[Particle_Man]

I haven't yet tried this but the link was up on versiontracker. Please respond here if it works.

Web page is at
Authors site

The Versiontracker link is
Versiontracker link for transparent dock

[mrfrost]

Originally posted by Particle_Man:
<STRONG>I haven't yet tried this but the link was up on versiontracker. Please respond here if it works.

Web page is at
Authors site

The Versiontracker link is
Versiontracker link for transparent dock</STRONG>

Isn't this something for OSX Third party software forum?

anyway , I tried the applescript and I can't get it to work. I think it has something to do with my permissions. And I am not a Unix freak so.....I'm stuck.

[Brazuca]

I also can't get it to work. I downloaded the additions and followed all the instructions, but nothing.
very promising, but much like the women I meet, all talk and no play....

got it. looks nice, doesn't it?

[walrusjb]

According to a couple of reviewers at VerTracker, one or the otehr of those files is infected. May want to run a scan of your systems...

Originally posted by walrusjb:
<STRONG>According to a couple of reviewers at VerTracker, one or the otehr of those files is infected. May want to run a scan of your systems...</STRONG>

Infected with what?

Originally posted by walrusjb:
<STRONG>According to a couple of reviewers at VerTracker, one or the otehr of those files is infected. May want to run a scan of your systems...</STRONG>

One person using a PC claimed to have found the Simpsons Applescript virus. I scanned it on a Mac and found nothing. Ive since installed it, looks ok to me.

[walrusjb]

Well, I gave it a whirl but found no joy. An error to the effect of "Disk some file" blah blah. This is with both OSAX additions installed.

Cest la vie.

[kfkel]

Originally posted by walrusjb:
<STRONG>Well, I gave it a whirl but found no joy. An error to the effect of "Disk some file" blah blah. This is with both OSAX additions installed.
Cest la vie.</STRONG>

Such is the wonders of applescript... guess I should have called it a beta after all...
Anyway, I've posted some more info over at VersionTracker... the long & the short of it is:

I can't find a virus anywhere... on a pc, on a mac, with macafee, or with norton - can only guess Norton was confusing it with the "Mac.Simpsons@mm" virus, it being an applescript itself, but all my scans are turning up nada.

Applescript in OS X, especially with Finder operations, is a work in progress & has it's subtleties... getting the same code to work all the time is difficult at best. That said, I've revised the script with the error reports I've received, & it may just do the trick. As far as I can tell, the "manual" option has been working for everyone, but it's great when the auto-option works - takes maybe 15 seconds from start to finish. I hope it does now, if not it will...

The do everything script didn't work for me either (I had both script additions installed properly and redundantly).

So, I went the "manual" route. This included deleting the left.pdf, middle.pdf, right.pdf files (Resources directory within the dock.app package). The first time I dragged the 'dock' file (within the dock.app package in MacOS directory) to the TransparentDock file I received a priv. error.

Went to terminal and typed 'su' and entered root password (you must have set root up already - search forums for root if you haven't already done this). Then I went to the MacOS directory within the dock.app package... Then at prompt I typed 'chmod 777 dock' and also 'chown 777 dock'... after that I was able to drop the 'dock' file on TransparentDock file and it patched the dock... after logout and login the dock was transparent! The 777 may not be nec... I just went for the quick and dirty test run to see if that worked, and it did!...

Sorry if this has already been covered by the time I typed it ::Grin::

JSD303

[RodriCO2000]

I installed this little hack, it looks cool, a neat little hack!!!

Anyway I made a complete backup of the Dock.app so in case something goes wrong i can just reinstall.

Also you do not need to Logout and login to get the effect all you have to do is open terminal type "top" and make a note of the process id of the dock ex. (295) then type "q" to quit top and type "kill 295" replace 295 with the dock process id and then the dock will automatically quit and restart without the need to log out.

[IamBob]

replace "top" with "ps uxc".

[ 07-05-2001: Message edited by: IamBob ]

[lucylawless]

kfkel: if you're really the author, bravo for coming here!

