PREVIEWS for unrecognized FILE TYPES?

Question

i have some .rvb files that can be opened in TEXTWRANGLER and which come from a windows based 3D software program. These open as TEXT and I am finding that I /sometimes/ see the TEXT previews for these files and I sometimes don't see the previews for these files. When I don't see the previews I just see a blank page without the text.
this does not /appear/ to be related to whether the file has been opened recently and it appears to change visibility when I /move/ the files to a new folder (in this case the previews went away).
i also notice that the icon is sometimes correct and sometimes just blank.
can anyone help me troubleshoot this a little so i understand how to keep the previews as this is invaluable for my editing workflow.
thanks.

Answer 1

hotwheels 22 wrote:
I am finding that I /sometimes/ see the TEXT previews for these files and I sometimes don't see the previews for these files. When I don't see the previews I just see a blank page without the text.
When you say "TEXT previews", do you mean Quick Look?
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/14119.html>
If so, QL deals with files based on type code, file name extension, or UTI. If your .rvb files come from Win, then they have neither the former, nor the latter, and the name extension is not declared by any app, so QL doesn't know what to do with them. Here's what you can try:
(1) Set the default app to open these files to TextWrangler in the usual way. This might or might not work, I'm not sure.
(2) Use RCDefaultApp to associate .rvb files with TW. Again, this might or might not work, I'm not sure.
(3) Use the following AppleScript to create a droplet (save it in AppleScript Editor as an app).
--script begins
(* We use "name contains" instead of "name extension is" because the latter doesn't seem to work reliably. *)
on open theFiles
          tell application "Finder"
                    repeat with i in theFiles
                              if name of i contains ".rvb" then
                                        set file type of i to "TEXT"
                              end if
                    end repeat
          end tell
end open
--script ends
The type code "TEXT" will be assigned to any Finder item dropped on it which contains the string ".rvb" in its name. This should work.
(4) Edit TextWrangler's UTI type declaration to add .rvb. The issue is described here
<http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20071028184428583>
(Scroll and look at the hint about Coda—it applies to your problem, mutatis mutandis.)
(5) Use extended attributes, as described in here
<http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20100112100027790>
Methods (1) and (2) may or may not work, I'm not sure. But it's easy to try them out.
Methods (3), (4), and (5) will definitely work. But you may find (4) and (5) a little too complicated.