1.0b5
With the introduction of the multi-scan monitors and Display Manager it is possible to change the desktop area. This was especially useful on my PowerBook Duo (now retired) where I could get thousands of colours if I reduced the screen size. Unfortunatey it has the nasty side effect of scrambling the neat arrangement of the icons on the desktop. Scriptable Finder goes some way to fixing that problem but it's not perfect.
Snapshotter is the solution to this problem. It allows you to take a snapshot of a folder and, at a later date, restore the position of the icons within the folder from the snapshot. Snapshotter is also useful for when you accidentally select "Clean Up" on the desktop.
Snapshotter is Freeware.
When you drop a folder on Snapshotter, it creates a snapshot file that records the positions of all the icons within the folder. When you drop that snapshot file on Snapshotter, it restores the icons positions by scripting the Finder. It obviously can only restore the positions of the icons that were present when the snapshot was taken.
If you just double click the Snapshotter application it creates a snapshot of the desktop in the root of the system disk.
If you drop a disk on to Snapshotter it puts a snapshot of the root directory on the desktop of the system disk.
You must have Scriptable Finder to use Snapshotter. This is available as part of the AppleScript developers kit and will be included with System 7.5 and higher. I'm sorry but Scriptable Finder is the only way to reliably reposition icons.
Snapshotter does not reposition the volume icons, the Trash or PowerTalk destop objects. Basically I couldn't be bothered.
The full source code for the Snapshotter application is included in the distribution. The source compiles with CodeWarrior Pro 1. Please feel free to use it as sample code. If you spot any bugs, let me know.
I normally don't put disclaimers in my Read Me files but this one really needs it. While snapshotting your desktop is very safe, restoring a snapshot may well scramble all of your icons meaninglessly. It did this to me many times during development. I will attempt to fix any bugs you report in Snapshotter but please don't get all upset about the fact it scrambled your icons. You have been warned.
Having said that, this version of Snapshotter has worked flawlessly on a wide variety of machines.
1.0b5 (Feb 1998) fixes an incompatibility with Finder 8.0 and above. It's definitely a bug, although there's some debate over whether it's the Finder or Snapshotter who's at fault.
1.0b4 allows you to snapshot folders that are in locked folders. The snapshots appear on the desktop. Also displays unknown errors properly.
1.0b3 is identical to 1.0b2 except for the version number and read me.
1.0b2 is the first release. 1.0b1 never made it past my desktop machine, whereupon it irrevocably scrambled my icons and put the project on hold for about 12 months until my officemate got so sick of repositioning the desktop icons on his 20" Multiscan that he threatened me with death unless I fixed, finished and released Snapshotter.
Please report any bugs you find in this software. I can be contacted at the following Internet email address...
Quinn <quinn@quinn.echidna.id.au>
The latest version of Snapshotter should always be available from my web page:
<http://www.quinn.echidna.id.au/Quinn/WWW/>
I would appreciate any feedback about Snapshotter.
Share and Enjoy.
Quinn "The Eskimo!"
<quinn@quinn.echidna.id.au>
9 Feb 1998