Glidel is a system extension that extends the Finder's drag-and-drop abilities within System 7. You can select any icon currently visible, either on your Desktop or in an open folder, and drag it to:
* The Open, Print, Get Info, Sharing..., Duplicate, Make Alias, and Put Away options on the File menu;
* Any application or folder in the Apple menu, including those accessible via a third-party hierarchical menu utility such as BeHierarchic, NowMenus, HAM, or OtherMenus;
* Any currently running application, via the Application menu on the right-hand side of the menu bar.
Requirements
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Glidel operates with any version of System 7.
However, some problems are known to occur with Finder 7.1.1 as delivered on certain Powerbooks.
Installation
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Installing Glidel is easy. Just drag its icon to the System Folder, and it will be automatically installed in your Extensions folder. Then, restart your Mac, and Glidel will be in operation. If you use an extension manager, such as InitPicker or Now StartupManager, be sure to turn on Glidel in the manager before you restart your Mac.
Using Glidel
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Glidel is only in operation when the Finder is the current application. However, you do not have to return to the Finder (by clicking on the desktop or using the Applications menu) to use Glidel, as long as the item(s) you want to access is visible. If you're in another application, clicking on a visible item will switch you to the Finder for the purposes of using Glidel. This switch will be immediately visible if you're using System 7.0, 7.01, or 7.1; if you're using System 7 Pro, it will not be visible till you reach the menu bar, as described below.
Here's how to use Glidel:
1) Make a selection by clicking on the icon of a document, folder, or application, but
don't release the mouse button after you've made your selection. Multiple selections
are also permitted by Glidel, using any of the standard selection mechanisms;
2) Drag the selection up to the menu bar. When you reach the menu bar, your cursor will
immediately become a curved arrow--the Glidel cursor--indicating that Glidel is
ready to operate on your selection.
3) Use the Glidel cursor to select the appropriate action or destination for your
selection, as described in the following sections.
File Menu Services
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If you move the Glidel cursor to the File menu, you can select any of the following options: Open, Print, Get Info, Sharing..., Duplicate, Make Alias, or Put Away. When you release the mouse button with the Glidel cursor points to one of these options, the matching action will be performed on your selection.
This may seem not all that useful, but it allows you to perform File menu operations without lifting your finger from the mouse button. Also, it eliminates the need for pseudo-applications, such as the drag-and-drop printer icons you can create with QuicKeys. Moreover, why not use it ?
Opening Documents
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If you move the Glidel cursor to the Apple or Applications menu, you can then Browse these menus for an application program or its alias. If you release the mouse button when the Glidel cursor points to an application or its alias, the application will open the document(s), if it is able to do so.
This allows you to easily open a document with an application that is not its
creator, without having that application's icon visible on the desktop.
Note that if a selected item -- one you're dragging -- is itself an alias, the application will open the original. If you want the application to open the alias itself, first depress the Option key.
This may seem not so useful to owners of Macintosh Easy Open, SpeedyFinder, or NowMenus. However, these brilliant tools become active only when a document's original creator is unavailable. Sometimes, though, you may deliberately want to open a document with a program other than its creator, even though you have the creating application available (e.g., opening a Word document with ResEdit). In situations like this, Glidel becomes extra-handy.
Moving and Copying Selections
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If you release the mouse button above a folder, volume, or alias in the Apple menu, the selected item(s) will be moved to that location. As in the Finder itself, if you'd rather copy a selection than move it, hold down the Option key. Note, too, that you can drag fonts and DAs to the appropriate suitcases. Furthermore, if the Command key is depressed, the destination window will get opened.
Making Aliases
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To make an alias of your selection in a new location, hold down the Control key as you select a folder, volume, or alias in the Apple menu. Unlike the previous cases, if the item you're dragging is itself an alias of another item, the newly-created alias will “point” to the first alias. If you'd rather have the new alias point to the original item, hold down both the Option and Control keys when you drag your selection to the destination. Furthermore, if the Command key is depressed, the destination window will get opened.
Hierarchical Menu Utilities
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Glidel gets along well with most third-party hierarchical menu utilities. If your Apple or Applications menu is “extended” by such a utility, you will be able to select any item accessible via the utility as Glidel's destination for moving, copying, making aliases, and starting applications.
Currently, Glidel is known to work with BeHierarchic (version 1.0.5), MenuChoice (version 1.8), HAM (Hierarchic Apple Menu) (1.0), NowMenus (3.0.2, 4.0.1, and 4.0.2), Super Boomerang (4.0.1p and beyond), Power menus, PopupFolder and Apple Menu Options. In addition, Glidel works with OtherMenu (from 1.2.2 to 1.3.1) and AliasMenu (version 1.1), as well as with the Finder windows in the Applications menu using either ApplWindows (2.0.2), PowerBar (1.1), or OtherMenu Windows external.
Where will Glidel's author stop? See the section on limitations later in the document.
