I want to modify/change/add MacOS Dock shortcuts/hotkeys.
e.g., of a shortcut that is available by default:
Option-Click on Dock app icon of an app that is not currently open = Hide the currently active app and then Open the app that was clicked
(from: https://support.apple.com/kb/PH21922?locale=en_US)
One very specific ability that I want:
Open and then Hide an app
Shift-Click on Dock app icon = Open and then Hide that app
(or use another easy modifier-key-combo with the click)
I am aware of the bash command open -a App --hide (e.g., open -a TextEdit --hide). I want to implement this exact functionality with a convenient Dock shortcut like the one mentioned above. If you're wondering "why?": sometimes I just want to open an app because I know that I will need it soon, but I'm still busy with another app, so just open this second app and then immediately hide it so it doesn't get in my way while I'm still busy with that first app.
How do I do this?
You can't.
These keyboard bindings are built into the Dock application, and cannot be modified.
The Mac utility program, Keyboard Maestro, does what you've asked, with shortcut keys, without using the Dock:
open, then immediately hide/minimize
option+open
I came up with a related solution: (in case anyone is interested)
an AppleScript App that presents a pick list
Method:
create a plain text document containing a list of the apps you want to handle (use correct name, no path, no extension, one name per line, no commas)
open 'Script Editor' (/Applications/Utilities)
copy-pasta the following code (and edit the first code line for the path to your text file from first step)
set apps_file to ("path:apps_list.txt")
set apps_list to paragraphs of (read file apps_file)
set apps_pick to choose from list apps_list with prompt "Select one or more apps." with multiple selections allowed
if result is false then return
set path_base to "Macintosh HD:Applications:"
set path_msft to path_base & "Microsoft Office 2011:"
set path_utly to path_base & "Utilities:"
set spec_msft to "Microsoft"
set spec_utly to "Activity Monitor, Terminal"
repeat with apps_this in apps_pick
if apps_this contains spec_msft
set path_this to path_msft
else if apps_this is in spec_utly
set path_this to path_utly
else
set path_this to path_base
end if
set apps_open to path_this & apps_this & ".app"
run application apps_open
end repeat
return
i. navigate menu 'File -> Export...'; ii. use the option 'File Format: Application'; iii. Save; (put the resulting app in your Dock)
Its not quite as convenient as I hoped, but, not too shabby.
Related
I am trying to make a keyboard shortcut to launch terminal in OS X Mountain Lion.
After some research I found out that I can use Automator to achieve this:
http://mac.tutsplus.com/tutorials/tips-shortcuts/how-to-launch-any-app-with-a-keyboard-shortcut/
It works, but I noticed that whenever I launch a terminal using this method, a process called WorkFlowServiceRunner starts and never terminates. To make matters worse when I launch more terminals (or launch different applications using shortcuts, again, through Automator) multiple WorkFlowServiceRunner processes start and quickly eat up the memory.
I've also tried writing my own applescripts but the problem does not go away. This clearly looks like a memory leak. Is this a bug in OS X Automator? Is there a way to write an applescript so that the WorkFlowServiceRunner terminates after doing its job (e.g. launch a terminal)? Automator seems to be the most "native" way of getting this done and I do not want to use any 3rd party apps.
I have noticed this from time to time.
One way around it would be to make your own service apps with a Cocoa-AppleScript Applet.
It is not very hard to do. And I will try and guide you through it. It should only take you a couple of minutes.
Step 1.
Open your Application Applescript Editor. And go to the "File" Menu -> "New from Template" -> Cocoa-AppleScript Applet.app
Step 2,
Paste this code into the new documents.
property NSWorkspace : class "NSWorkspace"
tell current application's NSApp to setServicesProvider_(me)
NSUpdateDynamicServices()
my runAService()
on runAService()
NSWorkspace's sharedWorkspace()'s launchAppWithBundleIdentifier_options_additionalEventParamDescriptor_launchIdentifier_("com.apple.Terminal", current application's NSWorkspaceLaunchDefault, missing value, missing value)
tell me to quit
end runAService
Step 3,
Compile
(click this to compile)
and Save the app.
*Make sure the show startup screen is unchecked in the Save dialogue.
Giving the app a name like LaunchTerminal.app
Step 4,
Click the "Bundle Contents" button on the top right hand side of the document.
This will open the applications contents view.
