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launch services link in help does nothing? (6 posts)

  • Started 16 years ago by unnarrator2007
  • Latest reply 16 years ago from Scott McGuire
  • unnarrator2007 Member

    Hi, I'm having the trouble described in the FAQ where, under the Edit with toggle in the Obscure preferences pane, I can't get any application to appear in the menu. The help page says to rebuild the Launch Services file in OS X (I'm running Fetch 5 and OS 10.4) by clicking a link, but when I click the link nothing happens. Help would be greatly appreciated--my web client is beginning to lose his patience! Thanks so much.

    [This message has been edited by unnarrator2007 (edited 05-24-2007).]

    Posted 16 years ago #

  • Scott McGuire Administrator

    Hi,

    I'm guessing that you are reading the help page in a web browser.

    Unfortunately, the links to AppleScripts don't work in a web browser; they do work in the Apple Help Viewer, however. (The Fetch Help pages on the web are direct conversions of the pages in the Fetch Help book that is built into the Fetch application.)

    So your client should do the following:

    * In Fetch, choose "Fetch Help" from the Help menu. This will open the Fetch Help in the Apple Help Viewer.
    * Enter "launch services" (without quotes) in the Help Viewer's search field, and press the Return key.
    * The first result should be the Fetch Help topic "Fixing problems choosing editors and helper applications".
    * The user should click on that to show the topic, scroll down to the link to the AppleScript, and click the link.
    * The AppleScript will run.

    Sorry for the inconvenience of the AppleScript link not working in the web browser.

    Please let us know if this doesn't work or if you have further questions.

    Out of curiosity, which editor are they trying to use that they're having problems with?

    Thanks,

    Scott McGuire
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 16 years ago #

  • unnarrator2007 Member

    Thanks, Scott--well, the dialogue boxes tell me Launch Services ran and did its thing, but even then 1) closing Fetch, 2) opening TextEdit (the editor we use) and then 3) restarting Fetch, I still can't get the toggle to offer me any options besides "None." Any other ideas? Thanks!

    Posted 16 years ago #

  • Scott McGuire Administrator

    Hi,

    The Fetch "Edit" command opens a file in an editor application so that you can make changes to it, and when you save the file, it saves your changes back to the server instead of to your local hard drive.

    Only certain text-editing applications include support for saving the file back to the server via Fetch, so Fetch only lists those applications in the "Edit with" menus. And TextEdit is not one of those applications; that is why it isn't ever listed.

    We recommend TextWrangler from Bare Bones Software as a good, free text editor that works with the Fetch Edit command.

    However, you can tell Fetch to open text files in any other application when you download them or double-click on them in Fetch. The difference is that any changes will be saved to your hard drive, not your server. This may do what you want.

    To do this:

    * Select a file of that type (e.g. select a .txt or .html file).
    * Click Get Info.
    * In the Transfer Options section, select "Save and open the file" in "After transferring a file like this" section.
    * Also in the Transfer Options section, choose the application you want (e.g. TextEdit) from the "Open files like this with:" menu. If the application you want is not listed, you can choose "Other" to find it.

    Please let us know if you have further questions.

    Thanks,

    Scott McGuire
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 16 years ago #

  • unnarrator2007 Member

    Hi again Scott--I do want to be able to edit live on the site, so I'll check out TextWrangler. Thought I remembered using TextEdit a long time ago with Fetch (you don't want to know how long ago...)? But guess it's not supported anymore. So thanks for the tip!

    Posted 16 years ago #

  • Scott McGuire Administrator

    Hi,

    Actually, Fetch has never supported TextEdit as an editor that saved files back to the server - not even longer ago than any of us want to discuss. :-)

    If you don't like TextWrangler, there are a variety of other editors that support the Fetch Edit command; other popular ones are BBEdit, Smultron, SubEthaEdit, or TextMate. (Of those, Smultron is the only other one that's free.)

    Thanks,

    Scott McGuire
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 16 years ago #

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