• "I wish I could see the type and creator of a file easily."
• "I wish I could change the type and creator of multiple files easily."
• "I wish I could know the pure image size of a graphic file such as JPEG, GIF..., the size that does not include any resource data like thumbnail icon."
• "I wish I could get the information on the graphic files, or wanted to view them quickly."
• "It's a bit troublesome to open and close the 'Get Info' dialog to see the infomation of a file."
• "I wish I could change the lock status of multiple files easily."
• "I wish I could know the size of a big file in KB or MB rather than lengthy byte size."
• "I wish I could restore the original memory requirements for an application that you have already changed before."
• "I wish I could play the QuickTime movie right from the Finder without starting Movie player."
• "I wish I could zap the resource fork easily to get rid of thumbnail icons."
• "I wish I could change the creation and modification date of the files easily."
• "I wish I could add/clear the thumbnail icon of graphic files easily."
More File Info CMM Plug-in is the MacOS 8 Contextual Menu Plug-in that realize such things. Main feature of this plug-in is to show the detailed information on the selected file to the contextual menu. However, it also allow users to set or change the following settings.
• Type and Creator
• Creation date and modification date
• Lock status (ON/OFF)
• Zap resource fork
• Memory requirements for an application program
• Thumbnail icon
Files in archive
More File Info CMM Plug-in (English version) archive includes the following files:
More File Info Contextual Menu Manager Plug-in
More File Info Manual Document
ConfigMFI Support program
ConfigMFI Manual Document
The support program ConfigMFI is used to change the settings for the Type/Creator submenu.
More File Info CMM Plug-in works without ConfigMFI. It's onlyu for those who want to customize the Type/Creator submenu. Please refer the ConfigMFI Manual for more details.
Installation
You must be using MacOS 8 or later. This Contexual Menu Plug-in works only with PowerPC Macintosh computers. So please make sure that you have the right computer. To install the plug-in, simply drag it to the System Folder icon. The Finder will place it in the Contextual Menu Items subfolder. Next time you reboot, it will be loaded.
In addition to this, you need to have the following two files in the Extensions folder of the System folder:
Contextual Menu Extension
SOMobjects™ for Mac OS
To remove a plug-in, just drag it out of the Contextual Menu Items folder. Next time you reboot, it will not be loaded.
Using the plug-in menu
When you control-click on Finder files, the plug-in displays the following menu to the contextual popup menu that appears.
As you see this plug-in displays more detailed information on the selected file. In addition to this, you can change the some of the settings or get more infromation by selecting the corresponding menu items.
*NOTE* Memory requirements (Suggested memory size, Minimum memory size and Preferred memory size) are displayed only if the selected file is an application program. Otherwise, these 3 menu items will not appear.
(1) Type/Creator
When you select the Type/Creator menu item, the following submenu appears.
You can change the Type and Creator of the selected file using this submenu. It displays the type/creator sets you have used before (up to 32 sets from the most recent one). This feature makes it easy to select the type/creator settings you frequently use without specifying from the setting dialog.
If you want to use a new type/creator, select the Other... menu. This will brings up the following dialog to the screen.
In this dialog, you can specify the type and creator in two ways:
(1) Input the Type and Creator letters directly from the keyboard (up to 4 letters for each)
(2) Select a file that has the type and creator you want to use from the standard file open dialog.
To use the method (2), press the Browse... button. It will open the standard file open dialog and let you select a file of which type and creator you want to use.
The title string is an option. This title string will appear on the submenu and make it easier to detect what type and creator is this for.
If you want to change the type and creator but do not want to add to the list, check the 'Do not add this to the list' checkbox.
You can use the ConfigMFI (included in the same archeive file) to add/remove/edit/rearrange the Type/Creator submenu. You can also insert separator lines to make the submenu easier to see.
Besides, you can change the type and creator of multiple files at a time.
(2) Zap Resource Fork
This feature zap (remove) resource fork from the selected files. The submenu is available only if the selected file has both data fork and resource fork. When the submenu is selected, the confirmation dialog appears and ask if you really want to zap the resource fork or not, and zap the resource fork only if you select Proceed button (this is not the default button). Once the resoruce fork is zapped, you can not resume or undo it. That's why the confirmation dialog is displayed. This function can be used for multiple files.
(3) Modifying the file creation or last modified date
This feature enables you to modify the file creation date or file modified date to the current date or the date same as the creation/modified date. It's silimar to the 'touch' UNIX command. This function can be used for multiple files.