Click the Action button and then "Reveal in finder" sub menu.
step 5,
In the contents folder that opens in the finder you will see a file name "info.plist"
Open Terminal.app and type and run this code using the path to this file:
BUT make sure you do not include the ".plist" part of the name when entering it in Terminal.app
/usr/bin/defaults write /Users/YourUserNameHere/myServiceApps/LaunchTerminal.app/Contents/Info NSServices -array-add '{NSMenuItem={default="Launch Terminal";}; NSMessage="runAService"; NSSendTypes=();}'
( You can drag n drop the file into terminal to get the posix path string )
The path part looks like this: /Users/YourUserNameHere/myServiceApps/LaunchTerminal.app/Contents/Info
This code should add an array to the plist file which is part of the apps way of broadcasting it has a service.
step 6,
Compile and Save the App again.
Just to make sure it picks up the changes. ( I found I had to do this even though I should not have to)
step 7,
Double click the app to run it for the first time.
The App will quit straight away. But the first run should have broadcast that it has a service that should be registered with the system
step 8,
Open system Preferences and go to Services -> General (section)
And you will see the "Launch Terminal" service.
Set up your short cut as normal.
Hope this helps..
UPDATE :
I noticed that the tell application "Terminal" to activate. Would not open my default Window groups if I had closed them all and quit Terminal before. The normal behaviour if I have done this is for my default window group to open. ( I have two Tabs open at startup each cd'd to a different path).
So I have change the open application to a cocoa way of doing it.
A do shell script with open the/application/path/. will work also.
Try using Butler or QuicKeys. They both have endless "Trial periods."
No-one has been able to answer this question.
It would seem to be impossible to have XCode open this way.
However Youssef provided the most useful answer - so Youssef gets the points, thank you Youssef.
Note for future readers .. the mac utility Moom is excellent for some, but not all, problems of this nature. Again it is not a total solution.
Using the current up-to-date XCode,
Whenever I OPEN a project in XCode (or start a new project),
it looks like this:
However, I want it to look like this:
Again that's when I OPEN a project.
Is there any way to achieve this? Thanks.
Go to Xcode (in the top menu bar) --> Preferences...
Switch to the Behaviors tab and modify what you want in the Running section
You'll get something like this:
You can choose to show/hide what you need, and specify the default behavior
Cheers
EDIT:
After understanding what you need, I will modify my answer.
There is no way to force XCode to automatically enter a behavior at startup.
The best you can do is to create a custom behavior and give it a keyboard shortcut. And when you start XCode just use the keyboard shortcut to enter the desired behavior.
This is how it is done:
In the behaviors tab (above) click on the + sign at the bottom
Then enter the desired name of this behavior (Maybe StartupBehavior)
Click on the left button to modify the shortcut key. My preferred shortcut key is Command + ` (the button to the left of the '1' key). This is because it will not override any other command and it is easy to click.
Note: you can specify any shortcut you like and dont be afraid to override one that already exists if you don't use it.
Now you need to configure your behavior the way you like it
Close the preference windows.
Now everytime you start XCode just use the shortcut key you specified (Command + ` in my case) to quickly load your behavior
Note:
If you dont like keyboard shortcuts you can also load your behavior by going to Xcode (menu bar) --> Behaviors --> Select your behavior
That is the quickest way you can achieve what you want. I dont think you will be able to force Xcode to run your behavior automatically on startup.
Hope it helped.
Cheers
(not really default layout, you have to hit at least 2 keys simultaneously once XCode is open) You could set up a behavior for "Build->Starts" and hit "CMD + B"
after opening XCode / any Project. This way it will 1. change to your
Layout even if there are any errors and Build fails and 2. you don't
have to Stop it again.
As already said, it's not a default layout, but I like to let the compiler run through projects of other people at the beginning anyway.
You could search for some Keys in XCodes preference file in
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Xcode.plist as already suggested in
my comment, I'm not experienced enough to know which are the right
ones, sorry.
Wrap the .xcodeproj File opening in an application. E.g. in no way "clean", but anyway:
Set up an XCode behavior like in option 1
Open Automator, choose Application, drag "open Finder Items" and "run AppleScript" inside.
on run {input, parameters}
set frontmostAppName to name of (info for (path to frontmost application))
repeat while frontmostAppName is not "XCode.app"
set frontmostAppName to name of (info for (path to frontmost application))
delay 0.5
end repeat
try
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "b" using {command down} --simulates CMD + B
end try
return input
end run
Insert some applescript like the above and save the Automator application.
