DropCT
Creator and Type codes are gone? Tell that to Classic...
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DropCT 0.9b1
DropCT (formerly known as Drop CreatorType) is a simple little application that lets you easily add or change creator and/or type codes for a number of files via drag-and-drop. It was written to solve a specific problem that Peter frequently experiences at work but we thought it might be possible that someone else would find it useful.
You see, Peter's "real" job (the one that pays him money) involves a lot of work with Director. It also involves a lot of cross-platform work with Director. So he often has cause to copy numerous files from a Win2K box onto his PowerBook G4. The problem is, as some of you will no doubt have guessed by now, copying anything from Win* onto a Mac will most likely just result in the file having a blank icon and Finder won't know what to open it with. That's because the creator and type codes for the file won't survive a trip to WinLand™.
Now, granted, with OS X things have changed a bit and, indeed, Apple is trying to get away from creator/type codes and that's all well and good for new stuff but some programs still expect or want these codes. Director (versions prior to MX) being an example germane to this too-lengthy rant. So anytime a file was copied from the PC they wouldn't open with a simple double-click. Even dragging them onto Director's icon won't work because of these pesky creator/type codes. To alleviate this, one would typically have to open a terminal, and issue a bunch of '/Developer/Tools/SetFile -c "MD03" -t "MV85" *.dir' commands which - while not all that difficult - is a pain.
Something as robust as, say, Super Get Info from Bare Bones Software (which is an excellent utility, by the way) seemed like overkill - he just needed to change creator/type codes quickly and easily for many files. Thus it was decided to use AppleScript Studio to make a kind of graphical wrapper around SetFile's creator/type code changing feature. Voila! Won't win any design awards with this one, but it does what it says it does.
Version 0.9 beta 1 is a significant upgrade to the previous version. Here are some features:
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It's free and it works.
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Stores a user defined list of codes for easy access in a handy drawer.
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Codes can be added to the list by dropping "example" files onto it.
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Once you establish a code/codes you can drop more files and have the same codes used automatically.
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It's small and unobtrusive.
Not a whole lot to speak of but it's a pretty simple app. If anyone is interested in the source to this program just send Peter an email.
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