These are imposter applications. What does an •Imposter do? Well, how would you like to launch SuperPaint every time you double-click on a MacPaint document? Read on.
Imposters allow you to double-click on a document which belongs to an application you don’t possess and have that document opened by an application you DO possess. Thus, you avoid the Finder message, “An application could not be found for this document.”
But, wait! There’s more! Some benefits and examples follow.
#1: Two different applications
You have a MicroSoft Word document on your disk, but you don’t own a copy of the Word application. No problem. As long as the imposter •MS Word application is on your disk, you can double click on the Word document, and your favorite word processor will open the document instead.
#2: Different versions of the same document
You have a MacWrite (the original version) document on your disk, but you deleted your old copy of MacWrite when you installed the newer MacWrite II. The problem is that double-clicking this document will not open the MacWrite II application. This unfortunate situation is true for MacDraw (I and II) and MacPaint (I and II) as well. You must start the MacWrite II application first, then OPEN and import the old MacWrite document. You may save it in new MacWrite II format if you choose, but what a pain!
Once again, as long as the •MacWrite application is present, you can double-click on the old MacWrite document and force the new MacWrite application to open it instead.
#3: Unique icon for every document
If you download or otherwise acquire MacWrite style documents, you can’t tell what they are from their icons because, unless you have a copy of MacWrite on one of your disks, the MacWrite document icons will not show up; only the generic document icon. However, if you have an imposter application on your disk, posing as MacWrite, every MacWrite document will show up with its proper icon. This goes for the other imposters of every other application.
Directions
To set up any one of these files:
• Open the file with ResEdit
• Open the STR resource
• Change the application Name to the one you want to run.
• Change the Pathname to the one containing your application.
• Quit ResEdit and respond, “Yes” to the Save Changes? dialog.
Almost any kind of document can be opened by any kind of word processor or editor. Likewise, drawings and paintings can be opened by virtually any paint or draw program. For example, you could set up the MacPaint (?) imposter to launch SuperPaint every time you double-click on a MacPaint document.
This file contains imposters for the following applications:
•FullPaint (?)
•GraphicWorks (?)
•Laser Author (?)
•LightSpeed Pascal (?)
•MacDraft (?)
•MacDraw (?)
•MacPaint (?)
•MacWrite (?)
•MLS (?)
•Qued (?)
•MS Word (?)
•Xxxx (?) (template for your own creations)
If you wish to create further models using these files, please do so, and upload your final creations. You will need a file containing the icons you wish to use, and must know what you want the new application’s creator to be. You can easily get this info using ResEdit. If you have trouble, you can contact us via CompuServe.
These files supersede Al Heynneman’s original MWOPEN.SIT file for MacWrite document conversion. The original code for MacWrite (?) was not written by either of us, so no credit is taken for it. The other applications are our own creations, based on the original MacWrite code.
History
This application simulator comes with the following Version notice:
MacWrite Simulator (?)
(C)1988 by COMPUTER:applications, Inc.
written by Randy Ubillos
However, another version of the utility began life as Chameleon and contained the following Version notice:
MacWrite version. When a MacWrite document is opened by the Finder, it runs Disk/Folder1/Folder2/App instead.
• Name the copy the full pathname of whatever application you want
• Change its Creator type to the type of the application which created the documents you want to open
• Thereafter, whenever you double-click on a document, Chameleon will dutifully start the application you named it and pass to that application the document you double-clicked on.
Example:
• Make a copy of Chameleon
• Name the copy MyDisk:MyFolder:Nisus
• Change its Creator type to MACA (the Type of MacWrite 1.0).
• Double-click on a MacWrite 1.0 document, and Chameleon will dutifully start Nisus and have Nisus open the document which you double-clicked.
This method had the following disadvantages:
• It did not allow the orphan documents to show up with their proper icons.
• It could not display the name of the application which it was impersonating.
The new imposters eliminate both of these shortcomings.