RightClick -> getInfo on any .xcodeproj File in Finder/on Desktop, in "open with" select your new Automator app, click add and back in the info panel -> check "Change All"
You can obviously create a new Behavior instead of using Build->starts, assign a different Hotkey in XCode and script e.g. tell application "System Events" to keystroke "i" using {command down, control down, shift down, alt down} , optimize the applescript somehow or do everything via a real cocoa app if you want
Well, you may be able to approach it using preconfigured xcuserstate files nested in your project templates' default workspace directory, but that is going to be a pain to tweak and maintain. I'm not even sure it would work.
I would personally just approach it by using Behaviors.
So:
1) create a Behavior
2) Give it a convenient key binding
3) Then define the Behavior. For example:
ASCII Behavior Editor:
...
√ Show *Debugger* with *Console View*
√ *Hide* utilities
...
That should do it. Just hit the assigned key command when you want to restore that display state, regardless of its initial state.
Of course, you can do a few other things or all sorts of arbitrary stuff by running an external AppleScript (triggered with a Behavior's run script facility).
I know nothing about AppleScript, but I wonder if it could make my life easier: is there a way to write an AppleScript that tells Safari / Firefox / Chrome to refresh the current tab when I save a document in another application, say TextWrangler? Essentially, I want to map the Command+S keyboard shortcut to do two things at once in two separate applications.
If that’s not possible, can you script one application so that saving one file executes a command in another window in that same application?
There are different possible approaches to implement this, but the most straightforward would probably be to create a script that executes all steps you need (i.e. save the document and refresh the window) and bind that to the Cmd+S keyboard combo in the triggering application.
What you need for this approach to work, is, in order:
a method to bind a key combo to a script effective only in a specific application. OS X’ Automator Services fit that bill: their scope can be restricted to a single application (select it in the “only in” drop down at the top of the workflow actions), and they can be assigned a shortcut in the Keyboard preference pane of System Preferences.
a way to relay your commands to the applications they target. AppleScript can help you in two different ways, depending on the fact if your applications are scriptable, i.e. if they have a scripting dictionary you can inspect in the AppleScript editor:
if they do, and their terminology includes the saving action for the editor on one side (most scriptable document based apps do so in the form save <document>), the page refreshing for the browser(s) on the other (Chrome has reload <tab>, Safari gets the same result via a JavaScript detour, i.e. do JavaScript "window.location.reload()" in <document> – I don’t use Firefox), you are set.
if they do not, GUI Scripting might help, i.e. simulating a click on the right UI element (menu or toolbar) via tell application "System Events" to tell process <your process> to click item x of menu y.
That script can then be embedded into the Automator workflow (in an “Run AppleScript” action, to be precise).
As you can see, a lot depends on the exact software you are using. if you are new to AppleScript and the above baffles you, I’d suggest spending a bit of time on the AppleScript pages of Mac OS X Automation (where you’ll also find example scripts which will kick start you into things like GUI Scripting).
One final note: as of this writing, sandboxed applications do not honor key combos assigned to them in the Keyboard Preference pane (they do honor global key combos set there – just not those specifically targeting them). This means you cannot, for instance, currently override TextEdit’s Cmd+S shortcut for saving in Lion. As long as your editor is not sandboxed (easily checked in Activity Monitor), you should have no issue with this.
One solution would be to create a folder action to refresh the current tab when a new file is saved in the folder.
on adding folder items to theFolder after receiving theFiles
tell application "Google Chrome"
activate
tell window 1 to tell active tab
set URL to (get URL)
end tell
end tell
end adding folder items to
XCode doesn't include uninstallation options for their packager. Generally users simply drag the app to the trash if they want to uninstall it - most apps are self contained in the app package.
However, I have a kernel extension which must be uninstalled using a few simple command lines. There is a script that works, but I am required to provide a graphical uninstaller.
I don't expect there's a plug-n-play example code out there that provides a way to run the script while showing a progress bar, but I'm hoping someone has dealt with this or has a few pointers on how to accomplish this quickly and easily
The script is only two lines with no feedback, so we can execute the commands in the app, as long as we can easily request and use root permissions securely (ie, let OS X handle the permissions - we merely ask for OS X to give them to us which should cause it to ask the user for them similar to how it happens with the package installer) inside the app.
There's a reasonably good approach using a Cocoa-Applescript project in xcode to run a shell script here:
http://www.mactech.com/articles/mactech/Vol.22/22.08/GUI-upyourScript/index.html
It covers using a progress bar, handling errors, and getting the correct root permissions to run the shell script.
