Answer File (RESOLVED)

[Bob Sneidar]

Hi all.

I know this has been answered but I though I would post what I have found working with the answer file command and OS X. 

First, the dictionary does not make it all that clear how this works. For the type, you MUST supply at least the first and second pipe delimited values eg. “Adobe Acrobat Files|PDF". Using only “pdf” DOES NOT WORK! This will effectively IGNORE the type argument and allow you to select ALL files! You MUST supply at least 2 piped items, even if the first item is blank! 

Secondly, wildcards do not seem to work in the type form, and the filter form does not work on OS X either. You will not be able to select ANY files using this form. Apparently it doesn’t matter a WHIT what you put in the first or the 3rd pipe delimited item. I put “BLAH” in the third and got only PDF’s. I put "Adobe PDF document” (from the Get Info dialog) but put nothing in the 2nd item and could select ANYTHING even apps. 

So to sum it up, the ONLY thing that matters is the second item. You can also provide a return delimited list of these piped entries for multiple selections. 

I hope this helps some Mac Users out there who are as befuddled as I was with the answer files command. If you are developing for multiple platforms that include OS X and Windows, you will need to test for the Platform and conditionally branch from there. 

Bob S