I finally got this thing to run, and here is what it did. It's not transparent! It's not even as good as when I replaced the pdfs with transparent ones! Wuddup with that?!!


PS. I also tried out the desktop switching droplet from your website. It tells me my folder contains invalid files (and it doesn't). Can you give me the skinny as to how it knows what kind of files things are? I gave them all the proper file extensions, and from my 15 minutes of investigation, the droplet only likes the ones the OS X calls a 'document' (instead of 'jpeg document', for example) in the preview pane in column view. Please help

[Particle_Man]

OK, I've got it working but didn't use the Applescripts. I hate Read Only Applescripts since I can't check the source code to make sure they don't do anything destructive. I got a modified copy of the Dock file that's inside the Dock.app package from a friend I trust and installed it. I've got the dock file you need in the public folder on my iDisk. Username is dougandjaana
YOU MUST BE ROOT TO MAKE THESE CHANGES!!!
BACK UP THE FILES YOU ARE REPLACING!!!
After downloading it you need to go to /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app and use the Contextual Pop Up menu to show package contents. Once that open go to /MacOS and replace the Dock file with the one downloaded from my iDisk.
Next go back to /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/ and delete or remane the 3 .pdf files named left.pdf, right.pdf, & middle.pdf.
Logout or even better reboot and next time you log in you should have a completly transparent boarderless dock. A picture of my dock is at:
Boarderless Transparent Dock

Have fun!

[Triangle Man]

Your life just got a whole lot more difficult, Particle.

[kfkel]

lucylawless,ure what went awry with your dock hack, but here's I guess what could have happened:
- perhaps the Dock file was already hacked
- maybe the patches were not applied, but from your image it appears to resemble an intermediate transparency, which would correspond to half of the first patch, which should only have occurred if the dock file was altered from its original state

One thing you could do is run the DockReset script to get the original Dock back in place, & then redo the TransparentDock script. If your original Dock file is altered in some way, you could extract a fresh copy of the Dock Package from the OS X install cd by typing in the Terminal with the OS X Install CD mounted:<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1"face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial">code:</font><HR><pre><font size=1 face=courier>sudo gunzip -c '/Volumes/Mac OS X Install CD/System/Installation/Packages/Essentials.pkg/Contents/Resources/Essentials.pax.gz' | pax -r ./System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app</font>[/code]
Enter your admin password when prompted... it'll take a minute or 2 to run; when done, the fresh Dock package is buried in your working directory in the path:
[workingdirectory]/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app
(you may also fish out a Finder.app too).
I'd choose your home directory to run the command. Then try running the Transparency script again on a copy of the just extracted Dock package.

I compiled the script as run only simply because it was the only way I could get it to run properly on several different systems, which doesn't make much sense to me. It appears that for some reason, 2 things are happening:
- OS X applescripts are converting local variables to globals, & then complaining that they can't find the globals. That's what's likely occurring with the DesktopPictureChangerX script... the local initial empty set for files of the proper format (images) is becoming a global
- application name (generic) ref's are being converted to alias filepaths (absolute refs, hence the Finder errors in the TransparentDock script)
Odd thing is, could never get that script to fail on any of the testing systems.

BTW, I made some adjustments to that desktop pic changer script, &
updated it on the site...

[ 07-06-2001: Message edited by: kfkel ]

[Particle_Man]

Your life just got a whole lot more difficult, Particle.

What exactly do you mean Triangle Man?

kfkel, I didn't mean to imply that you might have done anything dodgy to the Applescript. I'm sorry if it came across that way. I simply don't trust any Run Only applescripts unless I can get a copy of the code. In this case it was simpler to just replace the files by hand. What I'd really love to see is this hack and the french one that makes the dock remember pinning preferences combined.

[vasu]

in the song Particle Man by They Might Be Giants, it's Triangle Man that wins (in a battle with Particle Man).

