Re: Background graphics for DMGs (again)
Re: Background graphics for DMGs (again)
- Subject: Re: Background graphics for DMGs (again)
- From: Xochitl Lunde <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 13:58:12 -0600
<installer-dev-bounces+xochitl_lunde=email@hidden>
wrote on 03/05/2010 01:16:55 PM:
> Is there any new info on this topic? We've run into problems
> setting custom backgrounds on 10.6 even for use on 10.6. We've
seen
> several variations on the steps, and none of them are working for
us.
>
> We've tried setting the image using the view properties (cmd-J),
> we've tried setting the background using code like this (from a
> script posted by Paul Sanders:
>
> mkdir "/Volumes/$vol/.background"
> cp install_resources/DMG_background.jpg "/Volumes/$vol/.
> background/background.jpg"
>
> echo '
> tell application "Finder"
> tell disk "'$vol'"
> open
> set
theViewOptions to the icon view options of container window
> set
background picture of theViewOptions to file ".
> background:background.jpg"
> update
without registering applications
> delay
5
> end tell
> end tell
> ' | osascript
>
> If we set it manually through the view properties
it shows up--but
> only until we unmount the image. Then it's gone when we remount
it.
> If we set it using AppleScript while we're building the image it
> looks like it works, there are no error messages and all the files
> are there on the resulting image, but no background image shows up.
> We've tried a couple of commercial disk image builders, and both of
> them had the same problem on 10.6. BG images weren't just missing
> on earlier versions of the OS, they weren't there on 10.6 either.
>
> I've seen several discussions about this on the web, but none of
> them have had a resolution.
>
> We've seen different variations of "Build your disk images on
10.5",
> but since our main build depends on Xcode 3.2, this isn't really an
> acceptable solution. If we can't build proper images on 10.6
even
> for distribution on 10.6, then something's screwy...
>
> Hoping we've missed something obvious,
> Kevin
>
I have recently spent several days testing with the
DMG Canvas tool from Araelium group. http://www.araelium.com/dmgcanvas/
Version 2.0 released last month does build backward compatible disk images
from Snow Leopard and the background does show up for me. There's
a Preferences menu in the DMG Canvas drop down from the menu bar, and you
have to check the box to enable backward compatibility. (I am only targeting
Leopard and Snow Leopard, I haven't checked Tiger.)
I have noted a few things when building:
* Leopard and Snow Leopard wrap
text at different widths. I can't seem to get around this. Because
my background has a very "inside-the-box" feel, I've had to mess
with the font size to get it to fit on both platforms.
* When I build for backward compatibility
using Snow Leopard, DMG Canvas changes the way the file name text appears.
Instead of having text wrap, it is only allowed to be a fixed size
which looks just a little wider than the icon itself. So my Applications
alias can show up as "App...ns". To get around this, I
made the icons bigger, and the text smaller. It still doesn't look
as good, and I am still getting around to trying the other suggested packaging
tools.
* If I build the same project in
Leopard, the text does not truncate like mentioned above. I have
emailed the Araelium Group about it. I tried paying for the program,
but the text editing stuff that is unlocked doesn't solve the problem.
If more people would email them, maybe it would help get this fixed.
So far, I only really got to try out the FreeDMG alternative
suggested from kelleycomputing.net. I didn't like this one, I didn't
see a way to add a background image. I started trying the iDMG tool
from nscoding.co.uk, but I was slightly confused when it came up and so
I have only gotten partway through reading the manual.
Oh another thing about using DMG Canvas. You
should open your project, save it somewhere, close out, move it where you
want it (like if you need to check it into SVN) and THEN reopen and add
your files. I had much better luck when I did this. Also make
sure that the files you put in your DMG Canvas project are always in the
same spot they were the last time you built. So if your background
was on your desktop when you created the project, it needs to still be
on your desktop every time you build.
Can you point out any of the web discussions you referenced?
I would like to see those too, because I think you and I are trying
to do similar things. My software is also built on Snow Leopard only
because some of our developers only have Snow Leopard.
Was DMG Canvas one of the commercial disk image builders
you tried? Which ones have you tried that have not worked? I'm
planning to try the following if time allows:
* FileStorm (haven't tried yet)
* DMG Packager ( www.skoobysoft.com/utilities/dmgp.html
- haven't tried yet )
* FreeDMG ( www.kelleycomputing.net/freedmg
- I tried this one, it was just drag and drop your folder and it packaged
it. Doesn't look like it does much in the way of allowing configurable
presentation of the disk image folder )
* iDMG ( www.nscoding.co.uk - I
downloaded this, but I didn't get through reading the manual yet. )
Xo _______________________________________________
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