Version 1.6.5 Bloomsday 16 June 1998 窶 Gorgonzola sandwich anyone?
Hello and welcome to the slightly better organised manual, formed by taking the old ReadMe and banging at it with a piece of two-by-four. Complaints, clarifications, bugs, omissions, rephrasings of my deathless 窶 if only for sheer turgidity 窶 and tenebrous prose all welcome at turly@geocities.com.
See also the webpage at http://bounce.to/turly (a bit easier to remember than all that wretched geocities gobbledegook, even if you do have to look at an advertisement for five seconds窶ｦ)
Unfortunately, my spare time is at a premium as I窶冦 trying to find somewhere to live and dealing with banks/solicitors/estate agents, etc., has me coming out in a rash. (A minor update 窶 I thought I窶囘 found somewhere reasonable, put a deposit on it but never signed anything, paid large amounds of dosh for legal fees, valuation fees and structural survey, etc., and have now been told that the vendor doesn't want to sell it after all. 10 weeks wasted and now I have to start all over again, dammit. 25-May-98 Update: Argh! Dammit! 窶 It窶冱 happened again! Different house, same old crud 窶 and on the very day we were due to exchange contracts! Look for a news item on your TV screens soon involving a deranged programmer, a 100 gallon vat of custard, a bicycle pump, and the entire population of Cork estate agents :-/ Meanwhile, the search continues窶ｦ
What is it?
FinderPop 1.6.5 extends the Mac OS 8 Finder窶冱 contextual menus. Features include: user-selectable contextual menu font/size/icon size, automagic CM popup by clicking and holding without having to press the control key, and a number of optional submenus 窶 including Processes, contents of selected folder, Finder windows, FinderPop, and Desktop. Additionally, it enhances navigation via the Standard File dialogs.
Features
Just thought I窶囘 list the major features of FinderPop here, as this manual has become very badly organised (窶彙adly disorganised窶?)窶ｦ
窶｢ Control-free CMM popup 窶 just click and hold 窶 now works in many more apps; apple data detectors become even handier! You can now (1.5.9) turn this on or off on a per-application basis; FinderPop adds an item to the 窶廩elp窶 menu for all apps except the Finder.
窶｢ Command-click (or click and hold) a folder to get a popup of its contents (or command-control-click for an immediate contents popup.) [1.6.1] You can now grab, get info, trash or show an item from a contents popup.
窶｢ Selectable Font/Size for FinderPop submenus
窶｢ Process, Contents, Windows, FinderPop and Desktop submenus
窶｢ Move, Copy, Alias or Open items selected in Finder to any item in the FinderPop hierarchy (see Power User Topics chapter)
窶｢ Control-clicking or clicking and holding in any unused menubar area pops up CMM in any app
窶｢ Grab and drag 窶 窶徃rab窶 an item in a FinderPop menu by pressing 窶賂窶 while it窶冱 selected, then drag it around to do with as you will窶ｦ
窶｢ Standard File enhancement 窶 click and hold on a folder in Standard File to see (and select from) its contents!
窶｢ You can now select items from the FinderPop menus (e.g., by control-clicking an unused portion of the menubar) while the Standard File dialogs are up 窶 whatever you select will be 窶徙pened.窶
What窶冱 New?
FinderPop 1.6.5 (Bloomsday 16 June)
窶｢ Fix Prefs saving problem for turning control-free popup on or off via the item in the Help Menu (it wouldn窶冲 be saved to disk unless the FinderPop control panel was opened before shutdown.) As we say in the trade, 窶廛uhhhh.窶
窶｢ Optionally allow clicking-and-holding on a folder or disk in the Finder to popup a Contents menu rather than a contextual menu 窶 this behaviour is more in line with what PopupFolder users expect. Apparently. Control-clicking a folder will bring up the normal contextual menu in all cases.
窶｢ Be a bit smarter about generic icon sizing 窶 if the font is big enough (read: 12 point or greater), use 16*16 generic icons instead of the much more limited 16*12 mini icons (of which there are far fewer in the System file.)
窶｢ Optimise things a bit more.