(4) Long Version
When you select the Version menu item, a dialog appears and displays the long version string which you see in the Finder's Get Info dialog. The version string this plug-in displays in the contextual menu is so called 'short version string' and it's displayed when you select list view from the Finder.
(5) Lock ON/OFF
When you select the Locked menu item, the following sub menu appears and allow you to change the ON/OFF setting of a selected file. You can also change the lock status for more than one file at a time.
(6) Memory Requirement
When you select one of the memory requirments items (Minimum memory size, Preferred memory size), the following dialog appears.
You can change the memory allocation settings for the application program . Unlike the Finder's Get Info dialog, there's a button called Reset to original. With this button, you can reset to the application's original memory requirements easily. Since changing the memory requirements is dangerous, you can not change the settings for multiple files.
(7) Paste/Clear thumbnail icon of the graphic image file
You can easily paste or clear thumbnail icon of the selected graphic image file. Supported graphic image formats depends on the QuickTime version you are using.
*NOTE* Putting thumbnail icon sometimes take long time as the image file get bigger and more complicated. The time to put thumbnail icon is almost same as the time that QuickTime display the image since this plug-in uses QuickTime's built-in functions internally.
There are two optional settings for thumbnail icon and you can set options using ConfigMFI (included in the archive of this More File Info CMM Plug-in)
Precise Aspect Ratio
This option determines the thumbnail icon size to be created.
ON - Thumbnail icon size will have the same aspect ratio as the original image.
OFF - Thumbnail icon size is always maximum size (30 x 30 dots)
* Even when you set this option ON, the miminun width (or height) of the thumbnail icon is 5 dots. This prevent the situation when the thumbnail icon of very narrow image get too thin and hard to see what it is.
Put Image Type Label
This option determines whether to put image type label (as you see the sample below) or not.
Currently, PICT, GIF, TIFF, PNG, JPEG and PSD(PHOTO label) are supported. If a image is not one of these format, no label is added.
Power User Tips:
The image type label is PICT resource ID #140. If you don't like the label with black background and white letters, you can customize the label design by changing this resource. However, please do not change the size of the PICT resource and the color bit depth (must be 8-bit: 256 colors)
(8) Graphic image info and quick view
When you select GIF, JPEG, TIFF, PICT, PNG, Photoshop PSD files, the breif information on the graphic image will be displayed on the menu. The items to be displayed depends on the image type and may vary. This infomation display does not rely on the QuickTime.
When the View Image... menu appears at the very bottom of the More File Info menu, you can view the image by selecting it. The following dialog appears and show the image you have selected.
TIPS: If both the View Image... menu and graphic information menu are on the contextual menu, you can view the image by selecting any one of graphic information menu as well as View Image... menu. This reduce the distance of mouse movement a little bit.
This feature rely on the QuickTime's Graphic Importer function. Therefore, the type of the image you can view depends on the QuickTime's version.
PNG, BMP, TIFF (in addition to all the types above)
Besides, by selecting multiple image files, you can view them continuously like the slide show.
When you are viewing multiple images, you can abort it in the middle by pressing ESC key.
TIPS: When you view multiple images, you can use arrow-keys to operate the image display to go back and forth.
Left or Up arrow key - Go back to the previous image
Right or Down arrow key - Go to the next image (like other keys)
You can not end the image display using arrow-keys. To end it, you need to either press ESC key, or press other key if the current image is the last image, or press mouse at the outside of image window if the current image is the last image.
Additional image functions
There are three small icons on the image view window that you can select to execute additional functions:
The 'Copy to the clipboard' function is very handy when you need to insert the GIF, and other image files to the word processor document. You don't have to use graphic conversion utility or photo imaging program to do this. All you need to do is just using this function to copy the image you want to use to the clipboard. Then, switch to the word processor document you are working and paste the image. That's all.
(9) Play movie file
When you select QuickTime movie files, Play Movie... menu appears at the end of the submenu.
You can play the QuickTime movie right from the Finder.
Besides, by selecting multiple movie files, you can play them continuously (one at a time).
If you want to stop viewing rest of the movie files in the middle, just press the ESC key.
Note
Since this plug-in displays the information of a file, it works only with a file (or files). It does not work with folders, aliases, disks, trash, desktop printers, and other special items.
