The Hippo Contextual Menu Module (CMM) adds two menus to the Finder's Contextual
Menu (CM). The "Open With" menu contains a list of user definable applications. By
selecting a group of files and choosing an application from this menu, you can open those files in your chosen application. You don't have to search through nested folders in order to find your chosen application and, unlike double-clicking on the files, you can open the files in the application you choose - not the application that created the file.
The "Active Lists" menu brings some exciting new features to Hippo. Firstly, any selection you make in the Finder can now be "remembered". This means you are no longer restricted to selecting files contained in a single folder. What's more, you can now save lists of files for later use - or to be read by any word processor or text editor.
A selection of useful AppleScript Droplets is also included, these are ideal for adding functionality to Hippo. You can add just those features you need.
System Requirements
Hippo requires MacOS 8.0 or greater and Navigation Services (included as the file 'Navigation'). If, for some reason, you have removed the Contextual Menu Extension, you must re-install it.
Installation
Firstly, if this document is fairly old please check our web site for a more
up to date version of Hippo: http://www.cogco.u-net.com/
For the first time we've included an installer application. Simply double click on the 'Hippo 2.0 Installer', choose the 'Hippo' file you want to install and let the installer do its work.
If you have any problems getting the installer to work, please read the file
'Manual Installation'.
Once the installer has finished, you should customise the AppleScripts installed in the Action folder in the Hippo preferences folder. Please read the 'Notes on AppleScripts' file for an explanation of their functions.
Hippo uses Navigation Services from Apple. This provides a new and easier to use interface for choosing and saving files. This enusres that Hippo will run on future versions of MacOS including MacOS X and Carbon.
If you find that Hippo does not function, please check that the Hippo file has been correctly placed in the 'Contextual Menu Items' folder of your System Folder. We have reports of the Installer sometimes putting the Hippo file directly into the System Folder rather than the 'Contextual Menu Items' folder.
Configuration
Control clicks in the Finder (and certain other applications) bring up contextual menus. You can now add applications to Hippo's contextual menu by simply control clicking your chosen application in the finder and selecting "Add to menu" from the "Open With" menu. These applications become available the next time you control click.
Hippo simply puts aliases to your applications in its preferences folder:
System Folder:Preferences:Hippo:
You can rearrange the aliases in Hippo's folder simply by renaming tham and grouping them in nested folders.
You can remove an application from the Hippo's Menu by removing or deleting the alias file from this Hippo folder.
Active Lists
Hippo 2.0 includes the 'Active Lists" feature. This allows you to build a list of files incrementally. You are no longer restricted to selecting files in a single folder (or the desktop).
To create an active list, select your first group of files and choose "Remember File List" from Hippo's "Active Lists" menu. Now select your second group of files and bring up the contextual menu. Note that "Open With" has changed to "+ Open With". The plus sign indicates that Hippo is now using a remembered list of files. Any action you now ask Hippo to do will include that list in addition to the current selection. You will also notice that there is an additional menu item "Forget List". This removes the remembered list from Hippo. If you choose an application from Hippo's list, that application will now open the current selection, plus the remembered selection. The remembered list is active until you remove it with "Forget List". If you select "Remember File List" while there is an acitve list already, the the second list will be appended to the first. You may do this as many times as memory and disk space allow.
If you select "Save Hippo List", Hippo will bring up a Save File dialog, prompting you to choose a filename and location for the Hippo List file. Hippo Lists can either be opened by Hippo or opened by a word processor. If a Hippo list is selected as part of a group of files the list of files identified in the Hippo List is added to the other files in the current selection.
Description of Menu Items
The Open With Menu:
'Application' - Choose an application from this list to open your current Finder selection.
About Hippo - Brings up the registration dialog in the Unregistered version.
Add to Menu - Adds the selected application to Hippo's main menu.
The Active Lists Menu:
Remember File List - Builds a list of files without actually opening them in an application.
Use this multiple times to build long lists of files.
Forget Files - Removes the Active List.
Save Hippo List - Creates a file that identifies another group of files to Hippo. Think of it
as a super-alias, not to a single file, but to a group of files.
Actions - Contains various submenus with AppleScripts to perform a variety of file based functions.
Such as: setting the file type, moving files to specified locations or finding which files have been changed. And lots more besides. Please see the 'Notes on AppleScripts' file for details.
Notes
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• You can of course change the names of the aliases in the Hippo folder. In fact, we recommend you put aliases to "DropStuff" and "Stuffit Expander" in the Hippo folder and rename them "Expand" and "Compress".
• Hippo works very well with faceless drag and drop applications like "Shomi".
Put an alias to "Shomi" in the Hippo folder and you can instantly view image
files in the finder, likewise put an alias to MoviePlayer there.