窶｢ WorldScript II and FinderPop: Peter Hartmann sends his latest findings (see the 窶廝ugs and Features窶 chapter) which more-or-less exonerates FinderPop. Yay! Which, unfortunately, doesn窶冲 do much for his unhappy situation. Boo!
FinderPop 1.6.4 (Tues 9 June) Fix problem reported by Stephen Giles involving opening files within ResEdit using FinderPop窶冱 contents popup menu during the file open dialog. ResEdit would insist the file was damaged beyond repair (it lies 窶 the file was perfect, and opening it 窶從ormally窶 worked without problems.) Additionally, control-command-clicking a folder inside a file open dialog窶冱 file list should now have the same effect as command- clicking 窶 this is specially to please all six people on the planet who have four-button mice.
FinderPop 1.6.3 (Mon 8 June) Be smarter about the help balloon (command- option) file info stuff 窶 still not 100%, but improved quite a bit. Moving the mouse outside the selected menu item while FinderPop is generating the folder submenu for that item will now abort the submenu generation. Option-clicking a process from the process menu now hides the current process before switching to the selected process; New Logo graphics courtesy of Carlos, merci bien. Slightly more snazzy and shameless Aboutbox. Command-clicking somewhere in a standard file dialog box窶冱 file list now works regardless of the setting of the 窶廣uto CMM Popup delay.窶 A few other minor fixes. Have just spent a marathon 7 hour Macsbug session 窶冲il 3:30AM chasing one heisenbug, and still haven窶冲 squished it. Moan. Grumble. Gripe. I窶冦 off to get some sleep窶ｦ
FinderPop 1.6.2 (Fri 15 May) Fix bug whereby quitting the Finder causes nasty things to happen the next time a contextual menu is invoked.
Fix bug in standard file stuff where, under certain circumstances, no folders would show up in the file list. Be a bit smarter about switching to the Finder 窶 cuts down unnecessary switches to Finder immediately followed by switches to something else; speeds things up a bit...
In addition to displaying the 窶廨et Info窶 cursor when holding down command and option over a menu item, FinderPop will now also display a little help balloon giving some basic information about the file under the mouse (alpha stage, may not work correctly all the time!)
Some other news:
WorldScript II 窶 after some stout detective work by Peter Hartmann, this extension causes FinderPop to behave badly if you press 窶廨窶 to 窶廨rab and Drag窶 an item from a FinderPop menu. I窶冦 looking into it.
Apple Data Detectors and non-US keyboard layouts news: According to Timo Orre: 窶廬 just want to add that if you use Contextual Menu Enabler extension version 1.0.2 (the previous version), it works fine for non-US keyboard layouts (but without the possibility to turn it off in applications). Unfortunately I dont know a publicly-accessible download site for it.窶
FinderPop 1.6.1 (Sun 10 May) Add option to not colourise an item窶冱 text if it has a label (any icon will always be label-coloured.) You窶冤l never guess to which already horrendously overcrowded dialog I had to add yet another checkbox. Sigh. Pretty soon you'll need a 1024*768 screen to view it.
Also fix embarrassing bug whereby both the 窶弃opup near窶ｦ窶 items stopped working. Additionally, you can now 窶廨rab窶, get info, show or move to trash any item selected from a 窶徘ure窶 Contents popup 窶 i.e., a popup got by command- control- clicking a folder.
May-01-98: The last version窶冱 窶彡ontest窶 has been won by Lawrence Guzzetta, who identified Thomas 窶弃rozac窶 Hardy as the author of the poem from which the phrase 窶廣h no, the years, the years窶ｦ窶 comes, and provided 窶徭ee, the white storm birds wing across.窶 as the next line (actually, Hardy has some pretty natty, if depressing, lines in that poem 窶 窶廣h no, the years, o; / Down their carved names the raindrop ploughs.窶) These lines have stuck with me since I last read the poem (at school in 1983!) Perhaps Hardy窶冱 the Leonard Cohen of the 窶90s 窶 the 1890s. Anyhow, enough of my witterings and on to the prizegiving ceremony proper: If ever FinderPop goes explicitly 窶弃intware窶 again, Lawrence, feel quite free to check that little 窶廬 got turly a pint窶 checkbox窶ｦ!
