Ever wonder how the finder comes up with that "Would you like to open this document with Teach Text?" message? Or ever been frustrated when you can't just click on MacWrite documents to get Microsoft Word to open them, and drag & drop won't work either?
There is hope. The 'fmap #17010' resource in the finder will do the trick. By specifying a document type and an associated application type in the 'fmap #17010' resource the finder will that document with the secified application.
Simply copy all TMPLs and ICONs from the "'fmap' templates" file to the file ResEdit Preferences in the folder Preferences in the System folder. You don´t need to install them into ResEdit directly. Once you do this your copy of ResEdit is ready to go.
Now say you want to open a MacWrite document but you don't have a copy of MacWrite, you have Microsoft Word. Make a copy of the Finder Preferences file AND the Finder (option-drag works well for this). Open the Finder and COPY the 'fmap' resource to the Finder Prefs file. You don't have to do this, you can modify the Finder directly, but that's bad practice. Once you've copied the 'fmap' resource to the Finder Prefs file you can modify the prefs file all you want. Open 'fmap #17010' and you will see 'TEXT' file with 'ttxt' type and 'PICT' files with 'ttxt' type. Then you can add 'WORD' with 'MSWD' to make the finder prompt you for opening MacWrite file with Microsoft Word.
