Universal Document 1.1 review

Universal Document is a simple tool that allows a developer to create an application that appears as a localised document to the end-user.

License: Freeware OS: Mac OS X File size: 23K Developer: curmi.com Price: $0.00 Updated: 18 Sep 2006

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Universal Document is a simple tool that allows a developer to create an application that appears as a localised document to the end-user. This “document” will have a name in the native language of the user, and will display documentation in that language when opened.

Note that you must view the product page (http://curmi.com/ universal%20Document.html) to understand how to use this tool, and you should also see my blog for details on this tool and how it works (http://curmi.com/blog). If you try to run the tool as is, it will not work.

The tool is non-trivial to use.  You must follow these instructions carefully:
 
1. 1.Download Universal Document.  Make a copy of the Universal Document application in a folder of your choice.
 
1. 2.Select the copy of Universal Document in the finder. Bring up the Info pane (right click and choose “Get Info”, or hit CMD-I).
 
1. 3.In the Info pane, change the Name & Extenstion to “NameOfYourApp Documentation.app” (or something similarly unique).
 
1. 4.Right click on your Universal Document and select “Show Package Contents”. Navigate through “Contents”.
 
1. 5.Edit the Info.plist file.  Change the entry that reads:
2.
3.     CFBundleDisplayName
4.     Universal Document
5.  
6. to
7.  
8.     CFBundleDisplayName
9.     NameOfYourApp Documentation
10.  
11. and save your changes.
 
1. 6.Now navigate to the “Resources” folder.
 
1. In Resources you will find an example “English.lproj”.  Make copies of this folder and rename for each language you want to support.  For example, “German.lproj”, “Japanese.lproj”.  You can also use Language and Regional Designations - for example “en_AU.lproj” for Australian English etc.  See Apple’s Developer Documentation and the following list of codes for more information.
 
1. 7.In each “lproj” folder, edit the “InfoPlist.strings” file.  By default it will look like:
2.  
3.     CFBundleDisplayName = "Universal Document";
4.     OpenName = "Insert Document Name.extension";
5.  
6. Change CFBundleDisplayName to the text the user should see as the label on the document, and OpenName to the name of the file to open.
7.  
8. Copy the file you mentioned in OpenName to this folder.
 
1. 8.Once you have changed each locale’s details, make a copy of your new app to another folder. You need to do this for the Finder to realise things have changed.
 
You now have a Universal Document for your application. You can test it by changing Language in your System Preferences International settings, and restarting the Finder (Go to Apple menu, Force Quit, and select the Finder).

What's New:
Handles URLs
Better error handling.