Get the path of a closed folder with Applescript - macos

I'm looking for a solution to get with Applescript the path of a folder closed by a user. The aim is to call another scripts with this path in argument.
I already tried to to this, but it seem to not work (my Folder actions are correctly set):
on closing folder window for theAttachedFolder
tell application "Finder"
set thePath to POSIX path of theAttachedFolder
display dialog thePath
end tell
end on closing folder window for

You need to change end on closing folder window for to end closing folder window for, because this block starts with the word on and ends with the word end. In both cases, next to it you must write the name of the action, in this case: closing folder window.
Additionaly, you can move display dialog out of the tell block, because it's not necessary to target the Finder application. display dialog is part of Standard Additions.
Code:
on closing folder window for theAttachedFolder
tell application "Finder"
set thePath to POSIX path of theAttachedFolder
end tell
display dialog thePath
end closing folder window for

Related

How can I create a .app file to open DMG files with, to run AppleScript with that file as input?

What I ultimately want to do is have a .app that I can open DMG files with. When the DMG file is opened the app, it opens the DMG in a new Finder tab and then shows the Toolbar in Finder after half a second. AppleScript for the later would look like this:
delay 0.5
tell application "Finder"
tell the front window to set toolbar visible to true
end tell
I tried looking up how to open a DMG file in a new Finder Tab with AppleScript but didn't find a solution. If I end up not finding one, then I'll see if I can do so with a Terminal command and then do it in AS with do shell script. For the file input, I tested this code based off what I found here but it doesn't work, it just creates a copy of the DMG:
on run {input, parameters}
if input is {} then
set inputFile1 to ¬
quoted form of POSIX path of ¬
(choose file with prompt "Please select a file to process:")
else
set inputFile1 to quoted form of ¬
(POSIX path of first item of input)
end if
display dialog inputFile1
end run
I did a bunch of googling as well for how to do so but I found nothing. What I can do to end up with an AppleScript that does everything I described?
I would open the dmg with hdiutil which seems to open the image into a standard window:
set runDMG to quoted form of POSIX path of (choose file)
do shell script "/usr/bin/hdiutil attach " & runDMG
Basically, you get the posix path of your dmg file and feed it to hdiutil attach. The disk image will open and —for me at least— consistently opens in a default finder window (i.e. same size as other windows, list view, sidebar visible, toolbar visible).
I should add that typically when I double-click on a dmg, it opens in a 'drag to applications folder' window which is icon view and shows only the app and the applications folder.
Separately, this code seems to work with bringing the disk image's folder to the front window.
tell application "Finder"
parent of startup disk
--> computer container of application "Finder"
open computer container
set target of window 1 to (last item of window 1 as alias)
--> disk "Key Codes" of application "Finder"
end tell
There are (at least on my Sierra mac), three items in the 'computer' folder: 'Network', 'Remote Disc', the startup volume. When you open a dmg, the virtual appears here as a 'removable'. I've found that when you get a list of folders in the computer container, the removable is the last item in the list. I don't know if that ever changes, and I haven't played around with multiple disk images simultaneously but it provides a starting point for specifying the desired window if for some reason, it doesn't open automatically.

Show/hide Finder, and create new window if none exist via AppleScript

I'd like to create an AppleScript to trigger via key command in Keyboard Maestro that allows me to toggle showing or hiding the Finder window(s) directly. And if when toggling to show the Finder, if there are no existing windows, create one and open it up to my home directory.
The following AppleScript works. However, there seems to be a race condition between activating the finder and detecting if there are any open windows with if not (window 1 exists), hence the delay 0.5.
The problem (which I think is a race condition in detecting the presence of an existing Finder window) results in this script frequently creating new Finder windows when one already existed. The if not (window 1 exists) doesn't always get it right.
Any thoughts, tweaks, or affirmations that this is just the way it is would be appreciated!
tell application "System Events"
set activeApp to name of application processes whose frontmost is true
if ((activeApp as string) is equal to "Finder") then
set visible of process "Finder" to false
else
tell application "Finder"
activate
delay 0.5
if not (window 1 exists) then
make new Finder window
set thePath to POSIX file "/Users/jon"
set the target of the front Finder window to folder thePath
end if
end tell
end if
end tell
Please try this simpler syntax, it uses only Finder terminology
tell application "Finder"
if frontmost then
set visible of process "Finder" to false
else
if (count windows) is 0 then reveal home
activate
end if
end tell
Edit:
To run a Keyboard Maestro macro, open Keyboard Maestro Editor, select the macro and then select Copy as > Copy UUID from the Edit menu.
Then in AppleScript write
tell application "Keyboard Maestro Engine" to do script "<Script-UUID>"
replacing <Script-UUID> with the copied real UUID
Ultimately I needed to activate Finder before running the count windows command or I'd get inconsistent window counts. Sometimes it'd be 0 even when there was a window open already. This code is working well for me so far.
tell application "Finder"
if frontmost then
set visible of process "Finder" to false
else
activate
if (count windows) is 0 then
open home
tell application "Keyboard Maestro Engine" to do script "<Script-UUID>"
end if
end if
end tell

How can I open an MP3 with quicktime player using applescript?

