i am creating an applescript to create a file with property list elements but without the .plist extension!
my issue is if i use a dialog to get the name of the file eg.
tell application "SystemUIServer"
display dialog "Enter filename :- " buttons {"Generate file"} default answer "Generate Keyfile"
set fileName to text returned of result
and create the file on the desktop like so
set text_file to (path to desktop)'s POSIX path & "" & quoted form of fileName & ".NEWextention"
finally i add elements to the .plist
tell application "System Events"
tell (make new property list file with properties {name:text_file})
make new property list item at end with properties {kind:string, name:"regName", value:"FOO"}
make new property list item at end with properties {kind:string, name:"regNumber", value:"BAR" as text}
end tell
end tell
end tell
however the file that is created is has '' when quoted from fileName and still has the .plist extention.
eg input :- myfile
output:- 'myfile'.NEWextention.plist
when i want
myfile.NEWextention
how can i achieve this in applescript?
any help would be greatly appreciated!
many thanks in advance.
below is the fixed code thanks to #McUsr
without his help i would have been at the same point for over 6 months of trial and error
tell application "SystemUIServer"
display dialog "Enter FileName :- " buttons {"Generate file"} default answer "Generate file"
set FileName to text returned of result
set text_file to (path to desktop folder as text) & FileName & ".plist"
set dateStamp to do shell script "date"
tell application "System Events"
tell (make new property list file with properties {name:text_file})
make new property list item at end with properties {kind:string, name:"Name", value:FileName}
make new property list item at end with properties {kind:string, name:"Date", value:dateStamp}
end tell
end tell
end tell
tell application "Finder"
set name extension of file text_file to "newExt"
end tell
You can make it happen afterwards you are done processing it with System Events, by Finder, (set name extension of file "Hfs:path:to:file:with:name.ext" to "new-ext").
But I am not sure if you can expect System Events to regard the file as a property list file, containing property list items afterwards. It is still worth a try though. :)
This is how you must change the name extension, as this don't work with System Events (name extension is a read only property).
tell application "Finder"
set mf to (path to desktop folder as text) & "labels.txt"
set name extension of file mf to "text"
end tell
Use the HFS path of the file, aka: Macintosh Hd:Users:You:path:file.ext, and not the posix path. And don't use quoted form of det path.
Related
I was looking for a script that would batch convert all *.numbers files in a given folder to *.csv files.
I found the following on GitHub and added an additional line as suggested in the comments suggestion. When I run the script, Numbers launches and opens the test file from the folder specified - but the file is not exported. Numbers just stays open and terminal errors out with:
/Users/Shared/Untitled.scpt: execution error: Numbers got an error: Invalid key form. (-10002)
The script (located in /Users/Shared) has the following permissions:
-rwxr-xr-x
#!/usr/bin/osascript
on run argv
set theFilePath to POSIX file (item 1 of argv)
set theFolder to theFilePath as alias
tell application "Finder" to set theDocs to theFolder's items
-- Avoid export privilege problem
set privilegeFile to (theFolder as text) & ".permission"
close access (open for access privilegeFile)
repeat with aDoc in theDocs
set docName to aDoc's name as text
if docName ends with ".numbers" then
set exportName to (theFolder as text) & docName
set exportName to exportName's text 1 thru -9
set exportName to (exportName & "csv")
tell application "Numbers"
open aDoc
delay 5 -- may need to adjust this higher
tell front document
export to file exportName as CSV
close
end tell
end tell
end if
end repeat
end run
Any suggestions?
Here is what I did and works for me in macOS High Sierra:
In Terminal:
touch numb2csv; open -e numb2csv; chmod +x numb2csv
• This creates an empty ASCII Text file named numb2csv.
• Opens, by default, numb2csv in TextEdit.
• Makes the numb2csv file executable.
Copy and paste the example AppleScript code, shown further below, into the opened numb2csv file.
Save and close the numb2csv file.