If you select more than one file, it displays the information of the last files. But please don't ask me which file would be the last one. Just try to use it with one file at a time.
The memory requirements information is displayed only if the selected file is an application program.
You can select multiple files to change the Type/Creator, file's lock status, creation and modification date. But you can not change the Memory Requirements for multiple files. You must select just one file to change the memory requirement settings for the safety sake.
If you are using QuickTime 3.0 and you have experienced the situation that the contextual menu were not displayed at all, please launch the ConfigMFI and uncheck the 'Prescan unknown file with GraphicImporter' checkbox. For more details about this checkbox, please refer to the ConfigMFI manual.
Version-up History
2.4 May 20, 1999
• Expanded the maxinum number of Type/Creator list item from 16 to 32.
• Added 'Do not add this to the list' checkbox to Type/Creator setting dialog so that user can just change the type and creator of the selected file without adding the type and creator to the list.
2.3 Oct 20, 1998
• Added new feature that add/clear graphic image's thumbnail icon. There are some options for the look of the thumbnail icons and you can select it using ConfigMFI.
• Added information display of PNG format.
• Now it uses the correct decimal point and the thousands separator for each country by getting them from System's international resources.
• User can select the date format for file's creation and modification date from two types (short format and abbreviated format). This setting is changed using ConfigMFI.
• Now it support new type file open/save dialog introduced with Mac OS 8.5 (by Navigation service)
• Fixed some minor bugs.
2.2 May 18, 1998
• Added three new functions to the 'view image' feature (copy to clipboard, save as a PICT file, and move to trash functions).
• Added 'Zap Resource Fork' feature.
• Added 'Change the file creation/modification date' feature.
• Support the new setting 'Prescan unknown file with GraphicImporter' with the ConfigMFI.
2.1.1 Apr 14, 1998
• Fixed a bug that report incorrect QuickTime movie size (1 dot bigger than actual width and height).
• Fixed a bug that displays the error dialog without close button when invalid QuickTime movie is selected, and users need to quit the Finder to dismiss this error dialog. (this is the bug only in the English version. The Japanese version does not have this bug)
2.1 Apr 10, 1998
• Added 'Play Movie...' feature. Now you can play the movie file right from the Finder.
• Added the 'Animation: Yes/No' item to the GIF information menu.
• Added arrow key operations to the 'view image' function. When multiple image files are viewed, using arrow key make it possible to view the image back and forth.
• Optimize the internal performance to reduce total amount of time this plug-in spends.
2.02 Mar 13, 1998
• Fixed a bug that displays only the 1st digits of the minimum memory size in the application memory requirement setting dialog.
• Fixed a mistake of the shareware registration fee in this Read Me document. It was stated $8 for single user license and $160 for site user license by mistake.
2.01 Mar 10, 1998
• I screwed up! I have included the beta version of 2.0 to the released 2.0 archive by mistake. The beta version has a bug and does not change the Type/Creator for any in the list after the first eight. To avoid the confusion, I changed the version number of actual 2.0 to 2.01.
2.0 Mar 1, 1998
• Added the feature to display the brief information on the popular graphic image file (GIF, PICT, JPEG, PSD, TIFF). Also you can view the image quickly.
• Expand the number of maximum Type/Creator submenu items from 8 to 16. Now the settings are stored into the separate preference file.
• Bundled the ConfigMFI program which let users to change the Type/Creator submenu setting easily.
• Changed from Mailware to Shareware ($10)
1.42 Feb 12, 1998
• Fixed a problem that the menu of this plug-in sometimes (or always) does not appear on the Contextual menu.
1.4 Feb 6, 1998
• Changed the way to change the file lock status to using submenu
• Added the KB or MB size after the exact byte size depending on the size of the file.
• Added the 'Browese...' button to the type/creator setting dialog
• Improved the interface to change the type/creator using submenu and displaying up to 8 sets of the most recent type/creator to the submenu.
1.3 Jan 25, 1998
• Added the file lock/unlock status menu item and make it changeable.
• Added the memory requirements menu items and make them changeable when the selected file is an application program.
• Added the feature to change the Type/Creator for the selected file(s).
1.2 Jan 13, 1998
• Added the file creation date (with seconds), the file modification date (with seconds), and the short version string to the menu item.
1.1 Jan 4, 1998
• Fixed a major bug which cause system error, finder restart, etc...
1.0 Jan 3, 1998
• First release. But because of a major bug, I stop distributing in one way.