Shortcuts
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During a move, copy, or alias operation, you can take advantage of several shortcuts. By releasing the mouse button when the Glidel cursor points to an icon in the menu bar, you'll immediately select the destination folder, as follows:
Icon Folder
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- The apple : Apple Menu Items,
- The macintosh (Applications menu title) : System Folder,
- OtherMenu icon : OtherMenu Folder,
- AliasMenu icons : The relevant sub-folders in the
“AliasMenu Items” folder
Limitations
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1) Glidel cannot open a document with an application program if (a) the application
is already running AND (b) the application cannot handle high level events) AND (c)
the application is not the document's creator. This complicated and rare situation
only occurs with very old applications that are not System-7 friendly;
2) With NowMenus 4.0.x, Glidel cannot use the pull-down menus (the ones that can
appear below the bottom of the menu bar) because they are not standard;
3) With ApplWindows, the windows must ordered “Front to Back”. This is
ApplWindows default mode;
4) MenuChoice uses the Option key to make aliases. For both the Finder and Glidel,
this key is used for copying. Since Glidel can make aliases on its own, the
“Aliases” option should be unchecked in the MenuChoice control panel;
5) Glidel cannot (yet) access the sub-menus related to the items Desktop, Deeper,
and Recent in MenuChoice Apple menu;
6) The FileTyper Menu control panel inserts an entry in the middle of the Finder's
File menu. This causes Glidel to be unable to recognize any items on the File
menu located below the new entry.
Incompatibilities
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. The hereabove limitations,
. The Finder (not the System!) version 7.1.1 that comes with some PowerBooks,
. Because NowMenus 5.0.x installs a mechanism similar to Glidel one, although more
rudimentary, Glidel does not work with NowMenus 5.0.x.
If you wish Glidel to work with other products, please feel free to send the author a registered copy of the software so he can experiment and develop the needed capabilities.
Status
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Glidel is a shareware program. It can be freely distributed, provided that (a) it is not modified and is distributed along with this “Read me” file, and (b) no fees are paid other than those related to shipping, disk copying, or transmission/online time costs.
If, after a fifteen days trial period, you decide to keep using Glidel, you order a license. Each license is valid for a single individual or legal entity, and covers usage of the software on a single computer. The license fee is 25 USD.
License fees should be paid directly to the author, at the following address:
Gilles Berkovitch
48 rue Jean Bonal
92 250 La Garenne Colombes
France
Under no circumstances, including negligence, shall the author be liable for any incidental, special or consequential damages that result from the use or inability of use this software or its related documentation, even if the author have been advised of the possibility of such damages.
Advanced Setup Features
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If you'd like to “fine-tune” Glidel for your own system, you can use ResEdit
or a similar program to edit the contents of the STR# resource (on a COPY, of
course!), as follows:
- If you're using a localized international version of System 7, where
the Finder is not named “Finder”, edit the first string in the STR# resource to
contain the correct Finder name.
- The fourth string in the STR# resource should contain the name of the folder used
by OtherMenu. Normally, this folder is named “OtherMenu Folder”.
- The fifth string in the STR# resource should contain the name of the folder used by
AliasMenu. Normally, this folder is named “AliasMenu Items”.
- The invisible file used to store the custom icons for a folder, floppy, or drive is
normally “Icon” followed by a carriage return. This is the sixth string,
- “Windows” is the name of the OtherMenu external which lists the windows.
It is stored in the eighth string,
- Finally, “New User” is the first item of the File menu when the “Users & Groups”
control panel is opened and when its window is frontmost. It is the ninth string.
Deinstallation
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To deinstall Glidel, just:
1) Remove the Glidel icon from the Extensions folder, taking care not to put it in
either the System Folder or the Control Panels sub-folder, and
2) Restart your Mac.
Acknowledgements
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Paul Mercer for his icon display algorithm during startup, Fred Monroe for the original “dropple menu” and Jean-Francois Sygnet.
English-language documentation edited by David M. Axler (afadaveax@aol.com).
Future Prospects
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1) Eliminate the limitations discussed earlier;
2) Take into account your suggestions, who knows ? But this is only the second
priority !
3) etc.
History
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Soon after System 7's release came a wonderful system extension named “dropple menu”. It still worked with system 7.0.1 and with the System 7 Tune-up. Unfortunately, it stopped working with System 7.1 because the Finder's internal structures changed at that time. After having unsuccesfully tried to reach Fred Monroe, the author of dropple menu, I wrote Glidel to provide similar services, plus those of AKA.
Comments
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Any comments can be mailed via electronic mail to Berkovitch@IAP.fr, or via ordinary mail at my above address.
Operation
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Before install itself in memory during startup, Glidel checks a bunch of requirements. If they are not met., Glidel will not be installed, and you will see an X-ed icon. Furthermore, Glidel does not add, modify, remove anything to any file. Therefore if you deinstall Glidel, you will find your configuration just as it was before Glidel installation.
