MacFormat 1996 September/macformat-041.iso/mac/Shareware City/Utilities/Trash Bag 1.1.1/Trash Bag Help (text)

Text File | 1996-05-01 | 12.0 KB | 325 lines | [TEXT/R*ch]

Trash Bag 1.1.1

April 24, 1996



Disclaimer and Copyright Notice


Trash Bag is a free utility which creates and maintains a secondary Trash
folder.  The author, Ross Brown, makes no warranty, either express or
implied, with respect to this software, its performance, merchantability,
or suitability for any particular purpose.  People using the Trash Bag
utility do so at their own risk.  The author disclaims all liability for loss
of data, mechanical damage, or other losses suffered while using the
Trash Bag utility.

Trash Bag is an AWOL Software Production, Copyright © 1995-6 Ross
Brown.  All rights reserved.  Permission is granted to make and distribute
copies of this software, provided this disclaimer and copyright notice are
preserved on all copies.  The software may not, however, be sold or
distributed for profit, or included with other software which is sold or
distributed for profit, without the permission of the author.

There are no site license fees for the use of Trash Bag within an
organization.  The author encourages you to make and distribute as many
copies of the application as you wish, for whomever you wish, as long as
it is not for profit.  Trash Bag is part of a set of cooperating programs,
AWOL Utilities.  The tutorial help you are reading is designed for handling
by the help server application Help on Wheels, which is also part of AWOL
Utilities.



Distribution Policy


New versions of individual AWOL Utilities programs, including Trash Bag,
are available by anonymous FTP from popular archive sites including
sumex-aim.stanford.edu, mac.archive.umich.edu, and their respective
mirror sites, and through Usenet news group comp.binaries.mac.

Support for AWOL Utilities is through Internet mail at address
[e-mail].  The software is not available by FTP from
this site.  The address for paper correspondence is AWOL Software
Productions, PO Box 24207, 300 Eagleson Road, Kanata, Ontario, Canada
K2M 2C3.

Macintosh users who do not have access to electronic sources of free and
shareware software may obtain a copy of AWOL Utilities by sending a
self-addressed stamped envelope and an 800K (or larger) formatted
diskette to the author at the above address.  U.S. users are reminded that
postage from Canada in 1996 is C$0.52 up to 30 grams (1 oz.), C$0.77 up
to 50 grams (1 3/4 oz.), and C$1.17 up to 100 grams (3 1/2 oz.).
US$0.50, US$0.75, and US$1.00 in coin is acceptable in place of stamps
for the respective weights.  People outside the U.S. and Canada may send
an international postal reply coupon instead of Canadian stamps (available
from any post office).  Please use sturdy envelopes, preferably cardboard
disk mailers.  (Mailers over 5 mm (1/5") thick require C$1.17 postage to
the U.S.)
Please do not send return envelopes with non-Canadian
stamps, as Canada Post will not accept them.



About AWOL Software Productions


AWOL Software Productions specializes in custom development of
software for the Mac OS.  Since its inception in 1990, AWOL has
developed a number of programs which enhance the Mac OS user
experience, working in nearly every part of the Macintosh Toolbox.  If
you have a short-term programming task or product idea but lack the
staff to do the expert design, coding, and documentation, we invite your
inquiry.

Virtual Desktop is AWOL’s best-known effort, serving the desktop
expansion needs of thousands of Mac users around the world.  Later in
1996, AWOL will release a new commercial version 2.0 to replace the
freeware version contained in the AWOL Utilities package.  Please contact
us at [e-mail] for feature and ordering information.

Users who want more out of the Mac’s speech capabilities should check
out MacYack Pro, a jointly developed package of speech tools marketed by
Scantron Quality Computers ([e-mail]; 20200 Nine Mile Rd.,
St. Clair Shores, MI 48080).



Purpose


Trash Bag is a simple, transient application, designed to inhabit your
Startup Items folder.  It fights hard disk clutter by giving you a “bag” to
line your trash can — a folder that looks like a bag in front of your desktop
Trash icon.  Unlike the Trash, though, your bag folder is a real folder.

To create the bag folder, just run Trash Bag once.  After that, every time
it runs, it just empties the bag into the Trash.

Here are some reasons why Trash Bag is “better than Trash.”


As Download Folder

The Trash is fine for things you don’t need at all, but you also need a place
for things that are temporarily important.  For example, your file
transfer and news reader applications let you choose a download folder.
After you’ve read the downloaded file or run it through a decoder, it sits
there with the rest of the detritus until you remember to take it out to the
Trash.

With Trash Bag, it’s no chore.  Set the bag folder as your download
folder, and the files will be flushed to the Trash every time you start up
your Macintosh.


As Cache Folder

If your Web browser is the kind that caches pages and images, you may
have noticed how these cache files can pile up.  Fortunately, the browser
constrains disk cache consumption to a figure you select.  Unfortunately,
the cache stays around after the browser has quit, and by the next day,
it’s outlived its purpose.

Trash Bag can improve this situation.  Set the bag folder (or, preferably,
a folder inside the bag folder) as the browser’s cache folder, and it’ll be
flushed every time you start up.


As Temporary Save Folder

Any application can write files to your bag folder using standard file
dialogs.  The Trash is not accessible in this way.

This can be useful when you want to save your work, but only
temporarily — for example, a drawing which you’ll soon attach to an
electronic mail message.  Maybe you’ll also attach a spreadsheet which
you just detached from another message into your bag folder.


