Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!alexr@apple.com
From: alexr@apple.com (Alexander M. Rosenberg)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Pasting icon/picts onto icons in get-info boxes
Message-ID: <13746@goofy.Apple.COM>
Date: 30 May 91 01:37:12 GMT
References: <0B02FFF0.gq3aht@avalon.caladan.wa.com> <1991May29.211517.7687@midway.uchicago.edu>
Sender: usenet@Apple.COM
Organization: Hackers Anonymous
Lines: 35

In article <1991May29.211517.7687@midway.uchicago.edu>, tisu@quads.uchicago.edu (Seth Tisue) writes:
> 
> In article <0B02FFF0.gq3aht@avalon.caladan.wa.com> stui@avalon.caladan.wa.com (Stuart Burden) writes:
> >Pity the whole system of replacing icons on the desktop isn't applicable
> >to all desktop icons.. you can't replace the trash icon.. or is there a
> >neat trick to do this that I've missed?.. thought System 7 was supposed
> >to treat the trash just like a folder.. or maybe not :-)
> 
> I seem to remember reading a net-article claiming that Apple had made the
> trash icon un-modifiable (by official means) for legal reasons, i.e., the
> appearance of the position of Trash was a distinctive Macintosh feature
> which they didn't want to compromise.
> 
> Then again, maybe that's just a rumor.
> 

I agree with the 'rumor' label. My understanding is that the Trash icon isn't
changeable because the current icon changing interface doesn't handle the
fact that the Trash has two icons: empty and full. Also keep in mind that
although the Trash is now a folder, it's not feasible to keep the custom
icon in the "Icon" file in that folder as it's contents are considered
volitile (under user control, of course). So, if the Get Info window somehow
did support custom Trash icons, where would the Finder keep them? All I can
think of would be to keep them in the Desktop database, but that's volume
specific. (Although the Finder treats icons as the sum of all Desktop
databases on mounted volumes.)

Something to think about.

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