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Squeezing the Most out of StuffIt Deluxe, Part 2
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- 2001.10.11
- Description: Using compression software on the Net
Difficulty level: Intermediate
System version: Depends on what StuffIt version you
have
Required: StuffIt Deluxe 6.5
In the first part of this tutorial, we
covered general use of StuffIt Deluxe. This time we are going to
discuss file exchange on the Internet. StuffIt Deluxe encodes and
compresses files for the Net and has features designed to make
transfers easier.
Before we start, here is a quick explanation of what the
Translate menu options mean. StuffIt Deluxe can produce and open
different file types that are usually used for different computer
environments.
- AppleSingle: This format preserves the information unique to
Macintosh files, even when used on different file systems.
- Binary to ASCII: If btoa and atob mean nothing to you, this may
not be an important encoding operation in your case. :-)
- BinHex: This is the most used encoding on the Mac on the
Internet. The files that end with a .hqx extension are encoded in
BinHex, especially after being compressed by products such as
StuffIt.
- BZip and GZip: Used mainly by Unix systems - remember, Mac
OS X is Unix - these two will not be used on Mac OS 9 and
earlier. GZip handles single files only.
- LHa: Mostly a Japanese thing.
- MacBinary: Used by lots of Mac users, this is an excellent file
encoding, especially after compression. It is smarter than BinHex
because it takes less space, and is friendlier with Mac OS 8.5 to
Mac OS 9.2 files.
- Tar: It stands for Unix tape archiver. It combines files into
one.
- Unix compress: I'll let you guess.
- UUEncode: It can be used to transfer files to a Unix station or
a PC.
- ZIP: The default compression format for Windows computers.
Contextual Menu
The easiest way to send files over the Internet - think of email
attachments - with compression is to  control-click on a file and select Stuff and
Mail from the contextual menu. This little option takes a file (or
several files), compresses it into an archive, and goes to your
email application to open a new message with the archive as an
attachment. If your email app is not active, StuffIt Deluxe will
launch it for you. You can select your preferred email application
in the Magic Menu's preferences.
StuffIt Express Personal Edition
On to the good stuff! When I started using StuffIt Deluxe 6.5,
which was recently released, I found its newest addition to be
welcomed. What is StuffIt Express Personal Edition? In short, it
automates things. You create drop boxes that will, when you drop
files on them, execute the steps they were programmed to execute.
The best part is that unlike AppleScript, this is easy to do. If
you know how to read and click on a mouse, you should know how to
handle this.
I find this application to be at its best when sending
attachments to the same people regularly. In example, I am a
freelance writer for a newspaper, and I have to send several Word
files a week to the same person over there. Creating a drop box
that compresses, addresses and sends everything makes this easier,
and much faster. It saves time and the hassle of doing all the
steps manually.
Here is the standard interface when creating a drop box.
The first thing to do is to create a new drop box. When you open
StuffIt Express PE, it starts one by default. To create new steps,
just click on a step in one of the available tabs, namely Files and
Internet. When needed, the application will ask you how to handle
the task by customizing the step. In example, when I want a file
compressed, the app asks me what name I want to give it to the
file. I give the compressed file a basic name with the .sit
extension to the file. For example, when I send my articles to
Low End Mac, the archive
automatically created gets this name: lemsubmission.sit.
In this spirit, create steps that allow you to compress, encode,
move, copy, or perform whatever operation you need before sending
it somewhere. With all the available options, you can create drop
boxes that what whatever you want.
When you send files via email, the drop box will activate or
launch your favorite email application and do all the work for you.
If you specify a subject and a message in your drop box settings,
it will handle it for you. Here is an example of a drop box to
handle files and send them over email:
With a specified subject and message, it sends the files - after
compressing them - to a specific address. To create the drop box,
 all I need to do, from this point, is to click
on Create Drop Box in the Commands window from StuffIt Express PE.
Save it wherever you want and get ready to use it by dropping files
on it.
You can use that software for whatever need you have, including
FTP uploads. And you can update drop boxes by modifying the steps
and clicking on the button to update the drop box. I personally
recommend experimenting with it.
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