In Terminal executed the numb2csv executable file, e.g.:
./numb2csv "$HOME/Documents"
This created a CSV file of the same name as each Numbers document in my Documents folder, not traversing any nested folders.
Example AppleScript code:
#!/usr/bin/osascript
on run argv
set theFilePath to POSIX file (item 1 of argv)
set theFolder to theFilePath as alias
tell application "System Events" to set theDocs to theFolder's items whose name extension = "numbers"
repeat with aDoc in theDocs
set docName to aDoc's name as text
set exportName to (theFolder as text) & docName
set exportName to exportName's text 1 thru -8
set exportName to (exportName & "csv")
tell application "Numbers"
launch
open aDoc
repeat until exists document 1
delay 3
end repeat
tell front document
export to file exportName as CSV
close
end tell
end tell
end repeat
tell application "Numbers" to quit
end run
NOTE: As coded, this will overwrite an existing CSV file of the same name as each Numbers file processed, if they already exist. Additional coding required if wanting to not overwrite existing files
If you receive the Script Error:
Numbers got an error: The document “name” could not be exported as “name”. You don’t have permission.
It is my experience that the Numbers document was not fully opened prior to being exported and that increasing the value of the delay command resolves this issue. This is of course assuming that one actually has write permissions in the folder the target Numbers documents exists.
Or one can introduce an error handler within the tell front document block which, if my theory is right about the target document not being fully loaded before the export, will give additional time, e.g.:
Change:
tell front document
export to file exportName as CSV
close
end tell
To:
tell front document
try
export to file exportName as CSV
close
on error
delay 3
export to file exportName as CSV
close
end try
end tell
Note: The primary example AppleScript code is just that and does not contain any error handling as may be appropriate. The onus is upon the user to add any error handling as may be appropriate, needed or wanted. Have a look at the try statement and error statement in the AppleScript Language Guide. See also, Working with Errors. See included example directly above.
I was looking for that, unfortunately, that doesn’t work anymore.
This line
tell application "System Events" to set theDocs to theFolder's items whose name extension = "numbers"
Gets the following error:
execution error: Can’t make file "file.numbers" of application "System Events" into the expected type. (-1700)
macOs Big Sur Versio 11.01
automator version 2.10
Numbers version 10.3.5
Inspired by this thread and those articles Exporting Numbers Documents and Get full directory contents with AppleScript
The following code works:
#!/usr/bin/osascript
log "Start"
property exportFileExtension : "csv"
tell application "Finder"
activate
set sourceFolder to choose folder with prompt "Please select directory."
set fileList to name of every file of sourceFolder
end tell
set the defaultDestinationFolder to sourceFolder
repeat with documentName in fileList
log "documentName: " & documentName
set fullPath to (sourceFolder as text) & documentName
log "fullPath: " & fullPath
if documentName ends with ".numbers" then
set documentName to text 1 thru -9 of documentName
tell application "Finder"
set newExportItemName to documentName & "." & exportFileExtension
set incrementIndex to 1
repeat until not (exists document file newExportItemName of defaultDestinationFolder)
set newExportItemName to ¬
documentName & "-" & (incrementIndex as string) & "." & exportFileExtension
set incrementIndex to incrementIndex + 1
end repeat
end tell
set the targetFileHFSPath to ¬
(defaultDestinationFolder as string) & newExportItemName
tell application "Numbers"
launch
open fullPath
with timeout of 1200 seconds
export front document to file targetFileHFSPath as CSV
end timeout
close
end tell
end if
end repeat
user3439894's answer works with a few change:
exists document 1 => number of documents > 0
I receive a lot of customer vcards to a specific email address. I want to automatically add the vcards to my contacts through the Mail rules and an AppleScript.
I searched a lot and found something. I modified it a bit. And the opening and adding process works fine. But only when I choose a file. I can't get the file into a variable from the mail message. I tried it but it won't work.