FinderPop 1.6.0 (Weds 29 April 窶 my birthday!) fixes some bugs (and hopefully doesn窶冲 introduce any.) Sorry it took so long to get this one out 窶 been up the walls with 窶徨eal窶 work, I窶冦 afraid, and had two weekend stag parties to attend (yee窶派aaa!)
Rewrite icon gathering/drawing code. We now support label colours and no longer interfere with an app窶冱 own menu icons. FinderPop now works as you窶囘 expect with apps other than the Finder that expose file aliases (such as DragThing 2.5.) Still some work needing to be done to the icon stuff 窶 including speed increases.
Choosing the 窶廰argest Block窶 item from the Process menu now shows the 窶廣bout this Computer窶 Finder window.
窶｢窶｢Things to note: QuicKeys窶 窶弃op up Menu窶 extension is incompatible with FinderPop. I窶冦 looking into it. Also, Jan Skarbek alerts me to the fact that Apple Data Detectors 1.0.2 won窶冲 work properly unless you窶决e using a US keyboard layout.
This version窶冱 competition is (as it will be from now on): name the poet and complete the quotation at the top of this page (following the date.) The use of Internet Search Engines is not allowed. The first person to email me with the correct answer wins a free copy of FinderPop! :-)
FinderPop 1.5.9 (Tuesday 17 Mar 窶 the St. Patrick窶冱 Day 窶弃addy MacHackery窶 special) allows you to selectively toggle control-free popups on a per-application basis.
It works by adding a menu item to the Help menu, much as Apple Data Detectors does; this means that Jigsaw Puzzle* and a few other apps (hopefully including Escape Velocity) become usable again when 窶彡ontrol-free popups in all apps窶 is enabled.
Bit of a rewrite of the low-level patches to be more stable in the presence of QuicKeys, etc. Hopefully I haven窶冲 broken anything in the process...
Better popup menu positioning algorithms. Decouple 窶廢mpty Trash窶 item from the Desktop submenu code. Better Prefs File format 窶 hopefully this will be future proof窶ｦ (famous last words).
FinderPop 1.5.8 (Thursday 26 Feb) fixes a problem with the Menuette control panel (among other things.)
[Saturday night, 4:15 AM] A Paddy MacHackery special: you can now click-and-hold on an existing selection in most applications without the dreaded 窶徙h no! my selection has become deselected窶 just before the contextual menu pops up窶ｦ
You can now Command-Control-click a folder in the Finder for an immediate contents popup. In Standard File dialogs, command-clicking a folder in the list will bring an immediate contents popup.
Note new Apple Data Detectors address: http://applescript.apple.com/data_detectors/
FinderPop 1.5.7 (Friday 13 Feb 窶背ooo! tempting fate or what?) should be a tiny bit quicker and a good bit more robust. Also, you can now command-click and hold a folder in the Finder to get a popup of its contents. Revampledﾂｰ one or two sections of the manual (the website address may be changing soon...)
Still haven窶冲 had the spare time to implement the new 窶徼abbed窶 user interface, I窶冦 afraid...
FinderPop 1.5.6 (30 Jan) does a better job of enhancing the standard file dialogs 窶 click and hold on a folder in a file Open窶ｦ or Save窶ｦ dialog and be presented with a popup menu displaying the folder窶冱 contents; select a file from it and, voila, it窶冱 opened!
The Standard File 窶廚ontents窶 popup menus should now work as expected in all cases (thanks to John Gotow for a handy hint 窶 I owes ya a pint, John :-).
The 窶廚ontents窶 submenu, which normally only appears if you have selected a folder in the Finder, can now be made to appear if you just click in a Finder window (without selecting anything.) This can be handy if you just want to 窶忻iew by name窶 quickly in order to locate something.
