[SuperHard]

My friend just installed Panther on her powerbook. She replaced the data files in AddressBook with the data files from Jaguar, as her way of importing the contact info. However, this has instead irretrievably corrupted the AddressBook app. The application is untouched, it still has a file size of 9.8 MB. Is there a way to re-install it - the Panther disks don't seem to provide such an option. Can someone tell me which files are necessary to run AddressBoook?

Thanks for your help.

[Developer]

To reinstall a single app you would need to use Pacifist. However I doubt that "replacing a data file" could corrupt the application. You should fist check whether the app still works for another user.

Could you describe what exactly she did?

[SuperHard]

thanks for the tip on Pacifist, I'll look into it.
As far as I can tell, she replaced several files that were located in:
user/library/applicationsupport/addressbook

Thanks again.

[Developer]

That will not corrupt the application.

Remove the files there. Also trash the Address Book preferences at ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AddressBook.plist

[SuperHard]

Right. I created a new user and I logged in as that, that did not fix the problem.
I should have taken a screen shot, but perhaps you might be able to envision it: when I boot up Addressbook I get a window that is only the brushed metal appearance. That's it, no white space for text, no scroll bars, just one big brushed steel window with 4 window elements: the search bar (in upper right), the red, yellow, and green buttons in upper left, the title that says "Address Book" in upper middle, and the word edit in the lower right (not a button). If I select make a new card, nothing happens, as if the command is just ignored. We're trying pacifist now to reinstall Addressbook from the panther CD.

Thanks again!!

[SuperHard]

Ok, I used pacifist to find the AddressBook.app file and selected Install, which proceeded smoothly.
Then I rebooted the computer, launched AddressBook, and to my dismay, the problem remains. Itunes, iCal, finder are all fine. Never messed around with FontBook either - I noticed some posts about problems with Addressbook linked to FontBook.
It seems ridiculous to have to do an archive and install to get this App back.

Uh... I've got a screen shot of the bizarre AddressBook window but how do I post it here? When I click Insert Image, nothing happens (Although the link, email, list, and quote buttons work.)

Geez, this has become ridiculous.

thanks for you all help.

[Developer]

Font issue is a good guess. Did you install any fonts or remove any? Try renaming your ~/Library/Fonts folder or the /Library/Fonts folder and see if the problem goes away.

If you open the app Console from your Utilities folder and then launch Address Book, what does the Console say?

[SuperHard]

Here is what Console reveals; I wish I could understand it. Hope it reveals a clue. Thanks for taking interest:

2004-01-09 17:34:38.778 Address Book[411] CFLog (0):
CFPropertyListCreateFromXMLData(): plist parse failed; the data is not proper UTF-8. The file name for this data could be:
Resources/Info.plist -- file://localhost/System/Library/Frameworks/AddressBook.framework/
The parser will retry as in 10.2, but the problem should be corrected in the plist.
2004-01-09 17:34:39.073 Address Book[411] CFLog (0):
CFPropertyListCreateFromXMLData(): plist parse failed; the data is not proper UTF-8. The file name for this data could be:
/System/Library/Frameworks/AddressBook.framework/Resources/English.lproj/LayoutDefaults.plist
The parser will retry as in 10.2, but the problem should be corrected in the plist.
2004-01-09 17:34:39.126 Address Book[411] Exception raised during posting of notification. Ignored. exception: *** -[NSCFArray objectAtIndex:]: index (0) beyond bounds (0)

[SuperHard]

I thought that by re-installing the app through Pacifist, the resources files would be repaired. I did not delete any files before I did the re-installation, mainly because I don't where all the files related to addressbook reside and I thought the reinstaller would replace the pre-existing files.

[Developer]

Please make an Archive & Install.

[MM-o4]

I was having a similar problem with Address Book which 'Developer' tip fix

BIG UPS TO Developer

MM-o4

[Some Guy []]

heh, archive and install is sort of a lazy fix. sure it will work, but that will fix any problem.


-justin