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 “touch”. 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’ C++ application framework of PowerPlant.
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Table of Contents
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• Why is needed touchMe?
• How to use it? (“setup the optional switches”)
How to use it? (“just drag & drop files or folders”)
• How work the switches? (“to the current date time”)
How work the switches? (“to [exact date time] 1)”)
How work the switches? (“to [exact date time] 2-3)”)
How work the switches? (“to [exact date time] 4)”)
How work the switches? (“to fetch the first item”)
• AppleScript commands
AppleScript classes
AppleScript examples
• Revision history (v.1.1.2)
Revision history (v.1.1.1)
Revision history (v.1.0, v.1.1)
• The package includes...
• About the Author
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Why is needed touchMe?
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I have been using this program for these three 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.
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How to use it? (1)
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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 “OK” button.
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How to use it? (2)
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Second, select and drag & drop the files or folders onto the touchMe application icon. Or, with the option-key pressed (indicating a mark on the top-left corner of the window, as shown below), you can drag & drop them in the touchMe window area, instead. During a drag & drop with option-key pressed, the command “touch” and “fetch” 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’s “Get Info” dialog.
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How work the switches? (1)
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• 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 “8/1/96” or “August 1, 1996” for date and “12:34:56” for time. There are four ways to set these date time fields as follows.
...This item is followed by next 1) - 4) operations.
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How work the switches? (2)
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• to [exact date time] (continued)
1) Type in the date time strings. Please be careful to enter them in the right date time format. If your system is 7.5 or later, you are allowed to drag the date time string to edit the fields. According to a general rule, it will be cut if you drop it on Finder’s trash icon.
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How work the switches? (3)
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• to [exact date time] (continued)
2) Push a tiny button at top-right corner to set the present time. With the option-key pressed, then the time part of it will be cleared to zero, that means a midnight.
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.
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How work the switches? (4)
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• to [exact date time] (continued)
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.
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How work the switches? (5)
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• to fetch the first item
touchMe can fetch the date time stamp of the “first” item among the files (or folders) you selected. Well, what does it mean the “first”? It may differ under the various conditions by which view you open the Finder’s folder.
1) View by Small Icon or Icon; The first item is the one you have selected 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.
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AppleScript commands
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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
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AppleScript classes
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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
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AppleScript examples
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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
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Revision history (1)
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• v.1.1.2, published on February 10, 1997
- New. You can now drag the date time string among the edit fields.
- New. For AppleScript commands “touch” and “fetch”, they are now accepting both single file or a list of files as target files.
- New. With the option-key pressed, Set-Present-Time button will clear the time part, that means a midnight.
- Bug. It sometimes failed to hilite the border of touchMe window when you drag the files with option-key pressed. Fixed it, I hope.
- New. The C++ compiler was changed to CW11 from CW9 of CodeWarrior PowerPlant. Due to this change on LApplication class, I have to update my CHelpMenu class to enable the “Help touchMe” item of the help menu.
- New. Added an Apple Guide file. I hope this guide file will be of much help to you.
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Revision history (2)
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• v.1.1.1, published on August 8, 1996
- New. During a drag & drop operation with option-key pressed, the command “touch” and “fetch” 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 “Cancel”.
- Bug. A well-known (but, I didn’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 “Close Box” in the window title that works as “Cancel” 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 “touchMe Prefs”.;-)
- Special thanks to Jim van Zee who has always encouraged me in this project and made some cool suggestions to cover the problems.
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Revision history (3)
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• v.1.1, published on August 1, 1996
All the programs were rewritten for the Metrowerks’ 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’s THINK-C.
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The package includes...
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1. touchMe -- a fat-binary application program
2. touchMe Guide -- an Apple Guide file
3. touchMe readme -- just this file you are reading
4. touchMe scripts -- sample AppleScript code using with touchMe
5. touchMe source -- source code in CodeWarrior 11 PowerPlant
6. Guide source -- source code of Apple Guide file
This is a freeware program. You can distribute it without any limitations nor permissions.
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About the Author
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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;
