Doesn't really replace Finder

[peterwor]

All,
Here's a little problem I'm running into with PathFinder. There is an option to have PF quit the Finder upon launching, which I think is great BUT it breaks functionality. More specifically within Safari & Camino browsers. In the download windows of each browser there is an icon that will essentially show the download in "Finder" (OOPS..). That's right it seems to be hard coded to Finder and we receice an error message stating that it can't show the object because it has moved since the download. Well its actually that Finder has moved from the process list.
I don't know of anyway to edit the helper application list for Safari, it is doable for Camino, I believe.
Any thoughts on how to remedy? CocaoTech can you fix this?

TIA,
Peter

[bill]

I don't know about Camino, but I've got Safari showing downloads in Path Finder. Here's how I did it, from my notes:

To make OSX think Path Finder is Finder:
Cmd-click on Path Finder, select "Show Package Contents".
Go to Contents, open PkgInfo.
Change "APPLPFdR" to "APPLMACS" (ignore quotes; it's the only thing in the file).
To reverse, change "APPLMACS" back to "APPLPFdR".

Replacing Finder with Path Finder:
Open Terminal
type "defaults Write com.apple.loginwindow /Path/to/Path Finder.app
(again, ignore the quotes. Replace /Path/to/ with the actual path to wherever you've put Path Finder; mine is /Applications/Utilities/)
Exit Terminal
Log out
or
Open com.apple.loginwindow.plist with Property List Editor
(for 10.2.x, look in ~/Library/Preferences; for 10.3.x look in /Library/Preferences)
Click on Root, then click the "New Child" button
You'll get a line that says New Item in the first column, String in the second and nothing in the third.
Enter "Finder" in the first column, leave String in the second and enter "/Path/to/Path Finder.app" in the third column.
(Like usual, ignore the quotes, and /Path/to/ is your path to Path Finder.)
Save & close com.apple.loginwindow.plist
Exit Property List Editor
Log out
To reverse, open com.apple.loginwindow.plist, select the line that starts with "Finder" and click the delete button.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately the tip above to change "APPLPFdR" to "APPLMACS" breaks Drop drawers for some reason . . . it works fine when it's not changed (i.e. things open in Path Finder when the finder is not running.

Hans

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately the tip above to change "APPLPFdR" to "APPLMACS" breaks Drop drawers for some reason . . . it works fine when it's not changed (i.e. things open in Path Finder when the finder is not running.

Hans

Yes, but it solves the Safari and SpeedDownload issues. And for that, I sure am appreciative.

[knghtbrd]

I'm not sure why the Quit Finder option is actually in the prefs, to be honest. If you know what you're doing, you will quit finder and make PF pretend to be finder at the same time. Doing otherwise does break things, and if you're going to be fiddling with contents of bundles there's no reason not to also edit a plist to make Path Finder come up in place of Apple Finder. ;)

I guess it's there because of 10.3's loginwindow not respecting an individual user's finder key setting. There's gotta be a better way to do it than quitting finder at launch though--maybe a small helper app which checks a preference to see if you want something to replace finder? It would then just fork whatever you've set to be your finder or Apple's if you haven't set anything. (In the meantime, other users are stuck with PF by default..)

[neilio]

The pref is there for all of those Mac users who don't know (or don't understand) how to change preference files by hand. It's not elegant, but it works, and that's what counts at the end of the day.

Also see this thread (http://www.cocoatech.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=222) for more information on using Path Finder in place of the Finder.

Note my response - this is NOT a supported configuration, but we know that a lot of users want to do this with Path Finder, and so we try to help as much as possible.

[knghtbrd]

The problem is that the preference doesn't make PF behave as a Finder replacement in the process, which is why much functionality is lost rather than only a little.

