This is an application program to change the creation and/or modification date time of any Macintosh files or folders. It is like Unix command ﾒtouchﾓ. To run the program, it requires System 7.1 or later. Under System 7.5, touchMe is also AppleScriptable and allows to accept drag & drop operations. The program is written under the Metrowerksﾕ C++ application framework of PowerPlant.
Why is needed touchMe?
I have been using this program for these two years in private to set the right date time stamps of archive files that I downloaded. The reason I want to change the date time stamps is that the archive files can have the correct date time corresponding to their original files. There may be a way to do this with ResEdit, but using touchMe is more practical.
CASE 1 such that you have the archive file and the original file in the same folder. To set the date time stamp of archive file to the one of original, select both files, but the original file must be the first, and drag & drop them onto the touchMe application icon.
CASE 2 such that these files are located in different folders or volumes. A nice tip to set the date time stamps. On running the touchMe application, select and drag & drop the original file into the window area of touchMe application to fetch its date time stamp. And then select the archive file and drag & drop it onto the touchMe application icon.
How to use it?
First of all, you should setup the optional switches of touchMe program, which are listed below;
[x] to Update creation / modification date...
･ to the current date time
･ to [exact date time]
･ to fetch the first item
･ to fetch the first item, and set
These settings are automatically stored to touchMe preferences file when you quit by ﾒOKﾓ button.
Second, select and drag & drop the files or folders onto the touchMe application icon. Or, with the option-key pressed, you can drag & drop them in the touchMe window area, instead. During a drag & drop with option-key pressed, the command ﾒtouchﾓ and ﾒfetchﾓ are exchanged temporarily each other. Then all the files you selected are changed to have the same creation and/or modification date time. You can confirm it in Finderﾕs ﾒGet Infoﾓ dialog.
How work the switches?
･ to the current date time
All the files or folders you selected are to have the same current date time.
･ to [exact date time]
Enter the date time, like as ﾒ8/1/96ﾓ for date and ﾒ12:34:56ﾓ for time. There are four ways to set these date time fields as follows.
1) Type in the date time strings. Please be careful to enter them in the right date time format.
2) Push a tiny button at top-right corner to get the present time.
3) Press the option-key when you open or drag & drop the file (or folder). The date time stamp is fetched from the target file (or folder) and is set to the fields properly.
4) Under System 7.5, drag & drop the file (or folder) directly in the touchMe window. When the dragged item has entered the window area, all the fields are turned hilited to indicate to accept its date time stamp. In particular, each field is also sensitive to accept and fetch the date or time stamp separately from the dropped item.
ﾊ
･ to fetch the first item
touchMe can fetch the date time stamp of the ﾒfirstﾓ item among the files (or folders) you selected. Well, what does it mean the ﾒfirstﾓ? It may differ under the various conditions by which view you open the Finderﾕs folder.
1) View by Small Icon or Icon; The first item is the one you selected the first. You may choose additional files or folders as the followers by clicking them with shift-key pressed.
2) View by Name, Size, Kind or Date; The first item is the one which is listed at the topmost column in the list window. The order may not be changed even if you choose the items separately by shift-clicking.
･ to fetch the first item, and set
It works the same to above switch, and additionally to set the date time stamp of the first item to the fields.
AppleScript commands
Required Suite:
open alias -- touch the items
print alias -- (do nothing)
run -- Sent to an application when it is double-clicked
quit -- Quit application
touchMe Suite:
get prefs creation/modification -- get the current settings
Result: prefs -- list of current settings
set prefs creation/modification to prefs -- set the new settings
load prefs -- load the settings from the preferences file
save prefs -- save the settings to the preferences file
touch alias -- touch the items
fetch alias -- fetch the item, and set the date time settings
Result: time stamp -- list of creation and modification date time
Class prefs: Settings information
Properties:
enabled true/false
flag current/exact/firstone/firstset
value date value
Class time stamp: creation and modification date time
Properties:
creation date date value
modification date date value
Example: A droplet to change the creation date to the current date, and the modification date according to the first file
on open (docList)
tell application "touchMe"
set theDate to current date
set xDate to date "8/1/96 12:34:56"
set prefs creation to {enabled:true, flag:exact, value:theDate}
set prefs modification to {enabled:true, flag:firstone}
touch docList
quit
end tell
end open
Revision history
･ v.1.1.1, published on August 8, 1996
- New. During a drag & drop operation with option-key pressed, the command ﾒtouchﾓ and ﾒfetchﾓ are exchanged temporarily each other.
- New. Four date time fields are sensitive to accept items separately.
- New. It remembers the last window position on quit by ﾒCancelﾓ.
- Bug. A well-known (but, I didnﾕt know:-) MacOS bug on using colored alert boxes is fixed. Thanks to Rokkaku Fumio who presented me with a nice solution.
- New. Enabled the ﾒClose Boxﾓ in the window title that works as ﾒCancelﾓ button, and the help menu item of the desktop menu bar.
- New. Added some practical AppleScript samples.
- Bug. Corrected a typo, a wrong file name for ﾒtouchMe Prefsﾓ.;-)
- Special thanks to Jim van Zee who has always encouraged me in this project and made some cool suggestions to cover the problems.
･ v.1.1, published on August 1, 1996
All the programs were rewritten for the Metrowerksﾕ C++ application framework PowerPlant of CodeWarrior.
･ v.1.0, first released on March 9, 1994
The first version of the program, originally written in Symantecﾕs THINK-C.
The package includes...
1. touchMe -- a fat-binary application program
2. touchMe readme -- just this file you are reading
3. touchMe scripts -- sample AppleScript code using with touchMe
4. touchMe source -- source code in CodeWarrior DR9 PowerPlant
This is a freeware program. You can distribute it without any limitations nor permissions.
Bug reports
If you have any questions, suggestions or problems, please feel free to contact me via e-mail;
<mailto:mizutori@ai.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp>
<mailto:mizutori@po.iijnet.or.jp>
The latest versions of my software are available at my following WWW page;