I have the following code to open the files, but they all open with iTunes:
tell application "Finder"
set the_files to get every file of folder ("Macintosh
SSD:Users:myusername:Desktop:DJ:Music:Sort")
end tell
repeat with theItem in the_files
tell application "QuickTime Player"
open theItem
end tell
end repeat
Thanks!
AS syntax can be very misleading. While your open command is inside a tell application … end tell block, that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be sent to that application. If the command’s direct parameter happens to be a reference to objects in another app (in this case, a reference to a document file object in Finder) AS will send it to that app instead.
Use set the_files to get every file of folder (…) as alias list. That will get you a list of AppleScript alias values, instead of a list of Finder references (which any app other than Finder wouldn’t understand anyway).

With Applescript I need to use System Events to navigate a Finder Window that opens within an application

I'm currently writing some Applescript to import some material into software which doesn't have much applescript support and virtually no documentation on Applescript. The two methods are to somehow adapt this script to work:
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
try
tell application "Isadora"
import media into document 1 from these_items
end tell
on error msg
display dialog "Error importing file into Isadora: " & msg
end try
end adding folder items to
However when I try to use "import media into document 1 from ________" I always get an error, in every incarnation of that combination.
My second approach then is using System Events to navigate through the menu bar to import everything. When I get to the import part of things where I can navigate and select the files, a finder window pops up. My question is:
How do I navigate this finder window within the application? This is like the inception of scripts. A finder window within a program.
I tried a few simple things like calling the front window of finder to navigate somewhere and what not. The current script that gets me to the import window is:
tell application "IsadoraCore"
activate
delay 2
tell application "System Events"
click menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1 of application process "IsadoraCore"
click menu item "Import Media..." of menu "File" of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1 of application process "IsadoraCore"
end tell
end tell
Any help would be appreciated!
I would guess the "import media" window is a Finder window where you select a file to import. This window is easy to handle. To select the file you must have the posix path of the file. In that window if you keystroke "shift-command-g" then you get a text field where you can keystroke the posix path. For example, let's say I want to open a file in TextEdit. The file is on my desktop with the name test.txt. I can do this...
set filePath to (path to desktop as text) & "test.txt"
set posixPath to POSIX path of filePath
set aShortDelay to 0.5
tell application "TextEdit" to activate
delay aShortDelay
tell application "System Events"
keystroke "o" using command down -- bring up the "open dialog window"
end tell
delay aShortDelay
tell application "TextEdit" to activate
delay aShortDelay
tell application "System Events"
keystroke "g" using {shift down, command down} -- bring up the "goto folder sheet" in the open dialog window
delay aShortDelay
keystroke posixPath -- enter the posix file path
delay aShortDelay
keystroke return -- dismiss the "goto folder sheet"
delay aShortDelay
keystroke return -- dismiss the "open dialog window"
end tell
Notice I have delays after every command. That is good practice when you're using this type of scripting. You don't want the code to run faster than the computer can perform the tasks so the delay gives the computer time to keep up with the code. Notice that I use a variable for the delay. This way I can play with aShortDelay making it longer or shorter as needed to make the script run properly.
Good luck.
Aren’t you asking Isadora to import a list of folders? Perhaps it can only handle one folder at a time?
I don’t have Isadora to test, but you might try this:
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
try
tell application "Isadora"
repeat with the_item in these_items
import media into document 1 from the_item
end repeat
end tell
on error msg
display dialog "Error importing file into Isadora: " & msg
end try
end adding folder items to

Creating an automator service to create a new document in the current directory

so I'm trying to create a service that will be located in the contextual menu of the Finder and that would allow to create a new document in the current directory.
I've been doing that using Automator:
Sorry everything's in French ^^
Anyway here's the AppleScript that I'm using to retrieve the current working directory:
on run {input, parameters}
tell application "Finder"
set pwdAlias to insertion location as alias
if not (exists folder pwdAlias) then
set pwdAlias to (container of pwdAlias) as alias
end if
end tell
set pwd to POSIX path of pwdAlias
return pwd
end run
Then I'm setting this value to a variable, then creating a new text document using the variable as the path for the document and finally I'm using the command Reveal in Finder to show the created document.
Everything's is working fine except that the script seems to always be late!
What I mean is that when I open a new Finder window and select my service, it is systematically creating the document on the previous window as shown below:
But then if I try a second time, the document is being created properly at the expected location:
And this is very systematic it happens every time!!
Sorry if I'm not very clear, it is not so easy to explain!
Well otherwise, I'm running Mountain Lion and here's the Automator project attached: create_new_document
To add the service just unzip and put the file under ~/Library/Services/
Hope to get some answers but I fear that this is just an Automator bug!
Try this
Depending on what you want to be clicking.
Set the Services selected to: 'folders'
or files or folders. in 'Finder.app'
Get first Finder Window path Action
You can download the Get first Finder Window path Action from my blog post here
The download is at the bottom of the post.
The Action gets the posix path of the frontmost finder window.
Since you are clicking on a folder in a window. that window will be the one returned.
Set Value of Variable
Get Specified Text
The next action 'New Text File' needs some input. If it does not get any, no file will be created. You can leave the text field blank. Just having the action in place works.
New Text File
Drag the Variable 'path' or what ever you named it on to the Where: drop down menu.
you can click the double blue lines at the bottom of the Automator window to toggle the workflow Variable List
Save your service. And try it.
(It may take a short while to show up in the contextual Menu.)
It's an open bug in 10.7 and 10.8
Use this Workaround
on run {input, parameters}
activate application "System Events"
activate application "Finder"
tell application "Finder"
set pwdAlias to insertion location as alias
set pwdAlias to (container of pwdAlias) as alias
end tell
return POSIX path of pwdAlias
end run

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