You can now have an optional 窶弃ut Away窶 menu item, for when you窶况e selected something in the Finder whose 窶徂ome窶 directory isn窶冲 where it currently is. This also works for disks and network volumes 窶 just like selecting 窶弃ut Away窶 from the File Menu. I was amazed at the number of people who asked for this 窶 lads, in all fairness, have yez considered pressing Command-Y? But it was easy to add, so I did :-).
Finally, I made a number of other improvements 窶 hopefully I haven窶冲 broken anything in the process. The 窶廴ore Settings窶 user interface 窶 to which you窶冤l have recourse if you want to use any of the new features here 窶 is getting worse; I窶冤l have to redesign the entire control panel when the 窶廴ore Settings窶 dialog starts getting too big for a 640*400 monitor (which should be about March/April at the current rate of progress.)
FinderPop 1.5.5 (8 Jan) was the initial attempt at enhancing the standard file Open/Close dialogs.
FinderPop 1.5.4 (2 Jan) was only released as an alpha (well, actually, two alphas) with some very hairy bugs.
FinderPop 1.5.3 (8 Dec) should fix the 窶廢mpty Trash窶 bug introduced in the last version. Sorry about that窶ｦ
If you窶决e one of the kind people who窶况e localised FinderPop and want to do this version, the only thing that窶冱 changed from 1.5.1 is the addition of the 窶廢mpty Trash窶 string in the STRs resource.
FinderPop 1.5.2 (24 Nov) is the latest entrant in my attempt to keep the great volunteer crew of localisers busy 窶 nothing窶冱 changed on the UI front, lads! :-)
It fixes a number of minor bugs, adds an 窶廢mpty Trash窶 feature (only if you have the 窶廛esktop窶 submenu enabled.) 窶廨rabbing窶 should now work all the time instead of intermittently as it did previously.
Oh yeah, a number of people didn窶冲 know that you can cancel any drag-and-drop operation by 窶彭ropping窶 the item being dragged into the menubar, so I thought it might be worth mentioning.
Additionally, it窶冱 probably a good idea to highlight the fact that you need Apple窶冱 Internet Address Detector stuff (available at
http://applescript.apple.com/data_detectors/) to get FinderPop working in non CMM-aware apps. Note that IAD is incompatible with some apps such as Quark XPress which use Control-Clicking 窶 John Moe, moejo@post.uwstout.edu, has written a freebie control panel, IADD, which lets you turn off IAD for selected apps. It窶冱 available at http://www.luminet.net/~dmoe/iadd.sit.hqx
Thank you Mr. Moe.
Matthieu Baudoux, matthieub@skynet.be, has kindly set up *FinderPop Announce*, a read-only mailing list to which you might like to subscribe in order to receive information about the availability of new versions of FinderPop.
To subscribe, send a mail to <requests@lists.qwentes.be> with the following message in the body of your mail :
subscribe finderpop
To unsubscribe, send a mail to <requests@lists.qwentes.be> with the following message in the body of your mail :
unsubscribe finderpop
FinderPop 1.5.1 should improve stability, and fixes a couple of bugs.
FinderPop 1.5 final (5 Nov) is the same as 1.5f11 with just a name change. I will post this to InfoMac, and will contact the people who volunteered to localise FinderPop to ask them to localise this version.
Hey, by the way, did you know that there have been 窶 count 窶册m 窶 18 versions of FinderPop in the last 13 weeks? Now I窶冦 heading back to Cork and a social life, this rate will be somewhat reduced窶ｦ :-)
FinderPop 1.5f11 hopefully fixes a problem with St. Clair Software窶冱 nifty-looking Sleeper control panel (and probably a few other apps also.)
Went to an interesting Halloween party in Oakland窶ｦ Quite entertaining; everyone there seemed to be enjoying themselves; some of the music was quite good, too! Didn窶冲 think much of yer man Josh Wink, though ;-)
FinderPop 1.5f10 fixes a couple of embarrassing bugs (eg, you were not able to switch off the 窶彡licking in unused menubar area窶 feature) Implements new algorithm to check whether a piece of menubar real estate is, in fact, 窶忖nused.窶 Sports a new, snazzy-looking icon courtesy of Will Cosgrove.