I use this configuration. Indeed it isn't quite up to the expectations of anyone who might use it as such, but it does work. In fact, it works extremely well. Emptying the trash from the dock is about the only major issue left that I've found. :)

[Anonymous]

Well... here is my way to go... (with this i'm thinking of deleting finder hehehe)
Cmd-click on Path Finder, select "Show Package Contents".
Go to Contents, open PkgInfo.
Change "APPLPFdR" to "FNDRMACS" (ignore quotes; it's the only thing in the file).

open your path finder and go to dir "/System/Library/CoreServices/" then backup your "Finder.app" (stuffit this file and save it anywhere), now go to your path finder dir and copy "Path Finder.app" and paste it on "/System/Library/CoreServices/" dir. now just delete this "Finder.app" (remember you got a bkp :) ) and rename "Path Finder.app" to "Finder.app". Restart your OS and you're ready to go!

this is working like a charm here, and i don't fink all ever need finder again... i'll just wait some more time to DELETE the "old finder" (yeah!)

[Anonymous]

I may not be geeky enough to understand how to do this already, but when I have PathFinder quit the finder and then choose "Show in Finder" from the contextual menu of an icon in the Dock, the file is displayed *in the Finder* (which then starts) how do I get it to display in PathFinder instead. If this has already been asked and explained, I'm sorry I was unable to find it.

[peterwor]

http://www.macosxhints.com/

Has this little tip regarding replacing finder with Path Finder.

1. Start up Path Finder instead of Apple's Finder at login

To get Path Finder to launch on start up instead of Apple's Finder, you will need to edit a preference file called com.apple.loginwindow.plist. This file is normally located in /Users/[your username]/Library/Preferences/.

The easiest way to add the preference we need to get Path Finder to launch instead of the Finder is to launch the Terminal and type the following:
defaults write com.apple.loginwindow Finder /Full Path To/Path Finder.app

One way to get the proper formatted path (spaces need to be escaped with a backslash, like My Harddrive Name) to your install of Path Finder is to drag its icon into the Terminal window. It'll insert its file path into the Terminal window. Or, you can edit the file by hand. Open it in a plain-text editor, and then add the following right after the first tag:
<key>Finder</key>
<string>Full Path To/Path Finder.app</string>

After making this change, save the file and log out and back in again to test. Path Finder should now start up instead of Apple's Finder! If not, double check to make sure you have the correct path to the Path Finder application. This gives you the best of both worlds. Path Finder launches on login, and if an application does require Apple's Finder, it will launch and take over.
2. Add the ability to Quit the Finder

To add a "quit" feature to the Finder's application menu so that you can quit it if another application launches it, check out this hint, or use an application like the great TinkerTool.
3. Remap the command+click menu on toolbars to Path Finder

If you command+click on the title bar of a Cocoa window that currently has a file open, you can see a hierarachy menu of the path to that file. (Try this in Text Edit - open a file, and then command+click on the title bar.) To get selected items in this menu to open in Path Finder, developer Mike Solomon (best know for his essential content / ad filter plugin for Safari called Pith Helmet) has created a small plugin called PathFinderHack.

Check out the PathFinderHack page for more details on how to install this, but it's pretty easy to install, requires no tweaking, and helps make Path Finder's integration with the OS that much better.
4. Get Path Finder to intercept Finder-related stuff

Many applications make specific calls to Apple's Finder, mostly to open new browser windows. The Dock is a good example of this - put a folder into the dock, and when you click on it, the dock creates a system event that tells the Finder to open a window at that location.

If you really want to go "all the way" (well, as far as possible for the moment) and have Path Finder intercept all calls to Apple's Finder, you'll need to do the following. To intercept these events in Path Finder, we need to "fake out" the system so that it thinks that Path Finder is the Finder. We do this by editing the PkgInfo file inside of Path Finder, and changing its package info to that of the Finder. To do this, find your install of Path Finder on your hard drive, and right-click (control-click) on the application icon. Select "Show Package Contents" and you should see a Contents folder appear.

Click on the Contents folder, and inside of it there will be some more folders, a file named "Info.plist", and a file named "PkgInfo." Open the PkgInfo file in a plain-text editor and replace what's inside it already (the text "APPLPFdR") with the text APPLMACS. Save, and log out and back in again. Path Finder should now intercept all of the events that used to be sent to the Finder! Of course, this will sometimes pose a problem if an application or AppleScript requires some functionality that Path Finder doesn't support

[neilio]

It's actually FNDRMACS, not APPLMACS that you put in the PkgInfo file, but yeah, all of that stuff should work. Hypothetically, at least. :)