Images appearing with a "._filename.png"?

[beagley]

When I move images into the Resources/Images folder, they are copied in with both the file AND a "._filename.png" item.

I'm working on a Macintosh and dragging the images to the Windows partition. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Anyone else see this?

[RamonS]

Haven't worked with Macs for a while (OS X is way too difficult to use and doesn't "just work"), but my guess is that there is a way to ZIP the image files on the Mac, then push them over to the Windope side, then unzip the whole shebang and get only the files that you really want.
Did you open the image.png file and the image._filename.png files and see what the difference is?

[beagley]

Attempting to open this bizarre ._ file actually crashes the Content Explorer.

I'm starting to think this has something to do with the Parallels program, which acts as an intemediary between the file systems. So this probably isn't a Flare question... unless someone who is using Flare through Parallels has seen this before and has an insight.

Thanks for your thoughts!

[RamonS]

Well, then why not just ditch those files? I assume the image.png files still work fine?

[beagley]

Yeah, agreed, I will probably just ditch those files. Once I make sure they aren't important somehow (as when accessing the folder over a cross-platform network or something).

The problem is I will be creating, importing and re-importing thousands of images every year.

I can root out those files in the file system and delete them in batches every so often... but I'd really rather understand how those files are getting created (some confusion between operating systems, perhaps?) and change my behavior to avoid it.

Thanks for reading,
d

[RamonS]

It appears to me that this is some oddity or by design action by Parallels. What you may try is using some other virtualization software or get in touch with other Parallels users in their peer-to-peer forum. I am sure you will get answers quicker over there than over here. You can tr VirtualBox, which I heard is very good. Also, there is the classy VMWare Server, which I'd assume comes as application for OS X as well. Other than that, from my personal experience with OS X stuff like that doesn't surprise me. OS X is just so weird and pointlessly difficult and different that words yet have to invented to properly describe it. Makes me remember the two days that I spent trying to get OOo installed on OS X so that it opens an XLS file, what a pain that was (including the OS X version of BSOD)!

[KevinDAmery]

For the record, I've never seen them, so I suspect it is something that is added somewhere between the Mac and Parallels when moving to Windows.

Here's a thought: if you've moving them from Mac to Windows, don't copy them directly to the Flare folder. Instead, copy them to a place holder folder. Once you're done creating / moving graphics, go to that folder, sort by file type, and move only the png files into Flare's project folders.

[NealPozner]

I say this not in any official advice from MadCap, but as a Mac user. Just to clarify, the ._filename files are created when moving files from OS X to Windows through OS X. These are the resource forks of the files from OS X (where files have data forks and resource forks). You can Google for something like "._ files mac" for a more in depth explanation. Windows doesn't use the resource forks, so you can chuck them, and even if you copy the files back to the Mac, they'll be recreated (although without the data they originally contained).

There are a few workarounds to keep them from showing up - first would be to set up shared folders in Parallels or VMWare and copy your files from their Mac locations into Windows through Windows. There's also a shareware application called http://www.zeroonetwenty.com/blueharvest/]Blue Harvest that will keep OS X from copying these files over.

[beagley]

Neal! Thank you for such a definitive answer!

Great information.

-d

[tbean]

If you're working on a Mac, you may also encounter .DS_Store files in your Windows directories. Here is some information on those files:

http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... =13&t=7273