4D files would not open, problem tracked to TYPE and CREATOR 'endianess'

OS X 10.5.6 CONTINUES TO CAUSE A PROBLEM WITH TYPE AND CREATOR

For some reason the operating system changes the TYPE and CREATOR and  
reverses them.

The problem is that when you try to open the files with the  
application that created them, the application will not allow them to  
open.

I use File Buddy all the time, and one of its many great features is  
that you can do a search for the reversed types and creators, once it  
finds all the files, in my case several thousand data files, you can  
click on the get info button,type in the correct type and creator, and  
click on the apply to all, and very quickly all the files are fixed  
and 4D will allow them to open once again.

I found a little information pertinent to this "endianess" problem,  
but no solutions. The problem for me has only been a factor on the  
Intel machines. I don't remember running into this problem ever on the  
PPC series of machines.

The extension alone will not solve the Big Endian, Little Endian  
problem. BBedit files open OK even when the type and creator are  
reversed, because generally they have a .txt, or .applescript  
extension, but the 4D databases have always relied on the correct type  
and creator, and at least through 4D v2004 they did not relie on an  
extension.

Even though the unix purists will tell you that you do not need type  
and creator, the extension is all that is required by unix documents  
in order to find the correct application, one of the weaknessses in  
this argument is that the extension alone will not allow you to launch  
the correct application for every job, particularly with images...

For many years I had many jpg, gif, etc files that I accessed on a  
regular basis, and often depending upon their use I saved them with  
different imaging applications. In certain instances, depending upon  
what they were used for, I wanted the images for a particular project  
to launch in PhotoShop, and on other projects I need them to launch in  
GraphicConverter.

The only way to do that effectively, without having to remember which  
was the correct application to use for a project after several months  
away from it, was to run a batch converter which would set the correct  
creator for all the images in the project. Sometimes different  
applications were required to handle specific images within a project.

Since they all had .jpg, .gif, .tiff extensions, and one application  
did not fit all,  changing the creator to the one best suited for the  
project was a good solution.

4th Dimension will not allow the Structure Files, nor the Data Files  
to run with the incorrect TYPE AND CREATOR, and with hundreds, or  
thousands of files still being used, this becomes a huge problem. I  
suppose I could write a small tool to track down problem files and fix  
them in the background.

                                                                                CORRECT REVERSED
4D DATA Files TYPE BAS5 5SAB
4D 2004 Structure Files CREATOR 4D06 60D4
4D 2003 Structure Files CREATOR 4D05 50D4

BBEDIT Text Files TYPE TEXT TXET
BBEDIT Text Files CREATOR R*ch hc*R

What a pain...

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