Keys Defined by the Finder

These keys are used by the Mac OS X Finder to store important information about a bundle. Among other things, the Finder uses these properties to locate and display an application's icon and recognize associated document types.

CFBundleName . The human-readable name of the bundle suitable for displaying in UI. This key is usually in the InfoPlist.strings file since it needs to be localized.

CFBundlePackageType . The four-letter MacOS-style type code for the bundle. This is 'APPL' for applications, 'FMWK' for frameworks, and 'BNDL' for generic bundles. You can choose a more specific type code for generic bundles.

CFBundleSignature . The four-letter MacOS-style "creator" code for the bundle.

CFBundleIconFile . The name of the bundle resource that contains the icon to be used to display this bundle in the Finder (or other applications).

CFBundleShortVersionString . A human-readable description of the bundle's version. This should be more than just the string that can be generated from the CFBundleVersion key, if present. This key is usually in the InfoPlist.strings file since it needs to be localized.

CFBundleGetInfoString . A human-readable plain text Get Info string. This key is usually in the InfoPlist.strings file since it needs to be localized.

CFBundleGetInfoHTML . A human-readable HTML Get Info string. This key is usually in the InfoPlist.strings file since it needs to be localized. This can be provided instead of the plain text CFBundleGetInfoString if you want a richer representation.

CFBundleDocumentTypes . An array of the type definitions for any types an application understands. The array contains a list of dictionaries. Each dictionary defines a type. These keys are currently supported in the type dictionary:

  • CFBundleTypeName . The abstract name for this document type. This is the main way to refer to a particular type. Conventions for the abstract name are not yet fully defined. This name is also used as a key in the InfoPlist.strings file to provide the human-readable version of the type name.
  • CFBundleTypeIconFile . The file resource in the bundle that contains the icon to be used for this type.
  • CFBundleTypeRole . Defines this application's role with respect to the type. The role can be Editor , Viewer or None . An editor can read and write the type, a viewer can only read the type, and an application that wants to simply declare a type without claiming to be able to read or write it can use None .
  • CFBundleTypeOSTypes . An array of four-letter type codes that should map to this type.
  • CFBundleTypeExtensions . An array of filename extensions that should map to this type.
  • CFBundleURLTypes . An array of dictionaries similar to CFBundleDocumentTypes , but it describes URL schemes that the application can handle. These keys are supported in a URL type dictionary:

  • CFBundleURLName . The abstract name for this URL type. This is the main way to refer to a particular type. Conventions for the abstract name are not yet fully defined. This name is also used as a key in the InfoPlist.strings file to provide the human-readable version of the type name.
  • CFBundleURLIconFile . Identifies the file resource in the bundle that contains the icon to be used for this type.
  • CFBundleURLSchemes . An array of URL schemes handled by this type. ( http , ftp , and so forth)

  • © 2000 Apple Computer, Inc. (Last Updated 30 June 2000)