You can say as many nice things as you want to about System 7 (and by the way, this Extension DOES load & run ONLY under System 7), but to my way of thinking this makes seven missed opportunities in a row for Apple Computer, which should long ago have corrected the following longstanding gaffe:
When performing "Get Info" on a file, Finder tells you whether the file in question is a Document or an Application, or a Startup Document, Control Panel, etc., BUT you will NOT be told exactly what type of file you are looking at in terms of the actual four-character filetype (let alone the creator signature -- also a four-character beast). Now as it turns out, various utility writers have come up with various solutions to this problem (meaning that if you try hard enough, you can eventually get to the Filetype or Creator signature for a particular file), but the ugly truth is that this information belongs in the Get-Info window, and should always have been depicted there, from System 1.0 on. Granted, most users don't NEED to know this kind of detailed information. But that doesn't mean the rest of us should be "protected" from it (or vice versa).
>>> You may not need to know what's in an Oreo cookie. Even so, the information shouldn't be CONCEALED from you. <<<
So. What this Extension does is give you the option of putting Filetype and Creator information in the Comment box of the Get Info window (in lieu of a regular Comment). If you want to put a Comment in a file's Get Info window, use Command-'I' as you normally would. If, on the other hand, you would RATHER see the file's 4-letter Type and Creator in its Comment Window, select the file's icon and type SHIFT-Command-'I'. You'll see filetype/creator signatures in the Comment box.
It's important to note that the Shift-Command-'I' will put TYPE/CREATOR info in the Comment box ONLY the FIRST TIME you add a comment to a file. If you have already commented a file, or if you have even performed a single "Get Info" on the file since you turned you Mac on in the morning, you will NOT be able to add TYPE/CREATOR info to the Comment box with Shift-Command-'I'. (You have two choices here. Either restart your Mac and do a "fresh" Shift-Cmd-'I' on the file . . . OR, create a temporary duplicate of the file, and do a Shift-Get-Info on the copy.) The reasons for this limitation are fairly technical. In this INIT, we patch only one system trap (_PBDTGetCommentInfo), and that trap is called (by Finder) only **once** per file during a given computing session. To get this INIT to work differently would have required a lot more code (more patches, etc.), with all the attendant complications in terms of possible unseemly INIT interactions, and so on. Rather than add that mountain of extra code, I have left this thing as streamlined as I possibly can -- to the extent, even, of omitting a Desktop icon (no BNDL/FREF resources; please forbear). But again, let's not get technical. The important thing is, you now have a choice that you didn't have before: You can CHOOSE to put filetype & creator info in a file's Comment box (the first time you "comment" the file in question) . . . or you can put a regular comment in that file's Get Info window (per normal). This is more choice than System 7 ordinarily gives you (on such a simple matter). If you wonder about filetypes/creators, wonder no more.
Drag the Extension to your Extensions (or System) folder, restart your Mac, and then do a Shift-Command-'I' (Shift-Get-Info) on any file. That’s all there is to it.
DISCLAIMER
This INIT has been tested with all due diligence for incompatibilities with other software (none noted); HOWEVER, the software is provided for educational/informational purposes ONLY, at no cost to the user, and (therefore) NO warraties of any kind are made as to fitness for a particular purpose, etc. etc. blah-blah, nor will the author be held responsible for a darn thing in the world. You use this software at your own risk.
