Dock Editing...
 

Is it possible to edit the dock so that every open window shows as an icon in the dock? I would like to be able to switch between multiple Explorer windows by just clicking the buttons on the dock (Like I can on my PC), and I dont want to have to minimise them to do it.

I just got a G4 laptop because OS X seemed to solve every issue I ever had with mac (right mouse button, no crashes, force close apps, and a dock/taskbar!) but this feature is still not avaliable. please help! thanks

Isn't it just as easy to select which window you want from "Window" in the menubar?

These are probably not what you want to hear either, but

1) Command-M (or Apple-M) will minimize windows in most applications...I know you don't want to have to minimize the windows, but Command-M is easier than mousing that little yellow gumdrop.

2) Use Camino or Mozilla for your browser. They're very nice and fast and they both have Tabs. Tabs would provide very similar functionality to what you describe.

I don't know the answer to your real question.

You can also right-click on the IE icon in the dock, and it should bring up a list of open windows for you to choose from. It does this in most apps, but I haven't used IE in a long long time, so I'm not positive.

thanks for the replies so far... but none are really what I was hoping for :(

This question isn:t just an internet browser question, because i would also like all open folder windows to be displayed in the dock. If the dock can display the windows when you minimise them, then there must be a way to make it display the folders/windows when they are just OPEN.

is there a "dock settings" file that i can access through a text editor or something? maybe there is a bit of code that can be edited to make the dock do what i want it to do....

Are you talking about being able to switch between open Finder windows too just by clicking on them in the Dock (without having to minimise them first)? If so, well, the Window menu in the Finder lets you choose an open or minimised window.

Alternatively, do a search on VersionTracker for DragThing. That could be exactly what you're after.

Definately check out DragThing. It will at least give you a dock with all running apps. It's a great app, IMHO. I don't really like the Dock, either, and this is a good solution for me until Apple gets it right.

I don't want the windows task bar. If Apple ever "gets it right" by the standards in this thread, I for one will be disappointed.
I consider the way open windows are handled in the mac OS superior to the "all open windows" method of windows, and one of the fundamental diferences between windows and mac.
That being said, drag thing is a perfect solution for those of you who want that kind of functionality.

Click 'n hold at the application's icon in the dock. After a second or so, it should pop up a balloon with the open windows of the application w/ a checkmark at the current top-most window.

This is w/ using Mozilla, and I think IE works the same way (although I loathe to launch IE).

--TJ

This works for the Finder as well. Just Ctrl-click, right-click or do whatever one does to bring up the contextual menu for the Finder icon on the dock, and all open Finder windows are accessible in the menu.

command + ~ will cycle through the IE windows

dock modification
 

hey scopa

i know exactly what your talking about! and none of these posts really answered your question...

the functionality you're looking for is, to access ANY open document in ONE click. not via right-click and then selecting, not via window-dialog, but DIRECTLY.

me too, i've been looking for a tool alike, but afaik there exist just about nothing.
i've recently switched to apple osx from m$ window$, and i've become a big fan of the osx. but this issue is very disappointing to me.
if one has a powerbook 17" i can understand that one does not care about spreading and clustering windows all over the screen, but if one's working with a 12" book, one has to use workspace carefully.

right now i'm thinking of trying to modify it myself, but it is quite probable, that i give up, as soon as i've seen how complex the matter is...
if anyone knows a good tutorial on how to get started with app / dock modification, pls let me know.

the best implementation i guess would be to add right below the app icon a text line with the window title (vertical view presumed). as a bonus, you could display the icon (for web pages). and you should be able to switch between horizontal and vertical view, and how long the preview text should become (i.e. also how wide the dock would be).

the longer i think about, the more impossible it seems to me. but first i'll have a look at some tutorials.

regards, damian

ps: for a first emergency service, regarding browsing, i would recommend you safari (apple.com/safari/), and the very usefull (but a little memory-intensive) tool pith from blacktree.com. this will give you some task-bar functionality, but only for safari.

I found 1 3/4 possibilities for you:

1: Switcheroo is supposed to emulate the Windows taskbar. One person at VersionTracker called it a pale imitation of GoMac, which really did (in OS 9) imitate the Windows taskbar well. Another says: "This works as advertised. It works well to replace the dock with a taskbar in the style of Winodws, and that's just fine with me." So, who knows. It is only 212 kb, so I would not get my hopes up. I have not actually tried it, as I use (3) below (which is not really what you're asking for, but which fills the same role for me).

2: This is the 1/2, This link is to PoweronSoftware's old GoMac (mentioned above). Maybe you could ask them if they have an OS X version planned?