Unless people report major showstopping bugs, this will become 1.5 FINAL next week. (Or unless I go mad over the weekend and start implementing new stuff...)
Oh yeah, one other thing, would the person who posted 1.5f7 to InfoMac using my name and email address please desist? I know you meant well, but I was hoping to give 窶册m 1.5 Final instead of all these half-baked version numbers. If you do think it窶冱 worthwhile to post an interim version, please do so with your name, not mine! Thank you.
FinderPop 1.5f9 has a completely rewritten low-level trap patching mechanism in an attempt to get it working in apps other than the Finder. This works relatively well for non-CMM-aware apps if used in conjunction with Apple窶冱 Internet Data Detectors (available at
http://applescript.apple.com/data_detectors/). Grabbing seems to work a bit more reliably (and in colour!) One minor tweak to the font stuff might make things even better for OS8/J users. You can now control-click (or click and hold) in the unused portion of the menubar and have the Contextual Menu drop down. Lots of other minor tweaks, etc. If there are no showstopping bugs (hah!), I窶冤l release this version as 1.5 Final next week (and would-be localisers can contact me then.)
As usual, you窶冤l have to pay a visit to the ever more crowded 窶廴ore Settings窶 dialog to enable some of these features.
Just back from a weekend in San Diego. One cool city, and I don't mean that in the thermal sense 窶 the weather was superb; the thermometer didn窶冲 say so, but the sun seemed to be far hotter there than it is up here in Cupertino. Even ran into a FinderPop user in a pub (Hi Tim, and thanks for the pints!) Small world.
FinderPop 1.5f8 should fix the odd font behaviour seen by Japanese users, plus a couple of other bugs. It also adds a first stab at 窶廨rabbing窶 窶 press the 窶賂窶 key when you have something selected in a FinderPop submenu, and you can pick it up and drag it around the Finder, to do with what you will.
My apologies for the user interface, which is again becoming more cluttered. I will redesign this sometime after I get back to Cork in mid-November.
A 窶廴arketing Slogans窶 chapter has been added. I窶况e made the 窶弩hat窶冱 New窶 section blue to make it stand out.
On a brighter note, it may interest regular readers of the FinderPop saga that I finally found a place that sells Beamish Stout on draught in San Francisco! My first pint of Beamish since August 4! <f/x: lip-smacking sounds> And it wasn窶冲 bad, either 窶 better than their Guinness, anyway, although I suspect my tastebuds were in tatters by that stage. I think the place was called 窶廰ucky 13窶 or something (possibly at Market and Church?) In any event, I recommend that any fine beer connoisseurs amongst you give this stout a try. One caveat: an ideal pint of Beamish (would be 20 fluid ounces, but that's another matter :-) should have a creamy 窶彡ollar窶 less than 1 inch high, and not a three-inch job like they gave me. Or tried to 窶 once they heard my accent I think they realised I wasn窶冲 some gullible non-stout drinker...
FinderPop 1.5f7 hopefully ïｬ』es the odd behaviour seen by some unfortunates in the 窶廛esktop窶 submenu.
FinderPop 1.5f6 ïｬ』es the embarassing 窶脇very alias is italicised窶 bug; sorry about that. As we say in the trade, 窶廛uhh.窶
FinderPop 1.5f5 should fix the menu font/size problems that some people were experiencing. I tried about five different ways before finally remembering the way the old comms toolbox MDEF did it. Duhhh. It also finally implements the Desktop submenu.
I窶冤l have to redesign the user interface some more, but I thought I窶囘 get the bugs fixed first.
FinderPop 1.5f4 was released only to a couple of people who窶囘 experienced bugs 窶 basically testing a couple of bugfixes.
FinderPop 1.5f3 is now freeware! This version should fix the annoying 窶彡ouldn窶冲 load code fragment窶 startup errors which some people were getting. It also adds a first stab at some extra features; these will be expanded over the coming weeks.
FinderPop 1.5f2 is no longer 窶弃intWare窶, I have contacted those who have registered so I can return their registrations. It is now freeware again! Because I窶冦 currently working for Apple, this is probably the best way to avoid any perceived conflict of interest. Although this will probably change! In fact, it has, but not so窶冱 anyone would notice 窶 see the last page of this manual for details.
