How do I make certain files accessible in Mac OS X?

开发者_开发问答I have a db file which I want to open using a firefox plugin.

However, I can't open the file.

I've also got other files like this with other file types.

I'm sure I've had this problem before, any ideas ?

I've tried...

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder

But that didn't work.

Mac OS X displays all of the files in a particular folder on your disk in its Open/Save common dialogs, but it grays out the ones that are in a format that can't be opened by whatever program's Open/Save dialog you're browsing from.

The title of the dialog in the screenshot above gives away your problem. It says "Set Default Directory", which means it's only looking for a folder. The file "bc.db" is just that: a file. Whatever program you're trying to open it from isn't willing to accept it because a file is not interchangeable with a folder/directory. That explains why none of your other file types work, either. You need to choose a folder from that dialog to set as the default.

It's also worth nothing that the .DB extension means that file is a database file of some sort. It's very likely that it's in a proprietary format that can only be read by one particular application. Thus, even if you try to open it from the Finder, you're not likely to get very far. You need to figure out what program originally generated that file and try to open/use it there.