Here is my code so far:
tell application "Mail"
set att to attachment
end tell
set thefile to att
tell application "Contacts"
activate
open thefile
end tell
tell application "System Events" to keystroke return
If I delete line 1, 2 and 3 and write in line 4 "set thefile to choose file" then it will work - if I choose a file.
But the first three lines I tried something out, but without any success.
So my question is, how can I get the file from the message?
Thank you
Yours sincerely,
Chris
Solution:
set Dest to ((path to desktop folder) as string)
tell application "Finder" to make new folder in Dest with properties {name:"TempFiles"} -- create TempFiles folder
Set Dest to Dest & "TempFiles:"
tell application "Mail"
activate -- not sure is mandatory, but I prefer to see selected mails !!
set ListMessage to selection -- get all selected messages
repeat with aMessage in ListMessage -- loop through each message selected
set AList to every mail attachment of aMessage -- get all attachements
repeat with aFile in AList -- for each attachement
if (downloaded of aFile) then
set Filepath to Dest & (name of aFile)
do shell script "touch " & (quoted form of (POSIX path of Filepath)) -- required because "Save" only works with existing file !
save aFile in (Filepath as alias) as native format
end if
end repeat -- next file
end repeat -- next message
end tell
tell application "Finder" to set CardList to every file of folder Dest whose name extension is {"vcf"}
tell application "Contacts"
activate
repeat with aCard in CardList
open aCard
delay 1
tell application "System Events" to keystroke return
end repeat
end tell
delay 2
-- tell application "Finder" to delete folder Dest
The file attached from email respond to the 'save" command, but not to 'open'. Then, you must first save the attached files, and later, move them to next application (add in 'Contacts' in your case).
The attachement is a member of a list of 'mail attachement' of a message : keep in mind that there could be many files attached.
Also, you can only save the attached file if its 'downloaded' attribute is true.
Last, but not least, it seems that the "save" instruction which was working nice in Snow Leopard, does not work the same in El Capitain : the file where to save must exist before the "save"...this is why I added the "touch" command to create it first (just create the entry in the tempFiles folder).
I also add at bottom of script the open vCard with the enter key to validate in Contact. You may have to add a delay to leave sometime for your computer to process the card.
if the keys broke does not work in your case, please check System Preferences accessibility settings to allow your computer to let your script control your Mac.
I added as much comments as possible to make it clear...may be too much !
set Dest to ((path to desktop folder) as string)
tell application "Finder" to make new folder in Dest with properties {name:"TempFiles"} -- create TempFiles folder
Set Dest to Dest & "TempFiles:"
tell application "Mail"
activate -- not sure is mandatory, but I prefer to see selected mails !!
set ListMessage to selection -- get all selected messages
repeat with aMessage in ListMessage -- loop through each message selected
set AList to every mail attachment of aMessage -- get all attachements
repeat with aFile in AList -- for each attachement
if (downloaded of aFile) then
set Filepath to Dest & (name of aFile)
do shell script "touch " & (quoted form of (POSIX path of Filepath)) -- required because "Save" only works with existing file !
save aFile in (Filepath as alias) as native format
end if
end repeat -- next file
end repeat -- next message
end tell
tell application "Finder" to set CardList to every file of folder Dest whose name extension is {"vcf"}
tell application "Contacts"
activate
repeat with aCard in CardList
open aCard
tell application "System Events" to keystroke return
end repeat
end tell
-- tell application "Finder" to delete folder Dest
As you can see, I filter the content of the temp folder with only files with extension 'vcd'...just in case your selected emails contain also other type of file which Contact can't handled.
At end of the script, I delete the temp folder. however, until you test it, I set this last row as a comment only (more safe !)
I actually have two questions.
How to exclude hidden files like .DS_STORE, Icon when I try to get files in folder ?
I've tried "without invisibles" but it seems not working.
How to set my var the_new_folder as an existing folder if already exists ?
Thanks for answers.
