Icon for Mac OSX bundle

Question

I compile a Mac OSX bundle, called MyBundle.bundle, which is used as a plugin for another application. I want the bundle have a unique icon and so I set the Info.plist file to say:

<key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
<string>MyIcon.icns</string>

and place the file MyIcon.icns in the bundle's MyBundle.bundle/Contents/Resources folder.

This does not work, the finder show a generic icon for the bundle and ignores the specified MyIcon.icns file. If I change the bundle's extension from .bundle to .app the icon immediately shows - so I know the Info.plist is correct.

I found a work around that simulates a user doing copy and paste of an icon on the bundle:

I add the icon as a resource of type "icns" and id -16455 to the bundle's .rsrc file.

I than call

/Developer/Tools/SetFile -a BC MyBundle.bundle

This works, but is really lame. Starting in Mac OS 10.8 SetFile takes forever to execute.

My question: Is there away to force the Finder to show the bundle's icon without such hacks?

BTW: There is a question on same subject: Set icon of non app mac os x bundle; but the only answer there instructs on how to create an icon, and does not help with the problem.

Answer 1

You can use NSWorkspace

[[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] setIcon:(NSImage *)image forFile:(NSString *)fullPath options:(NSWorkspaceIconCreationOptions)options]

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Cocoa/Reference/ApplicationKit/Classes/NSWorkspace_Class/Reference/Reference.html

Answer 2

This solution will associate the same icon for all your .bundle. I'm not sure this what you need (or if you need a specific/different icon for each of your .bundle).

If you can modify the app bundle: you can define a document type to associate with the app. To do so you have to edit app package:

• put the plugin icon in the app resources : TheOtherApp.app/Contents/Resources/MyIcon.icns

• edit the TheOtherApp.app/Contents/Info.plistand add something like this:

   <key>CFBundleDocumentTypes</key> 
   <array>
    <dict>
      <key>CFBundleTypeName</key>
      <string>TheOtherApp Plugin</string>
      <key>CFBundleTypeRole</key>
      <string>None</string>
      <key>CFBundleTypeIconFile</key>
      <string>FlexoDocument.icns</string>
      <key>CFBundleTypeExtensions</key>
      <array>
        <string>bundle</string>
      </array>
      <key>LSTypeIsPackage</key>
      <string>true</string>
    </dict>
  </array>
  

more Info about CFBundleDocumentTypes on developer.apple.com

You may need to relaunch the finder and/or the app to see the effect.