As Backup Folder

In Finder, you can Option-drag any icon to your bag folder to make a
temporary backup copy.  Try an Option-drag to the Trash, and you may be
surprised!

This can be useful when you’re about to make some speculative changes
and think you may want to “back them out” later.  By tomorrow, when
you’ve committed to the changes, the old draft will be on its way to the
Trash.


You Can Open the Contents

You can open or print a document or application directly from the bag
folder.  Finder won’t let you open or print files that are in the Trash.


No More Trash Clogs!

Sometimes you want to delete things, but they clog the Trash when you
try to empty it.  This includes files that are in use by applications or
file-sharing users, system extensions, mysteriously locked folders, and
the like.  Frequent Trash emptiers know the frustration of having the
operation stall as Finder alerts you to the problem.  Put these items in
your bag folder instead, happy in the knowledge that they’ll be in the
Trash (and ready to be deleted) after the next restart.


It’s Simple

There’s almost no cost to using Trash Bag — no system extension, no
memory taken up, just a little application in your Startup Items folder
that comes and goes in an instant.  You can trash the bag folder if you
don’t need it for a while; it’ll come back the next time you run Trash Bag.



Who Can Use Trash Bag?


Any Macintosh running System 7.0 or later can use Trash Bag.  Because
it’s an application, and not a system extension, it shouldn’t conflict with
your other programs.

Trash Bag can be placed on an AppleShare file server, where any number
of users can access it simultaneously.



How Does Trash Bag Work?


Bag Folder Structure

Trash Bag creates the bag folder the first time it runs, or whenever it
fails to find one, in the desktop folder of the disk where the Trash Bag
application resides (unless that disk is unwritable, in which case it goes
on the startup disk).  So, if you want the bag folder to be on a disk other
than the startup disk, you should place the Trash Bag application on that
disk, make an alias to it, and put the alias in your Startup Items folder.

A new bag folder contains two aliases, one to the Trash Bag application
and one to the Trash itself, for your convenience.


Bag Folder Icon

The bag folder icon initially appears right in front of the trash can icon.
Trash Bag will try to reposition the bag folder icon to keep up with the
trash can icon if it moves, but this feature is not guaranteed to work.  If
you prefer to keep the two icons separate, use Trash Bag’s Get Info dialog
to lock the application file, disabling this feature.

The bag folder’s abbreviated name, “T’Bag,” and the shape of its icon
allow it to sit comfortably in front of or behind the trash can icon.  It
leans to the right so that files can be dragged to the Trash from the left
without going into the bag folder by mistake.  Experiment with dragging
across the two icons to see how you can make them pop forward and back.

The bag folder icon borrows its color (label) from the Trash Bag
application, so you can make it green or orange if you like.


Flushing Behavior

Trash Bag will never delete a file.  It only flushes files to the Trash.  You
then have the choice of when to empty the Trash.

As a convenience, so that you can partition the bag folder into subfolders
for use by different applications, any item whose name begins with a
check mark character (√, Option-V on a U.S. keyboard) is left in the bag
folder, and its contents are recursively flushed.  For example, a folder
named “√Netscape” inside the bag folder will be left there, but the
temporary and cache files which Netscape Navigator has placed inside it
will be flushed to the Trash.

Trash Bag will add a serial number to the name of any item moved to the
Trash if another item of the same name from the same volume already
exists in the Trash.

Trash Bag will trash all bag folders found on writable disks other than its
own, so that there is never more than one on the desktop at a time.

Locked items are treated the same as other items, but invisible items are
never flushed to the Trash.



Suggestions for Use


Trash Bag is distributed as part of a free set of cooperating programs,
AWOL Utilities.  This section explains how Trash Bag can work in
conjunction with the other programs.


Help on Wheels

Help on Wheels is an efficient and full-featured help server which displays
help files on behalf of client applications.  The help file you are reading is
distributed alongside the Trash Bag application file as a separate Help on
Wheels document.

Because Trash Bag quits immediately after opening, the only way to
access this help file is to open it via Finder.



Limitations


Trash Bag has no real user interface, so it’s important to read this help
file to understand how to configure its few options.

Click here to see how to select which disk the bag folder inhabits.

Click here to see how to set a preferred color (label) for the bag icon.

Click here to see how to create a persistent subfolder inside the bag
folder.



Acknowledgements


I’d like to thank somebody, but it seems that I did this one all by myself
for a change.

One big hug to Toni and the family for enduring a LOT of late nights.



Revision History


1.1.1 (April 24, 1996)
•  Public AWOL Utilities 1.3.1 release.
•  A new bag folder now contains aliases to the Trash Bag application and
to the Trash itself.
•  Locking the Trash Bag application file now prevents it from
repositioning the bag folder icon to keep up with the trash can icon if it
moves.
•  Invisible items are no longer moved to the Trash.  This preserves
custom folder icons and mail folders inside the bag folder.
•  Trash Bag now adds a serial number to the name of any item moved to
the Trash if necessary to avoid a name conflict.  This accommodates a bug
in the Empower security product which caused Trash Bag to hang in that
situation.
•  Trash Bag now trashes all bag folders found on writable disks other
than its own, rather than deleting them.
•  Added 4-bit icons to improve appearance when operating in 16 colors
or grays.

1.1 (March 6, 1996)
•  Public AWOL Utilities 1.3 release.
•  The bag folder’s comments field is now filled out any time it is found to
be empty, not just at the time of creation.

1.0 (October 8, 1995)
•  Test release.