XNS file servers have the notion of file types. In keeping with the DCedar implmentation, I have provided a command called ChangeFileType (which uses the PFSClass.SetAttributes call, but only uses the fileType part of the record and only does the call only if the file is on an XNS server). ChangeFileType takes the name of the file as its first argument; the second argument, the new file type, can be one of { tUnspecified tDirectory tText }, or it can be a number. No checking is done.
% ChangeFileType fileName { tUnspecified tDirectory tText } | fileName newType(as number)
There is also a command PrintFileType, which prints the file type as a number suitable for use in ChangeFileType.
% PrintFileType fileName
Of interest to readers of XNS mail is Deserialize, which allows one to store a retrieved xnsMail attachment (a serialized file on the local machine) to an xns File Server; then ViewPoint can make sense of the file on the server (a vpDocument), or a directory subtree will appear on the server (vpFolder), etc. The command has two forms
% Deserialize xns-file-server-directory-name ← serialized-fileName
% Deserialize serialized-fileName
In the second case, the profile option XNSMail.DeserializeDir names the destination directory.