My code:
--
-- Get all files in a selected folder
-- For each file, create a folder with the same name and put the file in
--
tell application "Finder"
set the_path to choose folder with prompt "Choose your folder..."
my file_to_folder(the_path)
end tell
on file_to_folder(the_folder)
tell application "Finder"
-- HELP NEEDED HERE
-- HOW TO EXCLUDE HIDDEN FILES (Like Icon, .DS_STORE, etc)
set the_files to files of the_folder
repeat with the_file in the_files
-- Exclude folder in selection
if kind of the_file is not "Folder" then
set the_path to container of the_file
set the_file_ext to name extension of the_file
-- Remove extension of the file name
set the_file_name to name of the_file as string
set the_file_name to text 1 thru ((offset of the_file_ext in (the_file_name)) - 2) of the_file_name
-- Make the new folder with the file name
try
set the_new_folder to make new folder at the_path with properties {name:the_file_name}
on error
-- HELP NEEDED HERE
-- HOW TO SET the_new_folder AS THE EXISTING FOLDER
end try
-- Move the file in the new folder
move the_file to the_new_folder
end if
end repeat
end tell
end file_to_folder
tell application "Finder"
(display dialog ("It's done!") buttons {"Perfect!"})
end tell
Using the System Events context instead of Finder:
bypasses the problem with the AppleShowAllFiles preference[1]
is much faster in general.
Using the visible property of file / folder objects in the System Events context allows you to predictably determine either all items, including hidden ones (by default), or only the visible ones (with whose visible is true):
# Sample input path.
set the_path to POSIX path of (path to home folder)
tell application "System Events"
set allVisibleFiles to files of folder the_path whose visible is true
end tell
Simply omit whose visible is true to include hidden files too.
The code for either referencing a preexisting folder or creating it on demand is essentially the same as in the Finder context:
# Sample input path.
set the_path to POSIX path of (path to home folder)
# Sample subfolder name
set the_subfolder_name to "subfolder"
tell application "System Events"
if folder (the_path & the_subfolder_name) exists then
set subfolder to folder (the_path & the_subfolder_name)
else
set subfolder to make new folder at folder the_path ¬
with properties {name: the_subfolder_name}
end if
end tell
[1] In order to predictably exclude hidden items, a Finder-based solution is not only cumbersome but has massive side effects:
You need to determine the current state of the the AppleShowAllFiles preference (defaults read com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles),
then turn it off.
then kill Finder to make the change take effect (it restarts automatically) - this will be visually disruptive
then, after your code has run, restore it to its previous value.
then kill Finder again so that the restored value takes effect again.
I believe that your first question is not a problem. Your code works fine for me.
As for the second issue, the simplest method is to use the text representation of the_path, and simply build the new folder, and see if it already exists:
set the_path_Text to (the_path as text)
set try_Path to the_path_Text & the_file_name
if (folder try_Path) exists then
set the_new_folder to (folder try_Path)
else
set the_new_folder to make new folder at the_path with properties {name:the_file_name}
end if
If you are truly having difficulty with the first code section, please post a new question with more details, such as a copy of the Result section of the Script.
Thank you to all of you ! #mklement0 #craig-smith
You will find below the corrected code with your help!
If I share this code, you want to be cited for thanks?
--
-- Get all files in a selected folder
-- For each file, create a folder with the same name and put the file in
--
-- Get user folder
set the_path to choose folder with prompt "Choose your folder..."
my file_to_folder(the_path)
on file_to_folder(the_folder)
tell application "System Events"
-- Get all files without hidden
set the_files to files of the_folder whose visible is true
repeat with the_file in the_files
-- Remove extension of the file name
set the_file_ext to name extension of the_file
set the_file_name to name of the_file as string
set the_file_name to text 1 thru ((offset of the_file_ext in (the_file_name)) - 2) of the_file_name
-- Make a new folder or get the existing
set the_path to POSIX path of the_folder
if folder (the_path & the_file_name) exists then
set the_new_folder to folder (the_path & the_file_name)
else
set the_new_folder to make new folder at folder the_path with properties {name:the_file_name}
end if
-- Move the file to the new folder
move the_file to the_new_folder
end repeat
end tell
end file_to_folder
-- Ending dialog
display dialog ("It's done!") buttons {"Perfect!"}
(This is a new edit from a previous question of mine which achieved -3 votes. Hope this new one has a better qualification)
I need to create an Automator service to organize a high amount of files into folders. I work with illustrator and from each .ai file I create 3 more formats: [name.pdf], [name BAJA.jpg] and [name.jpg], thats 4 files in total
My problem is that during the week I repeat this process to more than 90 different .ai files. So 90 files * 4 is 360 independent files all into the some project folder.
