Author: Copyright (C) 2014 by CiderPress authors

Edit File Attributes

To edit an entry's attributes, select the entry from the list., and activate the "Edit attributes..." command. You may only select one entry at a time.

The pathname and modification date will be displayed but may not be changed. (To change the pathname, use the rename feature.) The file type will be shown in the drop-down box, and may be changed by selecting a new entry. Tip: if you click in the drop box and type a letter, you will move to the next entry that begins with that letter. This can make it easier to find a file type by its three-letter abbreviation.

The auxilliary type (usually called "aux type") is shown as a 4-digit hexadecimal number, and may be edited freely.

The type description is based on both the file type and the aux type. For example, type "LBR $E0" with aux type "8002" is listed as a "ShrinkIt (NuFX) document" in the Apple File Type Notes.

The access flags may be enabled or disabled individually with the checkboxes. Most files have "Read" enabled and possibly the "Backup needed" flag. Checking the bottom three boxes results in a "locked" file, while unchecking them indicates an "unlocked" file.

Not all formats support all possible values. For example, on DOS 3.3 disks, checking the "write enabled" flag unlocks the file, while un-checking it locks the file. DOS 3.3 only supports a few file types, and only BIN has a meaningful aux type. HFS directories don't have file types at all.

Changing the file type on a DOS 3.2/3.3 disk should be done with caution. BASIC programs and binary files have the file length embedded in the first sector of the file, and binary files have a start address as well. CiderPress does not add or remove these values when changing the file type. If, for example, you change a file of type TXT to type BIN, you will find that the first four bytes of the text file have mysteriously vanished, and the start address and length are strange. If you change the aux type, and then change it back to TXT, you will find that the first two characters in the text file are different.

WARNING: if you change a DOS file to BAS, INT, or BIN, there's a good chance that the length value pulled out of the first sector will be larger than the file. This may not be immediately apparent because CiderPress truncates the length for safety. The next time CiderPress opens the disk, it will mark the file as "suspicious", and mark the disk read-only. The only way to change the file type back will be to use a sector editor in an emulator. If you want a file from another source (Windows text file, ProDOS disk, etc) to have a specific file type, add it to a ShrinkIt archive or ProDOS disk image, change the file type, and then copy it to a DOS volume.

This behavior is by design. You can take advantage of it when copying certain types of files around. Cracked games with short DOS loaders can be copied by first changing the file type to 'S' ($F2), copying the file, pasting it into the new disk, and then changing the type back to BIN. This works because 'S' has no embedded length, and CiderPress does not alter the embedded aux type unless you explicitly change it.

When changing the file type to BIN, you will have the opportunity to change the aux type. If you leave it alone, the aux type will be pulled out of the first sector of the file. If you change the value in the edit box, the new value will replace the old.

DOS 3.2/3.3 disks only support eight file types. The most common are 'B' (BIN), 'A' (BAS), 'I' (INT), and 'T' (TXT). Less common are 'R' (REL) and 'S' ($F2), and you will rarely see the alternate 'A' ($F3) and 'B' ($F4). The hex-valued types, like $F2, are used because there is no direct mapping between the DOS type and a ProDOS type.

Pascal disks are similar. Three types are commonly used: PDA (generic data), PTX (Pascal text editor format), and PCD (Pascal code format). The others are "untyped" (NON), "bad blocks" (BAD), "info" ($F3), "graffile" ($F4), "foto" (FOT), and "securdir" ($F5).

HFS uses 4-character values for the file type and "creator type". Apple defined special handling for files with a creator type of "pdos". CiderPress automatically recognizes those values, and presents them as standard ProDOS file types. You can choose between ProDOS and HFS types on HFS disks and ShrinkIt archives.