Unfortunately it's a bit long to cut and paste here, but the general steps are:
Create new xcode project of type Cocoa-Applescript app
Create and test the intended shell script, add it to your project
Edit the MainMenu.nib to add and name a button(theObject) and progress bar(pMainProgress), then edit title and other aspects of the ui to taste
Tie the button to the applescript in the project (in the Inspector with the button selected check the action box and put in myprojectname.applescript)
Edit the applescript to something akin to the following:
on clicked theObject
-- setup
set myPath to POSIX path of (path to me) as string
-- Start progress bar
set uses threaded animation of progress indicator "pMainProgress" of window "wMain" to true
tell progress indicator "pMainProgress" of window "wMain" to start
-- Do it!
try
do shell script quoted form of myPath & "Contents/Resources/backup.sh" with administrator privileges
on error number 255
display dialog "Sorry, an error occurred. I can't make the copy."
end try
-- Stop progress bar
tell progress indicator "pMainProgress" of window "wMain" to stop
set uses threaded animation of progress indicator "pMainProgress" of window "wMain" to false
end clicked
You can further customize the app (name, for instance) and add text boxes to the window to alert the user what step is happening if you're running multiple scripts (put set the contents of text field "efStatus" of window "wMain" to "Copying files..." in your script after adding a text field to the ui with the name "efStatus")
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Is there something similar to the "Open Command Window Here" Windows Powertoy for Mac OS? I've found a couple plugins through a google search but wanted to see what works best for developers out there.
As of Mac OS X Lion 10.7, Terminal includes exactly this functionality as a Service. As with most Services, these are disabled by default, so you'll need to enable this to make it appear in the Services menu.
System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services
Enable New Terminal at Folder. There's also New Terminal Tab at Folder, which will create a tab in the frontmost Terminal window (if any, else it will create a new window). These Services work in all applications, not just Finder, and they operate on folders as well as absolute pathnames selected in text.
You can even assign command keys to them.
Services appear in the Services submenu of each application menu, and within the contextual menu (Control-Click or Right-Click on a folder or pathname).
The New Terminal at Folder service will become active when you select a folder in Finder. You cannot simply have the folder open and run the service "in place". Go back to the parent folder, select the relevant folder, then activate the service via the Services menu or context menu.
In addition, Lion Terminal will open a new terminal window if you drag a folder (or pathname) onto the Terminal application icon, and you can also drag to the tab bar of an existing window to create a new tab.
Finally, if you drag a folder or pathname onto a tab (in the tab bar) and the foreground process is the shell, it will automatically execute a "cd" command. (Dragging into the terminal view within the tab merely inserts the pathname on its own, as in older versions of Terminal.)
You can also do this from the command line or a shell script:
open -a Terminal /path/to/folder
This is the command-line equivalent of dragging a folder/pathname onto the Terminal application icon.
On a related note, Lion Terminal also has new Services for looking up man pages: Open man page in Terminal displays the selected man page topic in a new terminal window, and Search man Pages in Terminal performs "apropos" on the selected text. The former also understands man page references ("open(2)"), man page command line arguments ("2 open") and man page URLs ("x-man-page://2/open").
This:
https://github.com/jbtule/cdto#cd-to
It's a small app that you drag into the Finder toolbar, the icon fits in very nicely. It works with Terminal, xterm (under X11), iterm.
An application that I've found indispensible as an alternative is DTerm, which actually opens a mini terminal right in your application. Plus it works with just about everything out there - Finder, XCode, PhotoShop, etc.
Clarification (thanks #vgm64): if you're already in Terminal, this lets you quickly change to the topmost Finder window without leaving Terminal. This way, you can avoid using the mouse.
I've added the following to my .bash_profile so I can type cdff in Terminal at any time.
function ff { osascript -e 'tell application "Finder"'\
-e "if (${1-1} <= (count Finder windows)) then"\
-e "get POSIX path of (target of window ${1-1} as alias)"\
-e 'else' -e 'get POSIX path of (desktop as alias)'\
-e 'end if' -e 'end tell'; };\
function cdff { cd "`ff $#`"; };
This is from this macosxhints.com Terminal hint.
Check out Open Terminal Here. It may be the most similar to "Open Command Window Here." I used >cdto and this is very similar but this seems to be a little better at dealing with Spaces... but not perfect.
What it has that is very nice is the ability to "detect key-down events at the start of the application and used them to modify the behavior of the script" allowing the script to open a new tab in the front most terminal window when invoked by holding down ⌘ key. Neat trick.
Also note PCheese's answer; it is probably more useful for heavy terminal users!
