Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!apple!usc!ucla-cs!uci-ics!truesdel
From: truesdel@ics.uci.edu (Scott Truesdell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Window closer for Multifinder
Keywords: Multifinder
Message-ID: <20322@paris.ics.uci.edu>
Date: 1 Aug 89 17:41:45 GMT
References: <199@zip.eecs.umich.edu> <13189@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Sender: news@paris.ics.uci.edu
Lines: 56

In article <199@zip.eecs.umich.edu> ziff@zippy.eecs.umich.edu (Brian Moore) writes:
>
>    I was wondering if anybody knows of a program (CDEV, INIT, patch
>or whatever) that will do the following.  When I switch from an 
>application to the finder it will bring the desktop as the top window 
>so I can open other applications and disks without having to manually
>close or rearrange the previously opened windows.  It just that going
>back to the finder from MS Word or Telnet so I can open another program
>or search through my hard drive is a pain because I have to either shrink
>all of the windows or quit out of the programs

I'm using MultiFinder 6.1a2, which came with some recent MPW beta releases.
I have heard of more recent versions than this, but this version works
reasonably stable for me. It has two VERY helpful features that differ 
from the release version of MultiFinder found with System Tools 6.0.3:

  Right below the About menuitem, is a Set Aside... menuitem that hides 
    all windows for that particular application.

  The list of open applications is at the top of the Apple menu, just
    below the "About..." and "Set Aside..." menuitems. This makes its
    much easier to select from currently running applications. So the 
    Apple menu looks like this (well...)

Apple
  About NCSA Telnet...
  Set Aside NCSA Telnet 2.2
  --------------------------
    [] Finder
  x [] NCSA Telnet 2.2
    [] Microsoft Word
    [] Studio/8
  --------------------------
    Suitcase II
    Chooser
    Control Panel
    dCAD Calculator
    DiskLock
    DiskTop
    ...etc.

So, if I have too many windows open and I want to make a quick visit to the 
Finder, I would select "Set Aside..." and all windows for that appl would
close, the icon in the above menu would become dimmed, and the appl would 
be taken out of rotation from the small icon in the right hand edge of the 
menubar. Selecting it from the "Apple" menu would restore all the the 
attributes.

I like it...

  --scott

  Claimer:  I speak for everybody.
 
--
Scott Truesdell