• Compiled Apple Scripts are also ideal for adding to Hippo's menu.
• If you get cross when you click on a generic TEXT file and SimpleText launches only to complain that the file is too big to be opened by Simpletext, put BBEdit on your Hippo menu.
• Programmers will want to put Resorceror or ResEdit on their Hippo menu.
• While you can select several applications in the Finder to add to the Hippo menu, only the first one (alphabetically) will actually be added. This is a feature - intended to make it difficult to accidentally add a bunch of files
• If you manually put anything other than an alias to an application in the Hippo folder, it will appear in the menu, but Hippo won't open or launch it unless it is an AppleScript saved as a droplet. This means that you can't put applications themselves in the Hippo folder.
Caveats
• Each time Hippo is launched it checks to see if there is a 'Hippo' folder in the Preferences folder. If there isn't, Hippo assumes that it has been copied to a new computer and reverts to its unregistered state. So long as you don't use a contextual menu, you can safely temporarily remove the Hippo folder (During a OS install or upgrade perhaps). After resetting, Hippo won't be disabled,but in order to use all its features you will have to re-enter the registration info.
• Under certain circumstances, when you have two or more volumes (disks, partitions or network volumes) mounted on the desktop with the same name, Hippo and many AppleScripts may fail to work. This is a problem with the way that AppleScript and AppleEvents pass information about files - not a bug in Hippo. For this reason we recommend that you do not have multiple volumes with the same name. You will in all likelihood experience problems with other applications or AppleScripts not part of the Hippo package. And, in any case, don't you get confused too ?
• There appears to be a compatibilty problem between Timbuktu Pro 4.7 and Apple's 'Navigation' shared library (which Hippo installs). If you find that Timbuktu crashes when trying to save, remove the file 'Navigation' from your extensions folder. Hippo will still function, but it will no longer benefit from Navigation Services. We have informed Farallon/Netopia of this problem. Note, this isn't a bug in Hippo - it is solely an incompatibility between Navigation Services (an Apple file) and Timbuktu Pro.
About Shareware
Shareware is not free. You are entitled to use this application for 30 days after which we ask you to pay the license fee of $19 if you wish to continue to use the product.
Registration
Entitles you to free upgrades to Hippo and technical support by email. It also 'unlocks' Hippo allowing you to put an unlimited number of applications into its menu and fully enables the "Active Lists" menu. The unregistered version limits you to selecting one of the first five applications in the menu and keeps a usage count. Additionally, after opening 500 files, the Active Lists menu will be disabled and you will no longer be able to run AppleScripts.
Please use the enclosed registration application to pay through Kagi: http://www.kagi.com/
If you can write Checks in UK Pounds Sterling, you can also register by sending a check
for £12.00 to the UK Cogco address below. Please include your email address for speediest receipt of the registration code. DON'T SEND STERLING CHECKS TO KAGI !!!!
Future Plans
All suggestions are welcomed.
Bugs
Please report any bugs to cogco@kagi.com.
Why Hippo ?
===========
Why not ? Actually, my 2 1/2 yr old daughter and I had been talking about Hippos
recently after seeing a couple of pygmy Hippos at London Zoo.
Contacts
Cogco: Kagi: (Payment servicing only)
Cogco International Ltd. Kagi
2 Duke's Point, 1442-A Walnut Street #392-POP
Duke's Head Yard Berkeley, CA 94709-1405
London N6 5JQ USA
United Kingdom
Tel & Fax: +44 (0) 181 6127 +1 510 420 5858
http://www.cogco.u-net.com/ http://www.kagi.com/
Email about Hippo: cogco@kagi.com
Version History
1.0 (1 August 1998) Initial Public Offering.
1.0.1 (3 August 1998) Fixed cosmetic bug in dialogs
1.0.2 (4 August 1998) Fixed another cosmetic bug in dialog.
1.0.3 (7 August 1998) Again, no code changes, just made sure that the
'About Hippo' dialog tells you what version of Hippo you are running.
1.0.4 (7 August 1998) Hippo is now more 'contextual'. It doesn't put up
a menu if there are no files selected.
1.1b1 (10 August 1998) Limited distribution of first beta with heirarchical menus and 'active lists'.
2.0 (24 August 1998) Public release of completed version 2.
2.0.1 (17 September 1998) Made Navigation Services optional. Timbuktu Pro 4.7 crashes when the 'Navigation' shared library is installed.
2.0.3 (26 February 1999) Included a workaround for a bug in Internet Explorer 4.5.
Acknowledgments
Roland Young for being the first person to register.
Kevin Marks again for spotting some great bugs.
Peter N. Lewis for the 'Register' application and services beyond the call of duty to the Mac community.
