MacOS X Developer Preview 4 Release Notes Copyright © 2000 by Apple Computer, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The name of the Finder application has been changed to Desktop. The windows used to navigate disks and servers are called "Finder windows". This will more closely match the expectation of novice users.
You should not rely on the name or location of the executable containing the Desktop application. The type and signature are the same as in previous versions of Mac OS: respectively 'FNDR' and 'MACS'. When sending an AppleEvent, use the type and signature to identify the target process. Do not rely on the process name.
Scripting and AppleEvents support, and the Desktop application scripting dictionary in DP4 is preliminary, incomplete and subject to change.
To request the Desktop application to update the content of a folder it displays or to register an application use the AppleEvent is kAEFinderSuite /kAESync ('fndr'/''fupd'). The only used parameter, contrary to what the scripting dictionary indicates, is the direct object, which can be a folder, a list of folders or a file. For an application to be registered using this mechanism the direct object must be an application object descriptor (cApplication). Note that sending this AppleEvent is only necessary if your applications changes the filesystem directly and you which the changes to be reflected immediately in the Finder. If you do not send this AppleEvent the Desktop application will reflect the change eventually, although it may not do it immediately.
You can quit the Desktop application by sending it a kCoreEventClass/kAEQuitApplication ('aevt '/'quit') AppleEvent.
You can open applications, documents and folders by sending a kCoreEventClass/kAEOpenDocuments ('aevt'/'odoc') AppleEvent to the Desktop application.
As in previous versions of Mac OS, the desktop is a container to which items can be dragged and where you can save files from the Save dialog. However, some changes have been made in order to better accommodate the multi-user nature of Mac OS X. Each user has their own Desktop folder, which is stored in their Home directory. You should use FindFolder() to find the exact location of this directory. The content of the Desktop folder created by previous versions of Mac OS on removable media is not displayed on the Desktop of Mac OS X. The Desktop Folder appears as a regular folder in the volume it belongs to.
You can choose to have removable media displayed on the desktop or not by using the Media tab of the Desktop & Dock Preferences dialog. There is no user preference yet to display or not the Trash on the desktop.
Double-clicking on an item, or choosing one from the Go menu will retarget the frontmost Finder window or open a new one. To open a container window as in previous versions of Mac OS, press the option key while double-clicking on an item or while choosing an item from the Go menu. To close the previous window press the command and option keys down simultaneously.
Unlike previous versions of Mac OS permissions are always used and cannot be turned off. In Mac OS X, permissions apply to both files and folders. In particular this means that the underlying permission model is the Unix permission model. However, the Desktop application presents the same simplified permission model as previous versions of Mac OS 9.
The way documents are associated with applications (binding) has been improved over previous versions of Mac OS to better support exchanging of files on the Internet and in heterogeneous networks. Detailed information on this topic will be provided at the WWDC session "Application Packaging and Document Typing".
In a nutshell, both type and creator information and filename extensions are supported ways to specify the type of documents. There are new and powerful options available to control how the binding works, although the implementation is incomplete in DP4.
The existing "Desktop Database" file is supported for compatibility with Classic applications only.
The Desktop application support file names of up to 255 Unicode characters. Additional restrictions may be imposed by the volume format. The Mac OS Extended volume format (HFS+) supports 255 Unicode characters.
There are some known problems in DP4 displaying and entering filenames containing characters outside of the ASCII range.
Files which have either the kIsInvisible bit of the finderFlags field of the FileInfo data structure set or which begin with a dot (".") should be considered invisible by your application.
The Desktop application supports 32-bit icons with an 8-bit alpha channel for applications and documents, unlike previous versions of Mac OS which only supported 32-bit icons for folders and custom icons. In addition, Mac OS X introduces arbitrarily sized icons (up to128x128). You can supply your icons either in the resource fork of your application or as a separate .icns file if your application is packaged. More information on this topic will be discussed at the WWDC session "Icon Services and Aqua".
Some of the information that used to be stored in the HFS data structures HFileInfo and DirInfo such as view settings, icon location, window size and location ("Finder Info") are not used by the Desktop application. Instead, the Desktop application stores these and related information in an invisible file called ".DS_Store" in each folder.
Q: "While attempting to login I get an error message and I go back to the login window. What can I do?"
A: Try the following:
Q: "The icons for my documents and applications are not the right ones," or, "The wrong application launches (or no application launches) when I double-click on a document. What can I do?"
A: Remove the ApplicationCacheTheFinalChapter file from the Library/Preferences folder in your Home directory. You should do this as the root user or while the Desktop application is not running.
Q: "I try to launch an application but I get an error message, 'Sorry the application could not be completed. An unexpected error occurred (error code 13).' What can I do?"
A: Make sure the permissions are set up correctly on the application. If it's a packaged application, the directory which contain the application must also have proper permissions.