[HOWTO] Make Stacks always show original folder on top of a Stack

[Satcomer]

This is a little easy if you follow the steps for Set Stack Icon.

Steps:

1) Download the Automator Work flow Set Stack Icon (workflow).

2) Unzip the download and place it in the folder /Users/YourUserName/Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder/ (make the folders Workflows if doesn't exist then create the folders /Applications/Finder/ inside the Workflows folder).

3) Drag out the Stack you now have but remember where it is in the Finder for the next action.

4) Find the Folder (Like Downloads in /Users/YourUserName/Downloads) and highlight it (just highlight it only). Then right click on it and when the contextual window pops-up select More-AutoMator-Set Stack Icon . This will create a new folder inside the folder that looks like • Set Stack Icon . this folder will have the same look as the parent folder.

5) Drag the parent folder (like the folder Downloads) back to the Dock to make a Stack.

Following these steps and you will and it will look like the Stacks all start with a folder look on top of the Stack now.

 

[crazymoo]

How do you undo it ?

 

[Satcomer]

Take the folder that set Stack Icon out of the parent folder (that is in the Stack). It's that easy.

 

[crazymoo]

hey..thanks.

 

[cyberchaos]

I applied your Set Stacks Icon workflow to my Applications folder in "home" folder and now it's TOTALLY empty and I've lost everything. How could I revert it back to normal?

I followed the steps as detailed above but now I've lost all my applications!!!

Below are the workflow contents:

require "fileutils"
require "osx/cocoa"

include FileUtils
include OSX

# Determine stack folder name.
stack_folder = ARGV[0]
exit if stack_folder.nil?
unless File.directory? stack_folder
stack_folder = File.dirname(stack_folder)
end

# Create an empty file for the stack icon.
icon_file = "#{stack_folder}/ • Stack Icon"
touch icon_file

# Set the file's icon.
icon = NSWorkspace.sharedWorkspace.iconForFile(stack_folder)
NSWorkspace.sharedWorkspace.setIcon_forFile_options_(
icon, icon_file, 0)

# The path of the icon file will be the result of this step.
puts icon_file

 

[Satcomer]

I applied your Set Stacks Icon workflow to my Applications folder in "home" folder and now it's TOTALLY empty and I've lost everything. How could I revert it back to normal?

I followed the steps as detailed above but now I've lost all my applications!!!

How? I said it goes into "/Users/YourUserName/Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder/ (make the folders Workflows if doesn't exist then create the folders /Applications/Finder/ inside the Workflows folder)". If you put in into the /Applications/ folder what were you thinking?

Take it out of the /Applications/ folder and see if your Applications come back. Plus if it erased your applications how did you post your problem? If it erased all your applications it would have erased the browser you are using too.

 

[cyberchaos]

First things first, I appreciate that you posted the how-to. I followed all the steps exactly as described above and found the Workflow folder and copied the workflow file there and got it to work.

However, upon applying the workflow to the Applications folder, all the applications inside the folder disappeared and now I can only find a new folder with " • Stack Icon" as the file name.

As you know, in Leopard there are two Applications folder, one is in the Hard disk root directory and another in "home" folder, which belongs to the currently logged-on user. Gladly, the one in the root directory still contains all my applications but the one that I applied the workflow to is now empty. That is the reason that I am still able to work with my MBP. I wish I hadn't stopped using Time Machine last month. I am assuming that before applying the workflow, the Applications folders were linked to each other but now they are not. I moved the " • Stack Icon" to Trash but nothing happened, do you think there is any way to fix this problem or I have take the longer way and reinstall the mac?

 

[Satcomer]

What I am saying is the Automator workflow only makes a folder with a • and a space in front of the folder name. This way it will always be the first name in a folder so when you drag the parent folder to the dock it will still look as the parent folder (with the icon picture). If it erased your /Users/YourUserName/Applications/ then you have way bigger problems with your Mac! So follow these steps to see what happened.

1. Launch the application /Applications/Utilities/Console and review the logs to see what happened.

2. Remove the Set Stack Icon created.

Is the removed programs in your Trash Can? Did you have to put in your UserName/Password in?

 

[cyberchaos]

It neither asked for my username/password nor moved the applications to Trash. I also checked the Console and found nothing. I guess there is no way to fix this.

Nevertheless, I was planning to install Leopard from the ground up before this problem happened and it just made me more firm to go ahead with the re-installation.

As for setting stacks icon, I should have done it manually or at least I should have tried applying the workflow to a test folder. Oh, well. I will start using Time Machine again after re-installation of Leopard.

Thanks for taking time to help me out.