I was just checking to see if all of my installed actions were up-to-date and I noticed that there are now 3 variations of the CrowBar action (inline, item, and page). I only have a single action. Should I delete my currently installed CrowBar action and replace it with the three indicated?
Also, why is there not an action version number in the Get Info section of the Apple Finder. That would be very helpful in determining if an action is current.
I was just checking to see if all of my installed actions were up-to-date and I noticed that there are now 3 variations of the CrowBar action (inline, item, and page). I only have a single action. Should I delete my currently installed CrowBar action and replace it with the three indicated?
All three are combined in the single Action file. It’s one of the ways that Actions can be bundled together.
Also, why is there not an action version number in the Get Info section of the Apple Finder. That would be very helpful in determining if an action is current.
Finder-visible version numbers only work on Bundle format Actions. This is an Apple filesystem magic construct, where a folder is named a particular way, and contains a particular tree of folders and files, and the Finder recognizes it as a “thing which must be treated as if it was a single file”. My Scripty Actions are one such example. Because those contain a special metadata file inside them (info.plist) at a particular offset from the outermost folder, they can expose their version number to the Finder. But normal Actions have no such magic, and so their version number is only visible within the Freeway application.
It’s a lot of work for little benefit. Here’s what the developer would have to do:
Normal Action:
MyTerrificAction.fwaction (plain text file)
Bundle Action:
MyTerrificAction.fwactionb/ (a folder, with a specific name format)
Contents/
info.plist (plain text file with XML in it)
Resources/
Actions/
MyTerrificAction.fwaction (plain text file)
Now, when you want to change the version number, you have to update the .fwaction file AND the info.plist file, in lock-step. Further complications: a single .fwaction file may contain any number of different actions and libraries (shared resources used by more than one Action in the same file). Each of those may have a different version number, and when making changes to one Action within the .fwaction file, you may not need to change any of the other Actions or libraries. But the info.plist only tracks a SINGLE version number – for the entire bundle. So what I ended up doing for my Scripty Actions was revving all of the libraries to the same version number, and changing it every time anything changed anywhere. It’s a PITA.
See what I mean about complexity?
Walter
On Dec 12, 2013, at 2:48 PM, RavenManiac wrote:
Thanks for the explanation Walter. I probably should have read this before I posted my latest request in another thread.
Can a single action be bundled or packaged in such a way that the finder recognizes a version number, if included?
