Re: A probably dumb question:

[CUTjblakeney@sympatico.ca (Jeff Blakeney)]

On Fri, 04 Jan 2002 18:44:10 +1300, "Roger Johnstone" <rojaws@mac.com>
wrote:

>If you hold down the option key while opening a file the Finder will ask you
>which application to use to open it.

There is a Teach file called Shortcuts that comes on one of the System
6.0.1 install disks that describe this method.  It says that holding
down option while double clicking an icon or choosing Open from the
File menu will give you a dialog box to let you choose what
application you want to open the file with for a one time use only.

However, if you hold down both Option and Control then it will
permanently associated that program with that icon so double clicking
those icons from then on will launch the new application.

>The big problem is that I think you
>need to have an icon file for that file type already present, which means it
>won't work with unknown files, since you're unlikely to have an icon for
>them!

I didn't realize that but I just tried it and you are right.  It only
works on files that have an icon associated with them.  A bit of a
limitation but you'd probably want to have a unique icon for files
that you want to have launch a certain application anyways.  :-)

>It's useful for opening a document in an application other than the
>default one for that file type (it doesn't change the association, just
>launches it once), but not very useful if the file type is unknown.

I'd probably use it more if I'd remembered that the option launch was
available.  As it is, I usually just launch the application I want and
then open the file.  :-)

There are also utilities which make launching applications much
easier.  There are also utilties for setting up default directories
for certain applications so that the first time you use the Open menu
item you are automatically looking at whatever folder you've set up
for storing files for that application.

>There's a Finder extension called Finder Binder which was published in GS+
>magazine which does at least some of what you want. When you try to open an
>unknown document in the Finder it takes over. Instead of "An application
>can't be found etc." it lets you connect the document to an application, for
>one time only, permanently, or for all documents of the same type. I don't
>know where you can get any of the GS+ programs now.

Syndicomm is now the distributor of all the GS+ magazine stuff.  For
more information check out:

     http://www.a2central.com/shop/gsplus.html

>You can do much the same thing manually with an icon editor, in fact that's
>how Finder Binder works, it creates an entry in an icon file for each file
>type binding.

And if you create an icon for a certain type of file or a certain type
of filename, then you can use the option and option-control launch
trick above to your hearts content.  :-)

By the way, GS+ magazine also published a nice icon editor that works
with both the old style icon files and the new resource based ones.

>If you need to change the file type rather than just which application is
>associated with any given file type then you'll need a utility program. I
>use Disk Access, a desk accessory from Seven Hills Software. There are
>several shareware programs which do the same thing too. There's one (Super
>Get Info?) which enhances the Finder's Get Info window so you can change the
>file type there.

Yes, there are a number of them.  I used to use a Finder Extra called
More Info.  If you choose the Icon Info menu item in Finder you got
the old Icon Info dialog but if you held down option while selecting
Icon Info you got the More Info dialog which gave you much more info
as well as letting you change the file type and aux type.

--
 Jeff Blakeney - Dean of the Apple II Unversity on A2Central.com
               - CUT the obvious from my address to e-mail me