the need for programs such as the recently posted Perfectionist. Dan LaLiberte National Center for Supercomputing Applications liberte@ncsa.uiuc.edu
kent@lloyd.camex.uucp (Kent Borg) (07/16/88)
You want to double-click a MacWrite document icon but have something other than MacWrite get launched. I have accomplished that the following kludgy way: You need to choose a word processor that can be launched with a MacWrite document, from the Finder. (Put a MacWrite document in the same folder as your favorite word processor, select them both, tell the Finder to open them. If it works, the following technique will work for you.) I took my copy of MindWrite 1.1 and copied it and named the copy "MindWrite 1.1 (MACA)". I ran ResEdit and changed its creator to MACA. I went inside and found the resource who's type matched the old creator (the signature resource I think it is called) and copied it to a new resource of the type MACA, and deleted the old signature. Next, I went into the BNDL and changed the owner name to MACA. Then to make things pretty I went into the icons and changed them too. I put a little MACA in the application's icon, and I added a little diamond to the MacWrite and TEXT icons. I'm not sure the best way to get the Finder to recognize this new application, I don't remember how I did it. Try copying it to floppy, throwing away the hard disk copy (amazing--I just assume everybody has a hard disk, don't they?), then reinstalling from floppy. Rebuilding your desktop (hold down Option and command keys when returning to the Finder from an application) should also do it, though with it's usual loss of Info comments. It cost 272K, but now I can double click MacWrite documents. Kent Borg kent@lloyd.uucp or husc6!lloyd!kent