Revision
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1.0.0 This first release was supposed to work,
1.0.1 Fix a bug due to a confusion between a file ID ref and a file ID,
1.1 - It does no more break when the mouse button is released outside a menu,
- Glidel checks really that it is an application which is requested (thanks to
Gustavo Rivera),
- File menu management,
1.2 - Compatible with system 7.0(.1),
- Better Finder selection management,
- Check that the requested application is able to open the document(s),
- Add a Finder balloon help,
- Right volumes handling via File menu items,
2.0 - Better Finder selection management (the hell with it !),
- Better memory management,
- Fix a bug appearing on slow computers (mine is just like that),
- Right File menu items states management,
- File menu "Sharing…" item management,
- Aliases making,
- Fix the treatment when the mouse button is released outside a menu,
- Compatibility with BeHierarchic 1.0.5, NowMenus 4.0.1, Super Boomerang
4.0.1p, OtherMenu 1.2.2 and AliasMenu 1.1,
- Proper documents opening,
- Cursor changing when Glidel is used (merci Guillaume Lessard and
Jacques-André Régnier),
- Menus states management,
- Applications menu handling,
- Compatible with ApplWindows 2.0.2,
- Finder windows list handling within the Applications menu using
ApplWindows 2.0.2,
2.0.1 Compatible with ApplWindows 2.0.2 Hot Spot (merci Bernard Frangoulis),
2.1 - Fix a bug preventing an application or control panel to be launched after a
Finder restart,
- Compatible with A3 monitors (merci Jean-Louis Dubreucq),
- Fix a bug appearing with 68000 microprocessor equipped computer,
- Installation of errors messages (it is never too late),
- Right use of Super Boomerang 4.0.1p “Recent Folders” item (thanks to Rex
Simonsen),
- Documents opening when the application is already launched,
- Prevent an application from coming to the front when an incorrect attempt
is made to drag an object above one of its windows,
- Better document type checking,
- at last, folders and volumes windows no more get opened when the Finder
selection is moved or copied into them, or when aliases are made there,
2.2 - Fix a bug preventing once “OtherMenu Folder” folder and “AliasMenu Items”
folder sub-folders opening when one attempts to drop into them via the
menus bar (capito ?),
- Right icon(s) when making alias(es),
- Suitcases become accessible just as folders or disks (use with care, though),
- Better compatibility with OtherMenu (thanks to Mark Nagata),
- No more outline trailing in the menus bar,
- Right alias making in case of a stationnary pad,
- Cursor as a rotating watch in case of a lengthy alias making,
- Glidel becomes a shareware program. It should happen,
- Error message in case of unsufficient memory,
- Fix a bug happening with scrolling menus (thanks to Olof Backing),
- Finder windows list handling within the Applications menu using
PowerBar 1.1,
- Better compatibility with 68000 microprocessor equipped computer,
- Compatible with MenuChoice 1.8 (see the limitations though),
- Compatible with System 7 Pro,
- Error message when an already launched and unable to communicate
application is requested to open a document that it did not create (thanks to
Mark Nagata),
- Any type of document can be opened by any application, provided it created
it,
- “Control” key and “option” key are meaningful even when depressed at the
last moment,
- Compatible with the Drag Manager,
- Documents type is checked even if the application program is already
launched,
- Fix a bug in the errors management (a must),
- Consolidate Super Boomerang hierarchical menus management
2.2.1 - Fix a bug in floppy disk alias making when both ApplWindows and
SoundMaster are present,
2.2.2 - Work around a problem due to CEToolbox extension, related to the items
Restart and “Shut Down” of the Finder menu Special. In this case, CEToolbox
restart the Finder without first stop it. This is fixed (merci Bruno Cocquio),
- Compatible with the MightyMenus control panel 1.0.1 (that was real tough),
- Better cursor management,
- Fix a bug preventing once folder(s) opening when one dropped first something
into the the System Folder through the menus bar (capito ?),
- Finder windows list handling using OtherMenu Windows external,
2.3 - New read me (thanks to David M. Axler),
- Compatibility with CopyDoubler Lite. Glidel was rewritten at that time and
should be compatible with any programme creating hierarchical menus,
- Better alias management (merci Frank Lefebvre),
- Compatibility with the drag manager under system 7(.0.1) and 7.1 (thanks to
James Walker),
- “Command” key management for destination window opening,
2.4 - Compatibility with PopupFolder,
- Better alias making for shared containers or through a network,
- Better File menu management,
2.4.1 - Compatibility with system 7.1.2,
- Better errors messages management,
2.4.2 - Better error recovery,
- Better memory management,
2.4.3 - Better resources management,
- Better memory management,
- Better compatibility with “Macintosh Easy Open”,
2.4.4 - Compatibility with system 7.5,
- Compatibility with “Macintosh Drag and Drop 1.1”, which is part of
system 7.5,
- Better aliases making, especially their labels,
- Inversion of the meaning of the “option” key in case of alias making,
- Miscellaneous enhancements,
2.5 - De-selection of the Finder objects after the operation,
- Compatibility with “AutoMenus Pro 1.5”,
- Better memory management, for instance with AliasMenu,
- Right QuickDraw GX desktop printers alias icons creation,
- Super Boomerang is no more recognize by its name but by its type and creator
instead,
- For developpers, installation of a Gestalt selector, the selector being “Gldl”
of course,
- Glidel works fine even if the Finder view is not by icon,
- Glidel does not cause anymore a floppy insertion request if it is ejected and if
the selection belongs to it,
- Miscellaneous corrections,
- New online address,
2.5.1 - Glidel works fine even if the Finder view is by list.
