Picon lets you pick an icon for a folder based on the contents of that folder. Drag and drop a folder onto Picon and it will let you select one of the top ten icons that reside in that folder. These icons can be copied verbatim, or optionally "folder-ized" (ala Folder Icon Maker).
For example, dragging my plain old Documents folder onto Picon brings up a list of icons including the Microsoft Word documents icon, the MacPaint document icon, the ClarisWorks text document icon, and various other things. I select the MacPaint document icon and check "Make Folders" to see what the folderized version looks like. Satisfied, I click "Set Icon". My Documents folder now has a little MacPaint document on the front.
Thanks to everyone who as given me feedback on previous versions!
Changes Since 1.1
— Contained aliases handled.
— Fixed bug which gave bad icons on incomplete suites.
— Special types (font/sound/etc.) fixed (thanks to author of GetFileIcon).
— New and improved icon (thanks Adam)!
Changes Since 1.0
— "Make Folder" remembers previous setting.
— Better Finder updating (with thanks to Jareth).
— Multiple folder drop only takes first folder.
The Skinny
1) Drag and drop a folder onto Picon. A dialog pops up with a list of icons contained in that folder. More about this list later.
2) Select an icon which you find descriptive, yet aesthetically pleasing. Optionally check "Make Folders" to have Picon create a "folder-ized" version of that icon.
3) Hit "Set Icon" to copy the selected icon to the folder, or hit "Cancel" to exit, leaving the folder unchanged. The new icon may not appear until the next time the Finder starts up.
The Icon List
Picon displays a list of ten icons contained within the folder. How does it pick these icons? First, applications float to the top of the list. Second, the icons are sorted by frequency. For example, if there is a folder with 114 icons, only one of which is an application, and 100 of which are the same, the application and 100x icon will definitely appear on the list.
Other Features
When an icon is selected, hit Command-C to copy it to the clipboard. You can then paste it in later using the Finder's Get Info command.
Potential Problems
Picon has been tested on a few configurations. These include a PowerBook 180, a PowerMac 6100, and also System 7.0, 7.1, and 7.5.
The only known problem involves updating the icon in the Finder. In most cases (except when creating a custom icon for the first time) the Finder will not realize the icon has been updated. This may be solved in the future using AppleScript, but that is a limited solution. I don't think there is much I can do about this problem. The new icon will definitely appear the next time the Finder starts up.
With the default memory partition of 350k, Picon can read a directory with 55 distinct icons. Above that, you should probably give it more memory - it might crash. The next version will have better error handling in this case.
Known Bugs
— Long folder names don't appear in main dialog (with thanks to Matt).
— Multiple drags could be better.
— Always gets icon of alias's original, not alias's icon.
About Picon And Me
Picon is freeware. It can be distributed anywhere by anyone, as long as this Readme travels with.
I'm a sophomore at Brown University. While this is not my first exposure to Macintosh programming, this is my first freeware release. I've been thinking about writing some other simple icon utilities. I don't like the current method of having a huge folder which contains lots of nifty icons. Like Picon, I expect these to be short and sweet.
