This folder contains eight example “AutoTypers” for you to use and study. They are very useful if you are interested in learning how to create your own AutoTypers because they illustrate some of the main techniques you can use. The chapter “Example AutoTypers” in the user’s guide explains the inner workings of each one in detail. However, these AutoTypers are also useful utilities in and of themselves. Here is a list of the AutoTypers included and what each one does:
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GroupLock / GroupUnlock
These are the simplest of the example AutoTypers, yet are already powerful utilities. GroupLock will quickly and easily lock any files dropped on it, and GroupUnlock will unlock files. They are especially useful if you want to lock a whole group of files but don’t want to deal with selecting “Get Info” and clicking the “locked” checkbox for every single one. Just one drag-and-drop, and in just a couple of seconds, the job is done!
If you drop a folder onto one of these AutoTypers, they will search the folder contents one level deep and lock or unlock any files located in the folder— a quick and easy way to lock a folder full of files!
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TextToBBEdit
This is a pretty typical AutoTyper. It scans the files you drop on it, and if it recognizes any as a text file, either from the type and creator, or from the file name suffix “.txt”, it changes the type and creator to make it a BBEdit-owned text file. TextToBBEdit also honors SimpleText read-only files (“ttro”/“ttxt”), changing them to BBEdit text files and locking them so they cannot be modified. Like GroupLock and GroupUnlock, TextToBBEdit will search folder contents one level deep.
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JPEGView AutoTyper
JPEGView AutoTyper is a sophisticated and very powerful AutoTyper. It scans for image files that can be read by the freeware program JPEGView, and changes them to the proper type and creator for viewing by JPEGView. It can recognize files by file type or by filename extension. If you drop a folder onto this AutoTyper, it will recursively search its contents and all the contents of any folders and subfolders for files to convert.
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Toggle Desktop Database
This AutoTyper is useful for anyone who wishes to rebuild the desktop. It is usually recommended that you do a “clean” rebuild of the desktop— that is, you first remove the old desktop database files and force the Finder to build new ones from scratch. Unfortunately, the Desktop Database files are invisible in the Finder, making this difficult. Toggle Desktop Database is designed to make this part of the process a snap. Just drag a disk icon onto this AutoTyper, and it will find the desktop database files and make them visible. Then, you can trash the old ones and restart to force the Finder to build new ones.
If the desktop database files are already visible, Toggle Desktop Database makes them invisible again.
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CountApps
CountApps is an example of an informational AutoTyper. It does not actually make any changes; it simply searches for files or folders that match certain criteria and lets you know how many it found. CountApps simply searches for applications (type “APPL”). If you drag a folder onto CountApps, it will completely search the contents of that folder and any folders inside it, and report to you how many files it scanned, and how many of those were applications. It does not make any changes to those applications.
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Vanish! / Unvanish Contents
Vanish! is a fun AutoTyper. It makes anything you drop on it, whether a file or a folder, invisible. Vanish! will not make volumes (disks) invisible, as this is known to cause problems.
Unvanish Contents is meant for folders. You can drop a folder onto this AutoTyper, and it will search the folder’s contents one level deep and make any invisible files or folders visible again. Custom icon files (whose name is “Icon\r” where the ‘\r’ is a carriage return) are ignored because those are supposed to stay invisible.
Interested now?
These are only a few of the many possibilities you have with AutoTypers. See the user’s manual for information on how to create your own. It’s very easy!
