FinderSync Extension - requestBadgeIdentifierForURL is never called

Question

I have tested the template provided in Xcode for making a FinderSync Extension. Everything works well except two things:

a) The method requestBadgeIdentifierForURL is never called by the system when a folder is monitored so that badges are not set. What is going wrong here? I am right assuming that this method should be called when I e.g. move or scroll a monitored folder in Finder? By the way the methods beginObservingDirectoryAtURL and endObservingDirectoryAtURL are called properly in this context.

#import "FinderSync.h"

@interface FinderSync ()

@property NSURL *myFolderURL;

@end

@implementation FinderSync

- (instancetype)init {
    self = [super init];

    NSLog(@"%s launched from %@ ; compiled at %s", __PRETTY_FUNCTION__, [[NSBundle mainBundle] bundlePath], __TIME__);

    // Set up the directory we are syncing.
    self.myFolderURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:@"/Users/hmaass/Downloads"];
    [FIFinderSyncController defaultController].directoryURLs = [NSSet setWithObject:self.myFolderURL];

    // Set up images for our badge identifiers. For demonstration purposes, this uses off-the-shelf images.
    [[FIFinderSyncController defaultController] setBadgeImage:[NSImage imageNamed: NSImageNameColorPanel] label:@"Status One" forBadgeIdentifier:@"One"];
    [[FIFinderSyncController defaultController] setBadgeImage:[NSImage imageNamed: NSImageNameCaution] label:@"Status Two" forBadgeIdentifier:@"Two"];

    return self;
}

#pragma mark - Primary Finder Sync protocol methods

- (void)beginObservingDirectoryAtURL:(NSURL *)url {
    // The user is now seeing the container's contents.
    // If they see it in more than one view at a time, we're only told once.
    NSLog(@"beginObservingDirectoryAtURL:%@", url.filePathURL);
}


- (void)endObservingDirectoryAtURL:(NSURL *)url {
    // The user is no longer seeing the container's contents.
    NSLog(@"endObservingDirectoryAtURL:%@", url.filePathURL);
}

- (void)requestBadgeIdentifierForURL:(NSURL *)url {
    NSLog(@"requestBadgeIdentifierForURL:%@", url.filePathURL);

    // For demonstration purposes, this picks one of our two badges, or no badge at all, based on the filename.
    NSInteger whichBadge = [url.filePathURL hash] % 3;
    NSString* badgeIdentifier = @[@"", @"One", @"Two"][whichBadge];
    [[FIFinderSyncController defaultController] setBadgeIdentifier:badgeIdentifier forURL:url];
}

#pragma mark - Menu and toolbar item support

- (NSString *)toolbarItemName {
    return @"testfifi";
}

- (NSString *)toolbarItemToolTip {
    return @"testfifi: Click the toolbar item for a menu.";
}

- (NSImage *)toolbarItemImage {
    return [NSImage imageNamed:NSImageNameCaution];
}

- (NSMenu *)menuForMenuKind:(FIMenuKind)whichMenu {
    // Produce a menu for the extension.
    NSMenu *menu = [[NSMenu alloc] initWithTitle:@""];
    [menu addItemWithTitle:@"Example Menu Item" action:@selector(sampleAction:) keyEquivalent:@""];

    return menu;
}

- (IBAction)sampleAction:(id)sender {
    NSURL* target = [[FIFinderSyncController defaultController] targetedURL];
    NSArray* items = [[FIFinderSyncController defaultController] selectedItemURLs];

    NSLog(@"sampleAction: menu item: %@, target = %@, items = ", [sender title], [target filePathURL]);
    [items enumerateObjectsUsingBlock: ^(id obj, NSUInteger idx, BOOL *stop) {
        NSLog(@"    %@", [obj filePathURL]);
    }];
}

@end

b) I get the following message in the log console of Xcode when running the template above:

2015-08-25 15:33:00.300 testfifi[855:8134] Failed to connect (colorGridView) outlet from (NSApplication) to (NSColorPickerGridView): missing setter or instance variable 2015-08-25 15:33:00.300 testfifi[855:8134] Failed to connect (view) outlet from (NSApplication) to (NSColorPickerGridView): missing setter or instance variable 2015-08-25 15:33:00.321 testfifi[855:8134] -[FinderSync init] launched from /Users/hmaass/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/testtest-egudnxkifjxirpbrjkohnatmjuro/Build/Products/Debug/testtest.app/Contents/PlugIns/testfifi.appex ; compiled at 20:38:18

Can someone help me to get rid of this message?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Here's the workaround sample code for disabling "greedy" Finder Sync extensions. Nothing fancy, but it works.

(Adding this as a separate answer since it's really just a workaround and isn't necessarily the "correct" answer).

public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
    String[] greedyFSProcessNames =
        new String[] { "com.getdropbox.dropbox.garcon" };

    List<String> disabledGreedyFSProcessNames = new ArrayList<>();

    for (String greedyFSProcessName : greedyFSProcessNames) {
        if (!_isFSProcessRunning(greedyFSProcessName)) {
            continue;
        }

        _enableFSProcess(greedyFSProcessName, false);

        disabledGreedyFSProcessNames.add(greedyFSProcessName);
    }

    _enableFSProcess("com.dejuknow.myfindersync", true);

    for (String disabledGreedyFSProcessName :
        disabledGreedyFSProcessNames) {

        _enableFSProcess(disabledGreedyFSProcessName, true);
    }
}

private static boolean _isFSProcessRunning(String processName)
    throws Exception {

    BufferedReader bufferedReader = null;

    try {
        Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(
            "pluginkit -m -i" + processName);

        bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(
            new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));

        String line = null;

        while ((line = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {
            if (line.startsWith("+")) {
                return true;
            }
            else {
                return false;
            }
        }
    }
    finally {
        if (bufferedReader != null) {
            bufferedReader.close();
        }
    }

    return false;
}

private static void _enableFSProcess(String processName, boolean enable)
    throws Exception {

    String electionArgument = null;

    if (enable) {
        electionArgument = "use";
    }
    else {
        electionArgument = "ignore";
    }

    String[] arguments = new String[] {
        "pluginkit", "-e", electionArgument, "-i", processName
    };

    while (_isFSProcessRunning(processName) != enable) {
        Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(arguments);

        process.waitFor();

        Thread.sleep(100);
    }
}