Default Folder is a control panel that lets you "link" a default folder to any application or desk accessory. When you launch a desk accessory or a linked application by itself (ie. not by double clicking on a document), Default Folder sets things up so the file dialog boxes initially open in your default folder.
Default Folder can also provide pop-up menus in the file dialog box to allow you to switch between folders and between volumes. The folder menu allows access to:
1) The current application or desk accessory's default folder.
2) Any one of the last 10 folders you used.
3) One of a reserved set of folders "locked" in the menu. The volume menu allows instant switching to any available volume. It also provides "smart volume switching." Default Folder remembers the last folder you accessed on each volume, and switches to that folder rather than to the top of the folder hierarchy when you change disks. This works with both the volume menu and the "Drive" button.
To use Default Folder's pop-up menus, simply place the mouse over the volume name in the file dialog and two pop-up menu buttons will appear. Push on the button with the folder icon for switching between folders, or the one with the disk icon for volume switching. Default Folder puts a little icon next to the disk icon to remind you where it is.
Default Folder's folder linking and smart volume switching features merely require HFS to operate, but you need to be running System 6.0 or higher to use the pop-up menus.
This control panel is shareware. If you use it, please send $20 (or more, if you like it that much…) to:
Jon Gotow
129 Iron Run Road
Bethel Park, PA 15102-1081
If you have a printer, you can print a registration form by using the "Print Registration Form" button above this text window. I'll then keep you up to date on any new releases or bug fixes as soon as they become available. For installations of more than one machine, site licenses are available. Please contact me for pricing information.
To all those who have registered in the past: Your support is greatly appreciated! Hearing your comments and feedback is very rewarding and helps steer the product in the direction you users want.
To all those who don't register: How 'bout it folks? You either use Default Folder or you don't, and if you do, chances are you use it all the time. How about helping to keep the Mac shareware business alive!
Default Folder is a copyrighted product and I retain sole rights to it. It is not to be redistributed for profit (with the exception of BBSes like GEnie and Compuserve) and is not to be bundled with any other product without my written consent.
In addition to the above address, I can be reached by electronic mail on the Internet at gotow@ansoft.com, through my GEnie login as J.GOTOW, and on Compuserve as 72330,3455 (I log into GEnie and Compuserve fairly infrequently, though).
The Default Folder control panel lets you create different "Link Sets," each with any number of linked applications and desk accessories, and any number of folders "locked" into Default Folder's pop-up menu in the Open and Save dialogs. To make a new set, click in the "New…" button. You will then be able to use the "Edit Set…" button to add applications, desk accessories and folders (see "Editing Link Sets" below). The "Delete" button simply deletes the selected link set (gee, wasn't that a tough one to figure out?). The "Prefs…" button is used to set preferences which control Default Folder's operation.
Note that the active link set (the one Default Folder uses) is the one you leave selected when you exit the control panel.
You can make several sets for different people, or one for work and one for programming, etc. Entire link sets can be duplicated by using the "Copy links from current set" check box in the "New…" dialog.
If you want to edit links by hand when, for example, you change the name of your hard drive, you can export and import link sets to and from text files using the "Export" and "Import" buttons. The file format is simple, and is documented in the file itself. The easiest way to learn about importing and exporting is simply to export an existing link set and look at the file - it's simply a table of links with the data separated by tabs. When importing, Default Folder will check all of the links as it imports them. If any of the folders don't exist, you'll get an error message and the link will probably not work (unless it's just on an unmounted disk or something, in which case Default Folder will figure it out later).
After clicking the "Edit Set…" button, you'll be presented with the link set editing dialog. To add applications or desk accessories to the link set, click "Add…". You'll be prompted to link a folder to each one as you add it. The "Link…" button can be used to change the linked folder of any application in the set. The "Delete" button does what you think it does.
Note that when adding desk accessories and applications, only desk accessories with a file type of DFIL (a Font/DA mover file) or dfil (a System 7.0 desk accessory) and applications with a file type APPL will normally be shown. For goofy INITs like Font/DA Juggler, and for desk accessories in your system file, click the "Show All Files" check box in the file selection dialog so you can pick from other file types.
The "Default…" button in the link set editing dialog generates a link that will apply to all applications and desk accessories not explicitly included in the link set. This can be useful if lots of people use your Mac and you want their documents to go into a "Miscellaneous Trash" folder or to the Desktop if they don't know what they're doing - just like what Apple's At Ease product does when you save a file.
The list of locked folders can be modified using the "Add&Lock" and "Remove" buttons next to the list. These folders will be permanent choices in the pop-up menu which Default Folder puts into your file dialog boxes.
To save any changes you've made during the editing session, click on the "Save" button. If you click "Done" without first saving, the Link Editor will ask you if you want to save your changes.
Quick Hint #769: Holding down the option key while clicking the Delete, Remove, and Done buttons bypasses the normal warnings.
The "Prefs…" button in the control panel displays a list of preferences you can control:
1) Use default folder even when launched by double-clicking on a document. This forces Default Folder to switch to your default folder even if you start an application by double-clicking on a document. Normally this isn't desirable, but for Mac managers trying to keep people from saving files on a server or in application folders, this can be useful.
2) Show Default Folder cursor during disk access. This is primarily to show you how much overhead you're incurring by using Default Folder (see #3a). This feature may break with future system releases - it uses some techniques not officially sanctioned by the ATP (Apple Thought Police).
3) Put pop-up menu in file dialogs. Checking this option tells Default Folder to put its pop-up menu in all file dialog boxes. The next two options modify the pop-up menu's behavior. Note that you need to be running System 6.0 or later to use this feature.
3a) Auto-remove deleted folders from menu. Before a file dialog comes up, Default Folder will normally check to see if all the folders in its menu still exist. If any have been deleted, it removes them from its pop-up menu. This is very friendly, but a bit slow (especially on a network) since Default Folder must look at the disk to see if each of the folders exists. Unchecking this box defeats this, making the file dialogs a little more speedy, but you may occasionally end up with nonexistent folders in the menu (this doesn't do any harm - it just ain't pretty).
3b) Include recently used folders in menu. Default Folder will keep track of the last ten folders you've used and offer them as menu selections if you so desire. Check this box to enable this "history" tracking.
4) Use command key without pop-up menu. Even if you don't use the pop-up menu, you can have the benefit of command-key switching to an application's default folder. Using this option results in a "hidden feature" in your file dialog boxes - a bit of an anti-user-friendly practice in my opinion, but for the purists who don't want the little Default Folder button, this option is available.
5) Command key to switch to the default folder of the current application. There's a command key equivalent to switch to the current application's default folder, if one exists. Typing any letter changes this command key.
• Thanks, Acknowledgements, and Other Ramblings:
Default Folder was inspired primarily by the gripes and vision of a friend of mine, Adel Assaad. I'd like to thank him for his contributions to both the conceptual and user interface design.
Thanks to Adel, John, John, and John for beta testing.
Thanks to Paul Mercer for his ShowInit code.
Thanks to Michael Kahl and all the folks who made THINK C the most fantastic development environment around. Four second turnaround is great for testing all those minor little changes you always make at the end.
TMON Pro is wonderful - thanks to ICOM Simulations. If you program and you don't own TMON Pro, you're wasting a lot of time….
"Thanks" to Microsoft, who's programmers seem to have a wonderful knack for making all other programmers' lives a little more difficult. They have their own special little piece of code in Default Folder's INIT, just to handle their "different" philosophy about the Mac toolbox.
Finally, the biggest thanks have to go to my wife, Jessica, for putting up with me disappearing into the study for hours (days?) at a time. Really, I promise I'll take out the garbage right after this one last change…
