«FinderViewContextMenu» is a contextual menu plug-in for Mac OS 8 that records and plays back your favorite view settings of your Finder windows.
Control-click in a Finder window to bring up the contextual menu: It lets you record the view settings of this window or simply choose one of the previously recorded settings to apply them to this window.
No more hassle selecting list, button or icon view first, then opening a dialog box to decide on endless checkboxes and finally close that dialog box to set your Finder views. Just record your favorite settings and play them back with one simple control-click.
Managing Finder views made easy!
System requirements
+ PowerPC based Mac OS computer
+ Mac OS 8
+ «Contextual Menu Extension» installed (part of Mac OS 8)
+ «SOMobjects™ for Mac OS» (part of Mac OS 8, see note below)
Note:
The «SOMobjects™ for Mac OS» extension is part of the «OpenDoc» package in the Mac OS 8 installer.
For that reason Contextual Menu plug-ins will not run until you install «OpenDoc». Fortunately «OpenDoc» is part of the default installation, so this will only concern you when you explicitly did not install «OpenDoc».
How to install
Installing «FinderViewContextMenu» is a two step process:
1. Drop «FinderViewContextMenu» and «FinderViewExtension» on your System folder.
This puts «FinderViewContextMenu» in the Contextual Menu Items folder and «FinderViewExtension» in the Extension folder in your System folder.
2. Restart your Macintosh.
This loads the contextual menu plug-in and the extension into memory. «FinderViewContextMenu» will not be available before you restart your Macintosh.
How to use it
Open a Finder window and control-click in the background of the window (that is: on no icon or name) to open the contextual menu with the additional menu item «Finder View» and its submenu:
It contains these separated areas:
+ the previously saved views area
+ the area for commands: save and edit views
+ the register area (that will disappear in the registered version)
Choose the «Save This View As...» item to display this dialog:
Enter a name for the view settings that will appear in the contextual menu for playback. The settings of the window you clicked in will be saved under this name.
Choose the «Edit View Menu...» item to display this dialog:
In this dialog you can remove previously saved views from the contextual menu. Just click on the entry you want to delete and then click on the «Delete» button.
How it works
«FinderViewContextMenu» communicates with the Finder through AppleEvents to find out about and set the view settings of Finder windows. This is the only “legal” way to tell the Finder to change its views - and that leads to one advantage and one disadvantage:
The advantage:
This approach does not patch anything, so this will cause no side effects or other problems. There will also be no problems with future releases of the system software. This is absolutely no hack!
The disadvantage:
It is not that fast what you would expect it to be (I would not say it is slow, it is just not really fast ;-) ). There are quite a lot of AppleEvents to be sent and unfortunately the Finder has to reply to the first before the others can be sent.
This is shareware
«FinderViewContextMenu» is shareware, which means if you use it, you must pay for it. You may use it on a trial basis for up to 14 days. If you continue using it beyond that period, you are expected to register this software and pay the shareware fee of US$ 9,-
In the first 14 days after you installed «FinderViewContextMenu», it will be quiet and behave like a registered version. After that period it will present you a “nag dialog” that reminds you to register every time you apply a stored setting to a Finder window.
All the functionality will be there, but the dialog keeps telling you how many times since how many days you have used «FinderViewContextMenu» without paying for it. When you register you will receive a code that will permanently remove the “nag dialog”.
If you use this software PLEASE register your copy!
How to register
To register please use the «Register» application that came with this «READ ME». The form accepts many different payment methods such as: US Check, Money Order, Cash (in many different currencies), Visa, Mastercard, American Express, First Virtual and Invoice (to be given to your accounts payable department).
To register online please use the «Register Online» application or point your browser to:
<http://www.kagi.com/?3S7>
A secure server is available for submitting your payment information (Visa, Mastercard, American Express and First Virtual available) safely.
Or simply put US$9,- in an envelope, note your name, address and the program you are paying for and send this to:
Kagi Shareware
1442-A Walnut Street #392-3S7
Berkeley, California, 94709-1405
USA
Alternatively write your credit card, credit card number and expiration date on that note and fax it to:
Fax: +1 510 652 6589
How to contact the author
Please send your comments, suggestions and bug reports to one of the addresses below. I will try to answer them as soon as possible!
Send e-mail to: <artis@kagi.com>
Point your web-browser to: <http://www.artissoftware.com/finderview/>
Write a letter to: <Wolfgang Ante, Eduard Hartmann Platz 3/1/2, A-2361 Laxenburg, Austria>
Fax to: <+43 (02236) 73 661>
Where to download the latest version
Please take a look at the FinderViewContextMenu website. It is located at <http://www.artissoftware.com/finderview/>. There you will find the version number of the latest release and links to download it.
What's new in this release
Release 1.0.2-US, 5th December 1997:
+ STRINGS MOVED INTO RESOURCE:
All strings that are displayed to the user are in the resource fork now. This allows localization without changing the code.
+ ENABLED ON THE DESKTOP:
Since 1.0.1 (the context bugfix) FinderViewContextMenu showed up only in File-Windows of the Finder. Now it is also enabled on the desktop (this was a user request).
WRONG VERSION-NUMBER IN ABOUT-DIALOG:
Fixed the wrong version number (still "1.0") in the About-Dialog. Now there is code that assures this version number is always the same that you see in the Info-Window in the Finder.
+ TYPOS REMOVED:
Removed some typos in seldom to be seen alert-dialogs.
Release 1.0.1-US, 25th November 1997:
+ CONTEXT BUG:
Fixed a bug that displayed FinderViewContextMenu in places where it shoudn't, like Info- and About-Windows.
+ ARRANGE-BY BUG:
Fixed a bug that in some situations caused to sort things in icon-view windows before switching to the desired snap-to-grid-view and therefore rearraging icons.
Release 1.0-US, 24th November 1997:
+ FIRST RELEASE:
Everything in this release is new ;-)
International releases
Korean version available!
Translated by Ru Yon
Please go to the website <http://www.artissoftware.com/finderview/> to download the localized Korean version.
German version available!
Translated by Wolfgang Ante
Please go to the website <http://www.artissoftware.com/finderview/> to download the localized German version.
Japanese version available soon!
Translated by Yuzuru Shiraiwa
Please check the website <http://www.artissoftware.com/finderview/> for this release or write an email to <artis@kagi.com> telling me that you want to be notified when this release will be available.
I am interested in translating the software to as many languages as possible. To do this I need your help: Please contact me at <artis@kagi.com> if you would like to translate FinderViewContextMenu into your language.
You will receive a free key and be mentioned in the about-dialog and the readme-file. So “do the right thing” for the Mac-Users of your nation and help me translate FinderViewContextMenu to your language!
Credits & Copyright
Concept and Programming:
Wolfgang Ante
Help and Betatesting:
Andreas Pizsa
Helpful hints:
David Catmull
The FinderViewContextMenu/FinderViewExtension is (c) 1997 by Wolfgang Ante, all rights reserved.
As long as you don't change the contents of the archive containing FinderViewContextMenu you are encouraged to make this software available to others. Copy it, upload it, put it on CD-ROM, spread this piece of software in any way you can imagine!
