AppleSingle / AppleDouble: JavaScript parsing library

AppleSingle and AppleDouble files are used by certain Mac applications (e.g. Finder) to store Mac-specific file attributes on filesystems that do not support that.

Syntactically, both formats are the same, the only difference is how they are being used:

  • AppleSingle means that only one file will be created on external filesystem that will hold both the data (AKA "data fork" in Apple terminology), and the attributes (AKA "resource fork").
  • AppleDouble means that two files will be created: a normal file that keeps the data ("data fork") is kept separately from an auxiliary file that contains attributes ("resource fork"), which is kept with the same name, but starting with an extra dot and underscore ._ to keep it hidden.

In modern practice (Mac OS X), Finder only uses AppleDouble to keep compatibility with other OSes, as virtually nobody outside of Mac understands how to access data in AppleSingle container.

This page hosts a formal specification of AppleSingle / AppleDouble using Kaitai Struct. This specification can be automatically translated into a variety of programming languages to get a parsing library.

Usage

Runtime library

All parsing code for JavaScript generated by Kaitai Struct depends on the JavaScript runtime library. You have to install it before you can parse data.

The JavaScript runtime library is available at npm:

npm install kaitai-struct

Code

See the usage examples in the JavaScript notes.

Parse structure from an ArrayBuffer:

var arrayBuffer = ...;
var data = new AppleSingleDouble(new KaitaiStream(arrayBuffer));

After that, one can get various attributes from the structure by accessing fields or properties like:

data.reserved // => Must be all 0.

JavaScript source code to parse AppleSingle / AppleDouble

AppleSingleDouble.js

// This is a generated file! Please edit source .ksy file and use kaitai-struct-compiler to rebuild

(function (root, factory) {
  if (typeof define === 'function' && define.amd) {
    define(['kaitai-struct/KaitaiStream'], factory);
  } else if (typeof module === 'object' && module.exports) {
    module.exports = factory(require('kaitai-struct/KaitaiStream'));
  } else {
    root.AppleSingleDouble = factory(root.KaitaiStream);
  }
}(typeof self !== 'undefined' ? self : this, function (KaitaiStream) {
/**
 * AppleSingle and AppleDouble files are used by certain Mac
 * applications (e.g. Finder) to store Mac-specific file attributes on
 * filesystems that do not support that.
 * 
 * Syntactically, both formats are the same, the only difference is how
 * they are being used:
 * 
 * * AppleSingle means that only one file will be created on external
 *   filesystem that will hold both the data (AKA "data fork" in Apple
 *   terminology), and the attributes (AKA "resource fork").
 * * AppleDouble means that two files will be created: a normal file
 *   that keeps the data ("data fork") is kept separately from an
 *   auxiliary file that contains attributes ("resource fork"), which
 *   is kept with the same name, but starting with an extra dot and
 *   underscore `._` to keep it hidden.
 * 
 * In modern practice (Mac OS X), Finder only uses AppleDouble to keep
 * compatibility with other OSes, as virtually nobody outside of Mac
 * understands how to access data in AppleSingle container.
 * @see {@link http://kaiser-edv.de/documents/AppleSingle_AppleDouble.pdf|Source}
 */

var AppleSingleDouble = (function() {
  AppleSingleDouble.FileType = Object.freeze({
    APPLE_SINGLE: 333312,
    APPLE_DOUBLE: 333319,

    333312: "APPLE_SINGLE",
    333319: "APPLE_DOUBLE",
  });

  function AppleSingleDouble(_io, _parent, _root) {
    this._io = _io;
    this._parent = _parent;
    this._root = _root || this;

    this._read();
  }
  AppleSingleDouble.prototype._read = function() {
    this.magic = this._io.readU4be();
    this.version = this._io.readU4be();
    this.reserved = this._io.readBytes(16);
    this.numEntries = this._io.readU2be();
    this.entries = [];
    for (var i = 0; i < this.numEntries; i++) {
      this.entries.push(new Entry(this._io, this, this._root));
    }
  }

  var Entry = AppleSingleDouble.Entry = (function() {
    Entry.Types = Object.freeze({
      DATA_FORK: 1,
      RESOURCE_FORK: 2,
      REAL_NAME: 3,
      COMMENT: 4,
      ICON_BW: 5,
      ICON_COLOR: 6,
      FILE_DATES_INFO: 8,
      FINDER_INFO: 9,
      MACINTOSH_FILE_INFO: 10,
      PRODOS_FILE_INFO: 11,
      MSDOS_FILE_INFO: 12,
      AFP_SHORT_NAME: 13,
      AFP_FILE_INFO: 14,
      AFP_DIRECTORY_ID: 15,

      1: "DATA_FORK",
      2: "RESOURCE_FORK",
      3: "REAL_NAME",
      4: "COMMENT",
      5: "ICON_BW",
      6: "ICON_COLOR",
      8: "FILE_DATES_INFO",
      9: "FINDER_INFO",
      10: "MACINTOSH_FILE_INFO",
      11: "PRODOS_FILE_INFO",
      12: "MSDOS_FILE_INFO",
      13: "AFP_SHORT_NAME",
      14: "AFP_FILE_INFO",
      15: "AFP_DIRECTORY_ID",
    });

    function Entry(_io, _parent, _root) {
      this._io = _io;
      this._parent = _parent;
      this._root = _root || this;

      this._read();
    }
    Entry.prototype._read = function() {
      this.type = this._io.readU4be();
      this.ofsBody = this._io.readU4be();
      this.lenBody = this._io.readU4be();
    }
    Object.defineProperty(Entry.prototype, 'body', {
      get: function() {
        if (this._m_body !== undefined)
          return this._m_body;
        var _pos = this._io.pos;
        this._io.seek(this.ofsBody);
        switch (this.type) {
        case AppleSingleDouble.Entry.Types.FINDER_INFO:
          this._raw__m_body = this._io.readBytes(this.lenBody);
          var _io__raw__m_body = new KaitaiStream(this._raw__m_body);
          this._m_body = new FinderInfo(_io__raw__m_body, this, this._root);
          break;
        default:
          this._m_body = this._io.readBytes(this.lenBody);
          break;
        }
        this._io.seek(_pos);
        return this._m_body;
      }
    });

    return Entry;
  })();

  /**
   * Information specific to Finder
   * @see older Inside Macintosh, Volume II page 84 or Volume IV page 104.
   */

  var FinderInfo = AppleSingleDouble.FinderInfo = (function() {
    function FinderInfo(_io, _parent, _root) {
      this._io = _io;
      this._parent = _parent;
      this._root = _root || this;

      this._read();
    }
    FinderInfo.prototype._read = function() {
      this.fileType = this._io.readBytes(4);
      this.fileCreator = this._io.readBytes(4);
      this.flags = this._io.readU2be();
      this.location = new Point(this._io, this, this._root);
      this.folderId = this._io.readU2be();
    }

    /**
     * File icon's coordinates when displaying this folder.
     */

    /**
     * File folder ID (=window).
     */

    return FinderInfo;
  })();

  /**
   * Specifies 2D coordinate in QuickDraw grid.
   */

  var Point = AppleSingleDouble.Point = (function() {
    function Point(_io, _parent, _root) {
      this._io = _io;
      this._parent = _parent;
      this._root = _root || this;

      this._read();
    }
    Point.prototype._read = function() {
      this.x = this._io.readU2be();
      this.y = this._io.readU2be();
    }

    return Point;
  })();

  /**
   * Must be all 0.
   */

  return AppleSingleDouble;
})();
return AppleSingleDouble;
}));