3: This is another 'doesn't really do what you want' possibility. I use CodeTek VirtualDesktop. It has a pager with a number of small windows in it, called desktops (configurable from 1 to 100). You can put one window in each 'desktop', or have several windows in each 'desktop' as long as they did not cover up each other. The name of the window is visible when you run the mouse over the 'desktop'. This would allow you to switch between any two open windows with the click of a mouse. The downside would be that you might want to keep newly created windows from covering old ones...this is not difficult, since all your windows would be distributed over many 'desktops'. Even if it is not what you are wanting, it is worth it to give VirtualDesktop a try. You can try it with two 'desktops' for free (functionality is not otherwise hampered).

I'm not ignoring your request, this is just the best I can do.

arrghh... :mad: i wrote my post, but then thought, i might quickly install that gomac-app... and it wanted a reboot. so, i thought, no problem, it will shutdown my classic and restart it. but instead, it did shutdown my os x too :confused: and with that my safari, and my post was gone :mad:

so, lets restart...

@macmath: thnx for your tipps, though they are not really what we're looking for, i appreciate them.

1. at first glance i thought, thats what i'm looking for, but it doesnt display each single doc / window neither. so we're back to the dock which is far better looking and more functional in that case.

2.yeah... :rolleyes: i guess i did already mention it. but we might anyway write some mails to the company, so they will start an os x version. as i expected, it will not work in os x classic environment.

3. i did work with linux, so i'm familiar with the concept of virtual desktops. a search on search on versiontracker for virtual desktop can give you a freeware alternative.
but for the purpose of lets say browsing, its not appropriate. in contrary, when working on a project in wich you will switch often between apps, it is well worth it.

btw... new version of safari is out, beta2 or ver0.9, supporting tabs now. this will ease at least browsing quite a lot. unfortunately only 12 do make sense in one window, so you have to be a little more properly and close one or the other tab.

greetz, damian

I've tried another virtual desktop, and CodeTek Virtual Desktop might cost $30 but nothing tops it for functionality. Based on this discussion, I think I'll submit a request to CodeTek to have their open windows menu accessible from the keyboard. I know that this won't provide what you're asking for, but I might find it useful :-). They are very responsive, so they might just do it (or they might do it with another of their utilities called DockExtender [which does not do what you ask either]).

Edited to say that I've passed the dual suggestion about DockExtender and Virtual Desktop on to CodeTek. It is my guess that at least one of these will appear in the future.

wow, thanks for all the interest...

ill try and get some of those apps everyone is recomending.

but i was wondering if there is any file that can be edited to change the dock settings... is there a way to get access to a configurations file through the unix terminal? it would be nice to be able to check out the code for the dock. since it CAN display windows when tghey are "minimised" there HAS to be a way to display them BEFORE they are minimised.

any ideas?

i suppose there is no config file that will do this sort of stuff by simply adding some lines.
i think one would have to change quite a lot in the dock application itself. this is possible, as several dock modifications have shown, but it aint really simple.

btw, the dock is located in /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app , and you can see the 'entrails' such as trash icon, puff animation and language files by right-clicking and selecting 'show package contents' (or similar, since my system is not running with english user interface). and there, way deep in /Contents/MacOS is the actual dock application which is only 220 kb.

and as far as i can see, you would have to modifie this dock file to get the desired effect.

i wouldnt even want to see an 'iconised' version of a window, but i would be enough to acces the window-list that appears on right-clicking directly in the dock.

someone has a hint or a resource how to hack a application like the dock?!?

thnx!
damian

The following is what occurs to me, but it is mere speculation.

I'm guessing that when a window is minimized, the Finder or the application sends the information about the minimized window to the dock (rather than the dock grabbing the information about the minimized window from the Finder or the corresponding application). Therefore, it would seem that it is not the dock that would need to be hacked, but that the Finder or each application would have to be hacked so that it simultaneously show the windows as usual *and* send the information about the open windows to the dock (as it does when the window is minimized).

I suppose this might not quite be a solution you are looking for, but Command + ~ will cycle through all open windows in every app for OS X I've tried it in. (Someone mentioned earlier that it works in IE, and I just wanted to note that I think that's a standard key combo in nearly every app.)

my speculation is that the app says "hey, window manager, got something for you to do," and the window manager handles the window minimize widget, passes the window ID to the dock app and says, "hold this until something says otherwise."

but i can't seem to witness the events. i thought there was an event watcher, but i can't seem to grok what it is.

project dockmod started
 

just in case someone reading this thread is interested in programming:

there is a project right about this topic starting on sourceforge.net:
http://dockmod.sourceforge.net/

c ya there :D
damian

This functionality is now a part of DragThing 5, **if** you are running Panther. See this new features page for DragThing 5.

That is, it has a 'Windows Dock' to display all open windows.

Command tab cucles thru all open apps, so if u use this in conjunction with tabs of other application or one option of Expose to show all windows of one app, you might be OK without installing anything surplus.
SS