need help, we cant save lego mindstorm programs under parental controls

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Level 1

125 points

need help, we cant save lego mindstorm programs under parental controls

Lego Mindstorms has MAC compatible software which allows you to write and download via a cable, programmable action sequences into a robot which will then carry them out. When I log in to the imac under my administrator account I can open the mindstorm program and save these sequences in the normal way using the file command "save" or "save as"

I want my 10 year old son to be able to create these mindstorm sequences and save them as well. I have designated the Mindstorm program to be an allowed program under parental controls and it appears in his dock when he logs in under his user name and pass word. He can open the program and use it at will, downloading programs into his robot, modifying them, etc., but when he trys to save any final programming sequence that he has created, the error message is "save failed."

The save command works fine in other programs that my son has access to via parental controls, such as Lego Digital Designer, or Stickies.

I've tried repairing permissions. I cant think of any thing else to try. I have a vague notion that perhaps the Mindstorm program under parental controls doesn't know where to save the file to.

I would like to know how to get around this limitation, short of giving my son full access to the computer.

thanks for any suggestions.

imac 700 Mz Mac OS X (10.4.8) 768 mb Ram

Posted on Feb 4, 2007 8:48 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 4, 2007 9:10 AM in response to Ryan Thomson

Ryan

Did you click on the "Allow supporting programs" in the "Configure" sheet for "Finder & System"? I know this has been a problem in the past for some users, although what "supporting programs" it would need to save a file is far from clear.

I have a vague notion that perhaps the Mindstorm program under parental controls doesn't know where to save the file to.

Seems unlikely, although it matches the symptoms 🙂 Where would it save to for a "normal" user?

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Answer 2

Ryan Thomson Author

Level 1

125 points

Feb 4, 2007 5:28 PM in response to Michael Conniff

Ryan

Did you click on the "Allow supporting programs" in
the "Configure" sheet for "Finder & System"? I know
this has been a problem in the past for some users,
although what "supporting programs" it would need to
save a file is far from clear.

I have a vague
notion that perhaps the Mindstorm program under
parental controls doesn't know where to save the file
to.
Seems unlikely, although it matches
the symptoms 🙂 Where would it save to for a
"normal" user?

thanks for the reply. Yes, I do have the supporting programs box checked. After reading your reply I did some research. When I run the program from my own account the files are saved in my documents folder inside another folder which is generated by the program. This folder has several levels of nested folders within it and my saved file is down at the bottom within a sub folder labeled "profiles." When I click to save a file a dialog box displays this entire path from the HD to the nested sub folder named Profile.

Now when I try to save a file from within my son's account the dialog box shows the very same path to MY document folder rather than HIS. Clicking on "save" results in the failed save error message. However there is a button on the dialog box (which, by the way, looks system OS 6/7 like labled "browse" which will let me gradually navigate away from "my" document folder toward my son's document folder, via a dozen steps to where the program has also generated a "profiles" folder to save the files. The program will let me save the file here.

So the good news is that Its possible to actually save the file. The bad news is that the process is very convoluted and requires a dozen steps to accomplish. It gets worse. When I try to retrieve a saved file within my son's account by using the "open" command in the file menu, I am first presented a dialog box which says "An error occurred while listing the contents of Macintosh HD: Users:my account name:Documents. It has an "OK" button on it. When I click the button I get the old looking dialog box back which requires me once again to drill down numerous levels to finally retrieve and open the file.

There must be a better way to do this.

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Answer 3

Feb 5, 2007 9:15 AM in response to Ryan Thomson

There must be a better way to do this.

Yes there should be. I don't know the program, so I'll have to guess. Since you say it had created a "profiles" sub-folder for your son's account, it probably has also generated a preferences file (.plist) in his Home > Library > Preferences folder. If you move that file to the Desktop (while in his account, and with the Lego Mindstorms software not running) and then start the application, it should generate a new preference file, which should no longer point to your folder.

If this alone doesn't work, look in the Home > Library > Caches folder to see if there is anything in there associated with the application. If there is, trash it and the newly generated preference (again with the Lego Mindstorms software not running) and try again. Other than that, you would need to contact the software developer.

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