Native File Picker and Unix paths

[amayze]

I've just come up across a slight problem with the native file dialogues. It's not possible to select anything that is in a Unix place rather than a Mac one.

e.g. In Preferences-NeoOffice-Paths, if I change the Temp directory to something other than /tmp it is impossible to change it back because the native file picker hides all of the horrible (but in this instance necessary) Unix stuff.

Also when playing around with MySQL I put Connector/J in a Unix-like place ie /usr/local/ but then found I couldn't add that as a class path as they are now chosen using a native file picker that doesn't show the /usr directories.

In this case I just created a ~/Library/MySQL folder and put it in there, but maybe there will be occaisons when this is not desirable, or not possible.

Is there a way of getting to Unix paths in the native file picker? Is this really an issue or will there always be (a more Mac like) work around?

Andy

[pluby]

The Mac OS X native file dialogs try to hide the Unix paths, but they should still be accessible.

You should be able to access them by clicking on your machine name in the top left corner of the dialog. Then click on your main volume and there should be the Unix paths like /tmp, /opt, etc.

Patrick

[Samwise]

I don't see my machine's name in the (top-left corner of the) native fpicker dialog, only Network and my two drive's names (NeoOffice Preferences > NeoOffice > Paths > Temporary files > Edit). I can access my computer from the drop-down Aqua box, but even there, when I choose my boot drive (or my non-boot drive), I can't see Unix paths, only Applications, Developer, Library, opt, System and Users.

[pluby]

If you have upgraded your main volume from an earlier Mac OS X release, you may still have a "/.hidden" file. A clean install of Tiger does not create this file. However, Jaguar and earlier and maybe Panther did. You can see hidden top-level directories by moving this file out of the way. You may need to reboot after you do so.

Patrick

[Samwise]

I have a clean install of Tiger. Perhaps Andy can see it though.

[OPENSTEP]

This isn't necessarily a bug, rather it's something endemic to OS X file choosers. Annoys the hell out of me, particularly in XCode.

The workaround patrick's mentioning will only function if you have your computer in the Finder sidebar. You'll need to put it in there in the Finder in order to have it show up in file dialogs which is completely unintuitive (RTFF league in action?):

- Go to Finder.
- Finder > Preferences
- Go to the "Sidebar" preference panel
- Check "Computer" to show it in the sidebar

The other workaround that I sometimes use is from a Terminal:

- Open a Terminal
- Navigate to the "hidden" directory
- Issue "open ." ("open" followed by a period). This will create a new Finder window listing the contents of the hidden directory.
- Drag the folder from the titlebar of the Finder window onto the OS X file chooser. The file chooser will then navigate to display that hidden directory.

Although more advanced users like myself really do prefer to see the hidden directories all the time, regular users tend to be really confused by seeing all of these new directories they don't see in either the Finder or any other application. It was Apple's decision and while it works in the majority of cases, there are definitely times when it's a PITA (cue XCode hatred).

ed

[sardisson]

Cmd-Shift-G will let you type a path/partial path to load, too.

Smokey

[amayze]

Well, I do have a clean install of Tiger on my iMac and I don't have a /.hidden file, but even with the Computer in the sidebar I don't see the Unix stuff, however Cmd-Shift-G does the trick nicely. Thanks Smokey.

Andy.

[Guest]

command-shift-G while in a native file picker will do the job.
You can enter /tmp to go there for example.

Good luck,

Hendrik