> Say I make an application with the Creator code as "GOD1". Say I make > a file with the Creator code as "GOD1". Say I zip those up, and email > them to a friend, who extracts both to his computer. > > On his computer, how does OSX know that "GOD1" equals my application? > I would think that it wouldn't for my friend, as the only thing he > did was write the files onto his computer. Certainly OSX wouldn't > take that information as authoritative.
Ah, but it does! Whenever you drag a file onto your hard drive, OSX looks at it, and if it's an application it automatically extracts the creator code from it as well as any file types the application has defined and adds those bits of information to the system database. That's how when you choose Get Info on a file, OSX can tell you if it's an application or not, and what files it can open. The OS also automatically gets the appropriate icons from the application as well as version information. In OS9 and before, these bits of information were all in resources. In most OSX applications, the info is in a plist and the icons are contained in the application bundle. This behavior dates from the earliest days of the Mac, and is why most Mac apps don't require any kind of installer, unlike Windows, where you need an installer to put all of this info into the Registry. - John _______________________________________________ Unsubscribe or switch delivery mode: <http://www.realsoftware.com/support/listmanager/> Search the archives: <http://support.realsoftware.com/listarchives/lists.html>