FinderPop 1.5f1 ïｬ』es a couple of cosmetic mini-icon bugs, and allows application launching to occur from the main menu even if there is no Process menu (thanks, Stephen Giles.)
FinderPop 1.5f0 has a revamped and simplified user interface, and allows you to display the FinderPop Items embedded directly inside the Finder窶冱 contextual popup menu as opposed to inside a 窶廡inderPop窶 submenu. 1.5f0 also supports generic icons and selectable menu fonts and sizes, and has a number of other bugfixes.
Oh yeah, it窶冱 also 窶弃intWare窶 窶 it窶冱 still free, but if you窶囘 like the opportunity to express your gratitude and get me a couple of pints, you can do so by registering it via Kagi for $7 (the price of two US pints of Murphy窶冱 in Fibbar Magee窶冱 窶 hey, why are US pints a wimpy 16 fluid ounces? :-). You are under no obligation to register it; this is strictly for the people who wanted to send me 窶徭omething cool窶, but got put off by the postage costs, hassle, etc.
There is no functional difference between PintWare-registered and 窶從ormal窶 FinderPops. Other than the glowing feeling in the depths of your soul if you got me a pint, that is.
See the FinderPop AboutBox or the last page of this manual for details.
What窶冱 Coming?
Christmas, and the goose is getting fat. (A free copy of FinderPop to the first person who emails me with the next line to that piece of doggerel. Apr-01-98: This 窶彡ontest窶 has been won by Phil Hudson, who emailed all the way from sunny Botswana, correctly replying 窶弃lease put a penny in the old man's hat.窶 If ever FinderPop goes 窶弃intware窶 again, Phil, feel quite free to check that little 窶廬 bought turly a pint窶 checkbox窶ｦ!)
More and more features. I now have a feature 窶忤ish list窶 the length of my arm (but still welcome other submissions.) Certain features of the late and apparently much lamented PopupFolder are well represented in this list. Some of the more obvious features which should eventually appear:
窶｢ Grab-and-drag 窶 窶徃rabbing窶 an item from within a FinderPop submenu will 窶徘ick it up窶; you窶冤l then be able to drag the icon around as if you窶囘 picked it up in the Finder. Hopefully 窶 this is still being worked out.
窶｢ Advanced FinderPop Settings 窶 a new dialog which will allow you to fine-tune various aspects of FinderPop operation.
窶｢ Memory 窶 if you opened a document with a certain application last time, and control-click a document of the same type again, FinderPop will remember this and automagically add the application to the main CMM menu, and have the mouse positioned over the relevant item in the menu, so all you need do is release the mouse button.
窶｢ Disable inappropriate applications 窶 if you have a Finder icon selected, inappropriate apps will be disabled or removed from the FinderPop submenu. (E.g., SimpleText isn窶冲 really appropriate for Word documents, so why present you with the choice?)
窶｢ Ability for FinderPop to operate in applications other than the Finder.
This could build on Apple窶冱 new Internet Address Detector stuff窶ｦ
窶｢ Embedded Application Menus 窶 i.e., have the Finder menus appear in the CMM popup menu. A minor convenience, but one that a number of people have asked for.
窶｢ Background Menu Caching 窶 FinderPop submenus will be capable of being built in the background during idle time.
窶｢ More options for menu organisation (along the lines of Fabien Octave窶冱 cool BeHierarchic, which I had never seen until today 窶 thanks, AA.)
Feel quite free to contact me with feature requests (see the last chapter, 窶廚ontact Info窶), but please don窶冲 expect miracles. There窶冱 only one of me 窶 admittedly quite a bit more of me now after thirteen weeks of American-sized meals, and no soccer matches three times a week窶ｦ
______
* What amazes me is that someone actually used Jigsaw Puzzle and noticed the bug.
ﾂｰ Whaddya mean 窶彝evampled窶 isn窶冲 a word? :-) "Revamped" + "Trampled" = "Revampled". So there.
