Copyright (c) Hyperion Entertainment and contributors.

Icon Menu - Information

From AmigaOS Documentation Wiki
Revision as of 01:02, 31 May 2012 by Richard Lake (talk | contribs)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The Information window available also through the Icon menu of the Workbench, displays status information about the selected icon's file. Some data can also be modified in this window.

Note that the following description pertains to Workbench's own information window; in the default AmigaOS installation, this will be replaced by the commodity RAWBInfo, which is started from WBStartup. RAWBInfo has some extra features and a different layout (e.g. the information is divided into two tab pages), but otherwise behaves similar.

Although the contents of the window varies with the icon, the following information is always displayed:


Title bar The window title bar indicates the path to the icon.

Name The icon name and its type in parentheses (Volume, Drawer, Tool, Project, or Trashcan).

Image A picture of the icon.

Size The number of bytes and blocks that the corresponding file uses on disk. In case of a disk, this shows the disk size.

Last modification date The date on which the icon was created or the date last time it was changed (its timestamp).


For a tool/project icon, the following is displayed:

Stack The amount of memory reserved as temporary storage for a specific tool.

For a disk icon, the window also shows whether a disk is write-enabled (Read/Write) or write-protected (Read Only).

For a drawer, trashcan, project, or tool, each of the following attributes can be set or cleared by clicking on its check box:


Script If set, the file is a script (a text file containing commands) and can be run without using the EXECUTE command.

Archive This attribute is set by backup programs to indicate that a file or directory has been archived (backed up). It is cleared whenever the file is saved.

Readable If set, information in the file can be read. If the attribute is clear, a tool will not run and a project cannot be loaded by its Default Tool.

Writable If set, information can be written into the file. If unset, you cannot make changes to the file.

Executable If set, the file is a tool that can be run from Workbench or the Shell. If the attribute is clear, the tool cannot be run from the Shell.

Deletable If set, the drawer, project, or tool can be erased from the disk. If clear, the object is protected from deletion.


If the icon represents a project, there is a Default Tool gadget. This specifies the path to the tool that created the project. When a project icon with a default tool is opened, that tool will start with the project loaded.

If there is a Comments field, you can add a note of up to 79 characters by clicking in the field, entering the text, and saving the icon.

The Tool Types box specifies various startup options for some programs or files.

To save any changes made to the Information window, select the Save gadget in the lower left corner.


Keyboard Shortcut: Amiga + I