app icon name (???.icns) not always same as the app name

Question

app icon name (???.icns) not always same as the app name

Hello friends,

I've noticed that some apps have a different designation for their .icns than their app name. I can use finder to drill down to /Contents/Resources to find the icon name for a given application (visually). For example, I've noticed that the Calendar app has 'App.icns' and not 'Calendar.icns'.

I need to be able to do this programmatically. i.e. find the right icns for any app. Any suggestions, code samples, etc...?

I hope I've formulated my question clearly and correctly.

Thank you for your help.

Posted on Jul 10, 2014 11:22 PM

Reply

Answer 1

twtwtw

Level 5

4,936 points

Jul 11, 2014 10:54 AM in response to mac_naashenaas

The icon file name is listed in the info.plist file (/Contents/info.plist) with the key CFBundleIconFile. The .icns extension might by optional in the name, I forget, so you may have to check for it.

Reply

Answer 2

mitsuSC

Level 1

8 points

Aug 1, 2014 6:18 AM in response to twtwtw

Hi people!

Is there any option to change the Calendar icon (Mavericks) to make it really changes to the current day in the Dock??

I'm struggling with that but no chance!

Let me explain better, I'm trying to find out how calendar icon changes, is it using different icons? or is it using sourcecode to do it?

Thanks in advance!

Reply

Answer 3

msuper69

Level 6

8,689 points

Aug 1, 2014 6:20 AM in response to mitsuSC

Of course it's changed using source code. It's not done using magic.

Apple can do things ordinary developers can't.

I'm running Mavericks and the Calendar icon updates every day with the current day.

Reply

Answer 4

mitsuSC

Level 1

8 points

Aug 1, 2014 7:36 AM in response to msuper69

Magic...

Nice one...

Any way, what I'm trying to do is to play around with the Calendar icon and, if it's possible, learn how it works, which part of the source code is related to the automatic change at the dock icon and modify it if it's possible.

btw, it is not a matter of life or death...

Thanks again for your time! 😀

Reply