"show file extensions" feature

3mors

3mors

HampCake Studios
i've noticed that on my 8A425 if i enable the "show file extensions" feature in finder preferences, the finder shows me also the ".app" extensions

i find it useless
is there any way to disable this behaviour leaving showed all the other extensions?
 
I think it's a consistency issue - now solved in Tiger. 'We' want to see file extensions. Why should they hide the .app from applications, although the package (folder) actually is called *.app?
I guess some people will find it inconsistent _now_ (in Tiger), but it really wasn't consistent before.
 
thanks for your reply, anyway do u think it's possible to hide only the .app extension?
 
I don't see any setting for it now. It might be there's a hidden setting in the defaults one could write in. Maybe if we compare what the com.apple.finder.plist file says about it? I've opened mine in Tiger and didn't find anything about extensions there - but then I ain't got the time to thoroughly look through it right now. Could be if you replace the line where that's defined with the one from a Panther installation it would do what you want.

However: Could be there simply isn't a way to go back...
 
Erh, yeah. Like I said, there's _no_ way, since installing Tiger will quite probably not let you go back to Panther. No _technical_ reason, you can of course erase the drive and reinstall Panther, but your mind and heart won't let you. :P
 
yes, in the "human" sense they are two different things, but i can't find any other explanation
they are treated as files
 
Well, this prevents trojans from masquerading as harmless files, doesn't it? I mean, couldn't you name an application package cool_song.mp3.app? It would be bad if that appeared as cool_song.mp3. (I realize, of course, that unlike Windows executables, OS X app packages can't be easily transmitted over the net, so it's not as big a problem, but still.)

It'll bug me, to be sure. But I think it's the right decision. Of course, options are nice, but I wouldn't expect Apple to make it a "public" option. I'll definitely be poking through all plists when I install Tiger. Who knows what goodies are locked away in there?
 
File, folder... The average user doesn't look at .app's as folders, he sees them as program files. And if he _does_ look inside them, they're called packages. It's like an in-between thing, really. At least from a user interface perspective, it's only right to show their ending, since whether it's a folder or a file (or a 'package'), its NAME is "*.app", not "*".
 
3mors said:
u'r in wrong, a folder is a file, all the stuff on computer is file
Click to expand...

Actually 3mors, although you're correct from maybe a computer concepts point of view, you're incorrect in the context of this conversation. Remember that the finder does not literally display files or folders. It is, itself, an application that runs in the operating system, just like Mail or Safari, (I say this for the benifit of the few who may misunderstand & think that the finder IS OS X itself) whos job is to display a graphical REPRESENTATION of the users file system, just like the 'ls' command in the terminal. Now there are a few important things to note:

1. Files and folders do not behave the same way and therefore should not be displayed the same
2. Files and executables do not behave the same way and should not be displayed the same

All three of these things (file, folder, application) serve three specialized functions. You cant "run" a file or "edit" and application. Even Applescripts are not really run, but they are documents that are read & compiled into a command that can then be run BY an application.

Now you have a valid argument that they may be the same on disk, but in a graphic application you are not correct. This is evidenced by the fact that AppleScript is incapable of telling the finder to treat a file like a folder or vice-verca. Likewise, AppleScript treats applications as a differnt class (cpkg which is a "package" class) than either files or folders.

I think if you want to argue consistency then you have to say that the filder needs to be consistent with itself as an application. Applescript should act the same, conceptually, as the graphical represenation, so if Apps are different to AppleScript then they should have the ability be treated differntly with regard to extensions as well.

The trojan concern is valid, but it would be easy to get around that by moving the "display extensions" preference to the folders view options and allow it to be set (like other view options) for a specific folder. If there's a fole, folder or app in my "/Applications/" folder that I didn't put there, I'm going to be suspicious anyway.
 
3mors said:
i've noticed that on my 8A425 if i enable the "show file extensions" feature in finder preferences, the finder shows me also the ".app" extensions

i find it useless
is there any way to disable this behaviour leaving showed all the other extensions?
Click to expand...
this is what i wrote to open this thread :)

now i'm used to this feature and i have to admit: it's better

eheheh
 
Yeah. Thankful that you revive the thread. I also think it's good, because like this, people who activate it _see_ that it's an application, even if it tries to look like a document (security...).
 
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