There is an updated version of the very nice and slim Open Terminal Here posted by vgm64 and d0k. The change was made by james david low. He published the new version on his site. Just download OpenTerminalHere.zip, extract it, move the bundle to your Library/Scripts folder and drag it from there to your Finder toolbar.
What is special about it is that it always opens a new tab if a Terminal.app window is already open. Very useful! I also noted that the style of the button of the application better fits the Snow Leopard Finder.app style than cdto posted by redacted did.
Also, you can copy an item from the finder using command-C, jump into the Terminal (e.g. using Spotlight or QuickSilver) type 'cd ' and simply paste with command-v
I created a bundle with 3 apps for the finder toolbar.
The other two apps do:
open Textmate with the current selection
open GitX with the current folder
For more information see here:
http://nslog.de/posts/71
If you install Big Cat Scripts (http://www.ranchero.com/bigcat/) you can add your own contextual menu (right click) items. I don't think it comes with an Open Terminal Here applescript but I use this script (which I don't honestly remember if I wrote myself, or lifted from someone else's example):
on main(filelist)
tell application "Finder"
try
activate
set frontWin to folder of front window as string
set frontWinPath to (get POSIX path of frontWin)
tell application "Terminal"
activate
do script with command "cd \"" & frontWinPath & "\""
end tell
on error error_message
beep
display dialog error_message buttons ¬
{"OK"} default button 1
end try
end tell
end main
Similar scripts can also get you the complete path to a file on right-click, which is even more useful, I find.
It's a bit more than you're asking for, but I recommend Cocoatech's Path Finder for anyone who wishes the Finder had a bit more juice. It includes a toolbar button to open a Terminal window for the current directory, or a retractable pane with a Terminal command line at the bottom of each Finder window. Plus many other features that I now can't live without. Very mature, stable software.
http://cocoatech.com/
Ok, I realize that this is a bit late... maybe this alternative wasn't available at the moment of writing the post?
Anyway, I've found installing the pos package via Fink (a prerequisite in this case, maybe there is something similar for those who uses MacPorts?) to be the easiest solution. You get two commands:
posd - which gives the current directory of the frontmost Finder window (for which you presumably make an alias cdf=cd posd)
fdc - which switches the current directory of the frontmost Finder window to the Terminal pwd. This is slightly different from 'open .' which always opens a new finder window.
Yes, you have to switch to the Terminal window before writing cdf, but I suppose that's quite cheap comparing to clicking a button in the Finder toolbar. And it works with iTerm as well, you don't have to download a separate Finder toolbar button that opens an iTerm window. This is the same approach as proposed by PCheese, but you don't have to clutter your .bash_profile.
If like me you turn off the Finder toolbar, this Service adds an item to every folder's contextual menu: http://blog.leenarts.net/2009/09/03/open-service-here/
This also allows you to open any folder you see in Finder tree view.
I mostly use this function:
cf() {
cd "$(osascript -e 'tell app "Finder" to POSIX path of (insertion location as alias)')"
}
You could also assign a shortcut to a script like the ones below.
Reuse an existing tab or create a new window (Terminal):
tell application "Finder" to set p to POSIX path of (insertion location as alias)
tell application "Terminal"
if (exists window 1) and not busy of window 1 then
do script "cd " & quoted form of p in window 1
else
do script "cd " & quoted form of p
end if
activate
end tell
Reuse an existing tab or create a new tab (Terminal):
tell application "Finder" to set p to POSIX path of (insertion location as alias)
tell application "Terminal"
if not (exists window 1) then reopen
activate
if busy of window 1 then
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "t" using command down
end if
do script "cd " & quoted form of p in window 1
end tell
Always create a new tab (iTerm 2):
tell application "Finder" to set p to POSIX path of (insertion location as alias)
tell application "iTerm"
if exists current terminal then
current terminal
else
make new terminal
end if
tell (launch session "Default") of result to write text "cd " & quoted form of p
activate
end tell
The first two scripts have two advantages compared to the services added in 10.7:
They use the folder on the title bar instead of requiring you to select a folder first.
They reuse the frontmost tab if it is not busy, e.g. running a command, displaying a man page, or running emacs.
There is a bug in the AppleScript on OSX 10.6. (2 terminal windows open).
I fixed this by adding the close command after activate. This close the first Terminal window.
on run
tell application "Finder"
try
activate
set frontWin to folder of front window as string
set frontWinPath to (get POSIX path of frontWin)
tell application "Terminal"
activate
close
do script with command "cd \"" & frontWinPath & "\""
end tell
on error error_message
beep
display dialog error_message buttons ¬
{"OK"} default button 1
end try
end tell
end run