On Oct 8, 2009, at 7:55 PM, Dave Carrigan wrote:
On Oct 8, 2009, at 6:51 PM, M Pulis posted a screen capture of a
finder error.
That's just the finder being nice to the non-techies. The longer "if
you name this with a dot then you'll have to hit a special key
combination in order to see it" explanation is more confusing and
unnecessary. It certainly doesn't mean that .files are not allowed
or are going to become unsupported, at least until Mac OS X is
deprecated in favor of some completely different operating system.
Such as the iPhone OS concept of sandboxing, application approval
cycles, certificates and plethora of restrictions.
Following trends, it is easy to imagine a future Desktop becoming an
increasingly protected space. One thing I have learned in 25 years is
never underestimate Apple's ability to change and force our world to
recompile. 10.6 just killed off an entire CPU line. Wait for OS 10.7
my friend, the Finder, she is nice now, yes? :-)
The OP was working with the Desktop in particular, not the OS in
general nor the by-passable Open and Save File dialogs.
Quote:
Does anyone know if it's possible to programmatically hide an single
item
(e.g. a file or a mounted disk or a directory) from the Desktop?
End Quote
The OP was essentially advised to hide a mounted disk by renaming it
with a period. As the Desktop is a special place for the GUI'd among
us, I would not want an app to visually disappear items from it, much
less renaming disks or the ability to hide my folders.
The Finder does not allow the user to create hidden items, so I would
question an average GUI level app's _need_ to do so.
I did not read the OP as a Unix-level tool developer or scientific
researcher. As this is a Cocoa list, I did not assume the presence of
a Unix-level programming background aware of the particulars of hidden
files.
As times continue to change, I would still advocate caution in a
design of a GUI level, average user, non-programmer tool (i.e.: text
edit) using or creating invisible files. There are hidden rules to
hidden files... no "dot underbar" and likely other taboos known to a
Unix head but not a Cocoa head nor a non-techie nor the consultants we
see passing for techies.
To the OP: Use your invisibility powers wisely if at all. Remember,
non-techies need love too. Documenting your app's file dependencies
empowers users. Keeping files in predictable folders provided by the
OS, accessible via the Finder and protected with suitable permissions
will insure that your users are in control, your product is easily
maintained by both users and consultants and can change with the
times. If you are simply hiding clutter, use a temp folder or the
Application Support folder. You have more tools than dot files to keep
stuff off the desktop.
Gary
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