Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!think!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!mejac!gryphon!lakesys!macak
From: macak@lakesys.UUCP (Jim Macak)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Why can't the Finder show folder sizes?
Summary: DiskTop DA Shows Folder Sizes
Message-ID: <747@lakesys.UUCP>
Date: 17 Jun 88 04:24:19 GMT
References: <5173@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Reply-To: macak@lakesys.UUCP (Jim Macak)
Distribution: na
Organization: Lake Systems - Milwaukee, WI
Lines: 54

In article <5173@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> matthews@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Dave Matthews) writes:
>
>Every once in a while I go back to an old MFS disk and I'm always startled by 
>what a wonderful thing it is to have the Finder display the total number of 
>bytes in each folder when I View by Name, instead of giving me just "-- 
>folder".  
>
>Of course having "real" HFS folders is better than the old imaginary ones, but 
>I don't understand why it should deprive us of this useful feature.  DiskTop 
>isn't much more helpful; it will inform me that a folder contains "14 
>files/folders" but it still won't tell me how much they amount to until I open 
>the folder, and then I have to add it up myself - unless of course some of the 
>14 are folders, in which case it's time to pull out pencil and pad and start 
>manually trudging through the hierarchy.  Isn't this the kind of trudgery 
>computers are supposed to do for us?

 (Paragraph omitted)

I miss that info from the good old MFS Finder too.  However, the DiskTop DA
_does_ supply info on Folder sizes, and quite elegantly, I think.  Just open
DiskTop, click on a Folder, choose the "Sizes" button, and DiskTop puts up a
dialogue box saying something like "You have ## item(s) selected, accounting for
approximately ###K on disk."  It will calculate the total size of all the
items that you have hilighted, so you can get the size of several folders
added together if you wish.  Also, the size calculation accounts for disk
space used by folders within folders, as you would expect.

I have a feeling that you may have an outdated version of DiskTop.  I believe
that v. 3.0.3 is the latest.  You should really upgrade if you are a
registered user.  (I think the upgrade fee is $10 or less.)

>If anybody's interested, I have $10 ready for the first DA that can supply 
>this simple function.  $20 if it will also access (read and write) the Get 
>Info comments of folders and files. 

Well, do I get a Finder's fee for telling you about this feaure of DiskTop?
Granted that I had nothing to do in writing this great DA, but "consultants"
ought to be paid too, no?  :-)

Also, though DiskTop does not allow you to read/write the "Get Info" text that
the Finder uses, you can enter your own "Get Info" sort of text using DiskTop.
The info is stored differently than how it is stored via the Finder's "Get
Info" box, and consequently is not lost when your Desktop file is rebuilt.  To
access thjis feature of DiskTop, just choose "Get Info" from the DiskTop menu,
after having hilighted a file in DiskTop's window.  You get a window then that
allows you to enter text, change file type, creator and attributes.  Nice!

Jim

-- 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Jim -->  macak@lakesys.UUCP (Jim Macak)  {Standard disclaimer, nothin' fancy!}
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<