Finder icon badging ('badg' resource) is not that much use these days because
most file icons are no longer static but are generated by QuickLook on the fly,
except in the smallest of views. QuickLook does not honour the 'badg' resource,
I've been told.
Another reason that a badg resource is not ideal, even if it worked, is that if
you put a badge on an icon this way it's permanent. In DropBox terms, imagine
if you applied a "sync succeeded" badge to a file, but then for some reason
DropBox failed to load. Because the badge is permanently in the file system the
file would go on being drawn with the "success" badge, giving you the false
impression that all was fine. Also I presume the badge would travel with the
file when copied to other Macs, which you probably don't want. You need a
dynamic system so that if the utility fails to load the badge is not drawn and
therefore the user knows something is wrong.
There are threads (but no solutions!) on the QuickLook-Dev mailing list:
http://lists.apple.com/archives/quicklook-dev/2011/Sep/threads.html#00004
http://lists.apple.com/archives/quicklook-dev/2009/Nov/threads.html#00003
I did raise a bug to ask for this Finder functionality, and my bug was marked
as a duplicate, but nothing has happened since 2009 so I wouldn't hold your
breath. I suspect that this UI is simply not something Apple want because it is
not extensible. Applying a badge to an icon is a one-time thing: one utility
can do it, but what happens when your utility and DropBox are both installed
and both want to apply a badge to a file? It would become a visual mess. If you
stack the badges somehow, which one goes on top?
On 30 Sep 2011, at 18:08, [email protected] wrote:
>> On 29 Sep 2011, at 20:39, Damon Allison wrote:
>>> I am researching options for integrating with Finder. In particular, I
>>> would like my application to provide file and directory icon overlays
>>> similar to how Dropbox.app overlays green and blue images on top of file
>>> and folder images.
>
> I've never used Dropbox, but - on the offhand chance that you want overlays
> only on certain icons, not generic ones - you can add overlays by adding a
> 'badg' resource to the file's resource fork (or to the hidden .icon\r file
> inside the folder).
>
> Check out:
> http://developer.apple.com/legacy/mac/library/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/Icon_Service_nd_Utilities/IconServUtili.pdf
> and
> http://www.cocoabuilder.com/archive/cocoa/95797-finder-icon-badging.html
>
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