Why write a plugin that assigns random file names? I can think of several reasons:

• It has not been done yet (always a good reason)
• There is no random file naming feature in Aperture, so it is creating new functionality
• Random file names for images posted to the web can be changed periodically. This prevents people from deep linking to them and using your bandwidth
• Random file names for images that are subsequently sorted in name order will have a random order. This is useful for creating a random image order for imports into other applications
• It removes all meaning from the file names and so makes them neutral
• The order of sequences can be hidden

On with the task. An Aperture plugin is a bundle: a folder that looks to the user like a single file. Inside that bundle goes the executable code, plus all the resources: interface elements, menus, images, strings, etc. A necessary part of the bundle is the info.plist file that contains basic information about the bundle itself.

The info.plist file in my project has already been partially set up by the XCode template. I have to edit some of what is provided: the CFBundleIdentifier string for instance.

There is a help URL that I can set that I will need to ensure is active on my site:

And there is a location that requires a UUID. That's a globally unique identifier. So I run that utility and it gives me a string:

That is it for the plist. I don't believe I have to do anything to the rest of the bundle at this stage, but next I will have to write some code to get some basic functionality out of my plugin.

The other parts of this series can be found via the Cocoa page.

Tags: Aperture, Plug-ins, Cocoa, Random Wok, info.plist