Each item in a clip drawer contains one or more formats. A format can be anything at all, however Drop Drawers contains built-in support for several different formats, each of which is explained below:

Aliases and File Specs

You should already be familiar with aliases from using the Finder. A file spec is similar to an alias except that it contains a much less robust pointer to the original file – if you rename or move the file, the file spec will no longer work. Therefore, we recommend leaving on the Convert File Specs to Aliases option in the Preferences (see later).

Aliases or file specs in clip drawers can do many things. The original file can be opened by choosing Open from the item’s contextual menu, it can be revealed in the Finder by choosing Reveal or the Finder’s information window for the item can be opened by choosing Get Info. If the item is a folder and Show Hierarchical Folder Menus is on in the preferences (see later), each of these three menu items will also have hierarchical submenus allowing you to open, reveal or get information on any file contained within the folder, up to 4 levels deep.

If the alias or file spec points to an image or movie file and QuickTime Image Previewing is installed, choose Create Thumbnail to create a thumbnail to display instead of the file’s icon. This will happen automatically for files if the Always Create Thumbnails option is set in the Preferences (see later). To reselect the file or folder for the alias or file spec to point to, choose Retarget… from the item’s contextual menu. Note: The item’s name will not be changed as a result.

Aliases or file specs can also be dragged onto application or folder aliases within a drawer to simulate what would happen if this was done in the Finder. Documents are launched with the receiving application or moved to the receiving folder (copied if on a different disk). You can also drag files from the Finder onto items within a drawer and vice versa. Note: Dragging an alias into a Finder window will create a copy of the alias, not move the original file.

Alias and file spec items also contain an additional format called Icon Cache. This contains a copy of the item’s Finder icons to speed up icon drawing within Drop Drawers. If the original file’s icon has changed, remove the icon cache to update the icon within the drawer.

Plain texts and Text styles

Clip drawers display text items within the drawer along with their text style information, if any is present. To display styled text in the drawer’s default text style (ignoring the style information), choose Plain Text from the Show sub-menu in the item’s contextual menu. Drop Drawers also contains a built-in styled text editor with support for multiple fonts, sizes, styles and colors. To edit text, choose Edit Text… from the item’s contextual menu.

URLs

Clip drawers display URLs within the drawer as their name (if one exists) and the actual web site location (if there is space). To launch an URL, choose Go to site from the item’s contextual menu. If Internet Config or OS 8.5’s Internet control panel is available, it will be launched in the preferred application for the URL type. Otherwise, Drop Drawers will search for Netscape Navigator then Microsoft Internet Explorer to open the URL. To edit an URL, choose Edit URL… from the item’s contextual menu.

Scripts and Results

Clip drawers display scripts within the drawer as a script icon. Drop Drawers supports any scripting language which is designed to run within Apple’s OSA (Open Scripting Architecture). Every system from 7.5 onwards comes with the AppleScript language built-in, however there are also third-party languages available such as Frontier. The OSA is a very powerful Mac-only technology - for more information, please see the AppleScript web site at http://applescript.apple.com/

To run a script without any parameter data (executing the ‘on run’ or unnamed handler for AppleScript), choose Run Script from the item’s contextual menu. The run a script with parameter data (executing the ‘on open’ handler for AppleScript), drag the desired data (from inside or outside Drop Drawers) onto the script item. Currently, Drop Drawers supports text or alias parameters. If several items are dropped onto a script, Drop Drawers passes the script a list of the items.

To edit a script, choose Edit Script… from the item’s contextual menu. A script editing window will appear, with similar functionality to the Mac OS’s Script Editor. Select the desired scripting language from the Language pop-up menu. In the Options menu, you may select whether errors which occur while running the script should be reported to the user and whether the final outcome of the script should be displayed in the drawer as a Result format for the drawer item (text only).

Thumbnails

Any item in a clip drawer can have a thumbnail displayed instead of the item's actual data. The thumbnail can be set in the Item Options dialog, or it can be generated from image or movie files by choosing Create Thumbnail from the item’s contextual menu or switching on Always Create Thumbnails in the Drop Drawers Preferences.

Pictures

Clip drawers display picture items within the drawer and allows them to be scaled up to their original size. To view a picture at full size in a separate, scrollable window, choose View Picture from the item’s contextual menu.

Movies

Clip drawers display movies within a drawer, showing their poster frame. To play a movie, choose Play Movie from the item’s contextual menu. The movie will stop playing once it is completed, if another movie is playing or if Stop Movie is chosen from the item’s contextual menu.

Sounds

Clip drawers display sounds within a drawer as a loudspeaker icon. To play a sound, choose Play Sound from the item’s contextual menu.