Hi Tim, I'm still not sure why my experience using additemtodock as a terminal command didn't let me open the folders or files that were placed there, but I've managed to fix this when I put this into an Automator action that I saved as a Finder plugin. Now I don't have to run this from the terminal, and additionally, all the files and folders work correctly when I access them in the dock.
TK: >> Hi Ester, > >You said: I tried out the additemstodock program that Tim linked to >put a >> >> folder into the dock (in Tiger). Something shows up there with >> the name of the folder or item, but I can't open it or show it in >> finder. > >TK: I tried it in Tiger tonight and it worked for me. I found that >if I pressed VO-space on the new Dock item, it opened in the Finder >but I had to press ESC to lose Dock focus before accessing the >window. If I simply pressed return on the Dock item, the folder >opened and focus went directly to it. If I pressed the down arrow, >at least with the Applications folder, I got the contents of the >folder. I'm not sure what's going on with yours Esther. Here's what I did that now works: 1. I'd previously retrieved the additemtodock shell script from http://lucidsystems.org/luciddocktools.html and installed it on my system (Tiger). This is Add Item to Dock 0.0.7. 2. I opened Automator from the Applications menu, and at the Search Text Field I typed "Run AppleScript" (without quotes), followed by carriage return. This took me to the table, where I interacted, and found that the "Run AppleScript" action was the sole entry. I double-clicked with VO-keys+shift+space to click (holding down Control-Option-Shift and pressing the spacebar twice quickly) to add this action to the workflow, and stopped interacting with the table. 3. I moved to the scroll window with VO-keys+right arrow and interacted; then I used VO-keys+right arrow to move to the area "Edit text" to enter the AppleScript. I deleted the line: (* Your script goes here *) and pasted in the following lines in its place: tell application "Finder" set chosenFile to the selection as alias end tell do shell script "additemtodock " & quoted form of POSIX path of chosenFile 4. I checked this by selecting an item in Finder, then went back to Automator (with Command+tab) and ran the action with Command+r. 5. I went to the File menu (VO-keys+m, then "F" to go to the File Menu, and arrow down to its entries) to "Save as Plug-In", did a carriage return, and assigned the name "Save to Dock" in the text field and made this a plug-in for Finder (pop-up button). (This means that in the Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder folder under my user account there is a Send to Dock.workflow.) 6. To use this, I can now select an item in Finder, use VO-keys+ shift+m to bring up the contextual menu, arrow down to "Automator", right arrow to the submenu, arrow down to "Send to Dock" and return, and then have my selected folder or file appear in the dock. When I now navigate to these items I can open the folders or files with no problems. Some more interesting points: 1. If I use this Automator action to put .webloc files in the dock, I can use these to open web pages. I made one of these for Blind Cool Tech's web page, and another for the search page of the mailing list for the discuss archives. (Unfortunately the WeblocMaker app I used is for the older, PowerPC Macs: http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16018/weblocmaker I don't know of a similar utility for the Intel Macs. And I can't simply generate this as a text file because if you do get info the file's kind is identified as "Web location file". However, I've found you can copy the file, and edit the information inside that identifies the URL. When you save the new file, you can use it to open another web location. 2. In Tiger, it appears that when I run the Automator action, the folders that I put into the dock are "Spring-loaded". Among other things, this means that the folders can be navigated through aliases -- faster than actually moving through physical folders in Finder. And, best of all, if I put my iTunes Music folder in the dock, or my podcasts folder from my iTunes Music folder in the dock, I can quickly navigate and play my music this way -- as though I were running through the folders and subfolders. THIS IS GREAT (BIG GRIN). But, unless they revise Leopard's organization and stacks, you can't do this in Leopard. Tim, do you think you could save the Automator plug-in in your downloads directory? Please try this out and see whether it works for you. Cheers, Esther