-vasu

[Brazuca]

Originally posted by Particle_Man:
<STRONG>OK, I've got it working but didn't use the Applescripts. I hate Read Only Applescripts since I can't check the source code to make sure they don't do anything destructive. I got a modified copy of the Dock file that's inside the Dock.app package from a friend I trust and installed it. I've got the dock file you need in the public folder on my iDisk. Username is dougandjaana
YOU MUST BE ROOT TO MAKE THESE CHANGES!!!
BACK UP THE FILES YOU ARE REPLACING!!!
After downloading it you need to go to /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app and use the Contextual Pop Up menu to show package contents. Once that open go to /MacOS and replace the Dock file with the one downloaded from my iDisk.
Next go back to /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/ and delete or remane the 3 .pdf files named left.pdf, right.pdf, & middle.pdf.
Logout or even better reboot and next time you log in you should have a completly transparent boarderless dock. A picture of my dock is at:
Boarderless Transparent Dock

Have fun! </STRONG>

Well, this didn't work for me:
I d/l your patched dock from your iDisk.
I logged in as root
I navigated to the dock.app, opened the contents, found the "dock", backed it up and replaced it with your patched copy.
I found the three .pdf files (left, middle, right) and took them out of the folder onto the desktop.
Logged out from root and back as my user.
NO DOCK! At all!!

Did i miss a step?


update: I logged in as root and sure enough the transparent dock was working. It looks great but I still have no dock when I log in as my regular user.
Any ideas?

[ 07-06-2001: Message edited by: Brazuca ]

[joecel]

It works. Just get the dock file after opening the contents of the dock app. and drop it on the transparent dock app. It produces a borderless transparent dock.

[joecel]

It works. Just get the dock file after opening the contents of the dock app. and drop it on the transparent dock app. It produces a borderless transparent dock.

[Particle_Man]

Thanks for the Triangle Man vs. Particle Man explanation. I actually chose this handle many years ago (going back to BBS's in the 80's) because of an interest in Particle Physics and FTL travel.

[Brazuca]

Originally posted by joecel:
<STRONG>It works. Just get the dock file after opening the contents of the dock app. and drop it on the transparent dock app. It produces a borderless transparent dock.</STRONG>

Not for me. this is the error that I get:

"Can't get name of alias "Xodo#2:System:Library:CoreServices:dock.app:Conte nts:MacOS ock" of application "Finder"."

I even tried changing my HD name (since it has an accent on it: Xod�).

[lucylawless]

Originally posted by kfkel:
<STRONG>lucylawless, hack, but here's I guess what could have happened:
- perhaps the Dock file was already hacked
- maybe the patches were not applied, but from your image it appears to resemble an intermediate transparency, which would correspond to half of the first patch, which should only have occurred if the dock file was altered from its original state

One thing you could do is run the DockReset script to get the original Dock back in place, & then redo the TransparentDock script. If your original Dock file is altered in some way, you could extract a fresh copy of the Dock Package from the OS X install cd by typing in the Terminal with the OS X Install CD mounted:&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;font size="1"face="Geneva, Verdana, Arial"&gt;code:&lt;/font&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;font size=1 face=courier&gt;sudo gunzip -c '/Volumes/Mac OS X Install CD/System/Installation/Packages/Essentials.pkg/Contents/Resources/Essentials.pax.gz' | pax -r ./System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;HR&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;
Enter your admin password when prompted... it'll take a minute or 2 to run; when done, the fresh Dock package is buried in your working directory in the path:
[workingdirectory]/System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app
(you may also fish out a Finder.app too).
I'd choose your home directory to run the command. Then try running the Transparency script again on a copy of the just extracted Dock package.

[ 07-06-2001: Message edited by: kfkel ]</STRONG>

ok, I got myself a new dock from the install CD. Now I can't get your script to use it. It asks me to locate the Dock I want to alter, and when I do, it tells me it needs the application inside the application package, but how do I navigate inside the package?

also, I'm a little concerned that it didn't ask for a root password when I ran that terminal command you gave me. When I gave the password to you script (repeatedly), did it somehow give me prolonged root access to mess with the Dock?

[lucylawless]

I never got the script to work, but at least I got my transparent dock, using Particle_Man's paranoia-style directions. Thanks, all

also, kfkel, I downloaded the updated desktop-changing script today, and it still won't recognize all my pictures, but at least most of them are working now...