How to Register the shareware?
More File Info CMM Plug-in (v2.0 or later) is distributed as shareware.
You are welcome to try More File Info CMM Plug-in free for a period of 30 days. If you like it and decide to keep it after the trial period, you are expected to pay the shareware fee and register your copy of More File Info CMM Plug-in.
More File Info CMM Plug-in has the following pricing:
• Single user licenses - $10 per user
• Single site license - $200 per site
A site license covers all locations for your organization within a 160 km radius of your site (100 miles). One big advantage of a Site License is that you do not need to keep track of how many people at your site are using this software.
Paying for More File Info CMM Plug-in is fairly simple. You can select either one of the following payment method. In any case, Kagi shareware handles my payment processing.
(a) Register online at the Kagi WWW site
You can register the shareware online from Kagi WWW site using the browser.
The URL for the registration page is:
http://order.kagi.com/?VC
You can also jump to this online registration page from author's home page:
http://www.vcnet.com/hide/download/
(b) Register by E-mail, FAX, mail
Open the Register program that accompanies the software. Enter your name, address, E-mail address, and the number of single user licenses you wish to purchase (or Site licenses). Save or Copy or Print the data from the Register and send the data and payment to Kagi shareware. More specific on the Register program to follow. Kagi shareware handles my payment processing.
If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can E-mail or FAX the data to Kagi shareware.
Their E-mail address and FAX numbers are:
E-mail: sales@kagi.com
FAX number: +1 510 652-6589.
You can either Copy the data from Register and paste into the body of an E-mail message. There is no need to compress the data file. It's already pretty small. If you have a FAX modem, just Print the data to the Kagi shareware FAX number.
Payments sent via E-mail are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an E-mail acknowledgment when it is processed. Payments sent via FAX take up to 10 days and if you provide a correct internet E-mail address you will receive an E-mail acknowledgment.
If you are paying with Cash or USD Check you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi shareware
1442-A Walnut Street #392-VC
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via check, it must be a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi shareware cannot accept checks in other currencies, the conversion rate for non-USD checks is around USD 15 per check and that is just not practical.
If you have a purchasing department, you can enter all the data into the Register program and then select Invoice as your payment method. Print three copies of the form and send it to your accounts payable people. You might want to highlight the line that mentions that they must include a copy of the form with their payment.
Kagi shareware cannot invoice your company, you need to act on my behalf and generate the invoice and handle all the paperwork on your end.
Please do not FAX or E-mail payment forms that indicate Cash, Check, Invoice as the payment method. As far as I know, there is still no technology to transfer physical objects via FAX or E-mail and without the payment, the form cannot be processed.
Payments send via postal mail take time to reach Kagi shareware and then up to 10 days for processing. Again, if you include a correct E-mail address, you will hear from Kagi shareware when the form is processed.
If you do not have an E-mail address, you should consider selecting the Postcard Receipt so that Kagi shareware can inform you of your registration code. Kagi shareware transmits the registration code via E-mail and paid postcard receipt only.
Please do NOT send registrations directly to me, you will only delay your receipt of the registration code, as I will have to forward it to the Kagi service.
Thank you for supporting shareware concept. I hope that this software will increase your productivity. Your comment, bug report, etc... are always welcome.
Download and distribution / Copyright
You can download the most recent version of More File Info CMM Plug-in from the following site:
• Info-Mac
• Download.com (http://www.download.com/ )
• Author's home page (http://www.vcnet.com/hide/download/ )
More File Info CMM Plug-in may be freely distributed via electronic bulletin boards, user groups, and person to person. When distributed, all accompanying files (README, Register program, etc.), are to distributed with the software without exception. The software is not to be included with any commercial software or any public domain/shareware package sold for profit without proper written consent from the author. For the permission, please contact the author by e-mail <hide@kagi.com>.
Disclaimer
While the author of this software has made every effort to deliver a high quality product, The author does not guarantee that this product is free from defects. The author is not responsible for any damage to the purchaser's computer system or data and in no event will I be responsible to the purchaser for any consequential, incidental, or indirect damages (including but not limited to damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, or loss of data) arising out of the use or inability to use this product, even if I have been advised of the possibility of such damages. Because some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitations may not apply to you. The use of this software includes the complete agreement of this disclaimer.
Special Thanks to:
Trygve Isaacson for the great and easy-to-use frameworks for the CMM plug-in development.