I want to grab all 4 related files into one folder, and set the folder name as the same as the .ai file.
Since all the file names are identical (except one), I thought of telling the finder to grab all the files with the same name, copy the name, create a folder and put this files inside, but I have a file name variant [name LOW.jpg] Maybe I can tell the script to strip that work as an exception.
That way I will all 4 the files unified into one folder.
Thank you in advance
Update: This problem was originally posted back in 2013, now I have a solution. People help me assembled this script to fit my needs.
I added this as a service and assigned a keyboard shurtcut on MacOs.
This is the code:
on run {input, parameters} -- create folders from file names and move
set output to {} -- this will be a list of the moved files
repeat with anItem in the input -- step through each item in the input
set {theContainer, theName, theExtension} to (getTheNames from anItem)
try
# check for a suffix and strip it off for the folder name
if theName ends with " BAJA" then
set destination to (makeNewFolder for (text 1 thru -6 of theName) at theContainer)
else
set destination to (makeNewFolder for theName at theContainer)
end if
tell application "Finder"
move anItem to destination
set the end of the output to the result as alias -- success
end tell
on error errorMessage -- duplicate name, permissions, etc
log errorMessage
# handle errors if desired - just skip for now
end try
end repeat
return the output -- pass on the results to following actions
end run
to getTheNames from someItem -- get a container, name, and extension from a file item
tell application "System Events" to tell disk item (someItem as text)
set theContainer to the path of the container
set {theName, theExtension} to {name, name extension}
end tell
if theExtension is not "" then
set theName to text 1 thru -((count theExtension) + 2) of theName -- just the name part
set theExtension to "." & theExtension
end if
return {theContainer, theName, theExtension}
end getTheNames
to makeNewFolder for theChild at theParent -- make a new child folder at the parent location if it doesn't already exist
set theParent to theParent as text
if theParent begins with "/" then set theParent to theParent as POSIX file as text
try
return (theParent & theChild) as alias
on error errorMessage -- no folder
log errorMessage
tell application "Finder" to make new folder at theParent with properties {name:theChild}
return the result as alias
end try
end makeNewFolder
Hope this helps.
It's a pity you get downvoted as I, personally, enjoy answering these sorts of questions, as it helps me practise and improve my own skills.
Thanks for posting your solution. I think it's a great gesture and others will find it useful.
This script is a bit shorter than and uses "System Events" instead of "Finder", so will be quicker for large numbers of files:
set IllustratorOutputFolder to "/Users/CK/Desktop/example"
tell application "System Events" to ¬
set ai_files to every file in folder IllustratorOutputFolder ¬
whose name extension is "ai"
set Output to {}
repeat with ai_file in ai_files
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "."
get name of ai_file
get text items of result
set basename to reverse of rest of reverse of result as text
tell application "System Events"
get (every file in folder IllustratorOutputFolder ¬
whose name begins with basename)
move result to (make new folder ¬
in folder IllustratorOutputFolder ¬
with properties {name:basename})
end tell
set end of Output to result
end repeat
return Output -- list of lists of moved files
Just an alternative way of doing things. Not that it's better or worse, but just a different solution.
You could also save this as script.sh (in TextEdit in plain text mode) and run it with bash script.sh in Terminal:
cd ~/Target\ Folder/
for f in *.ai *.pdf *.jpg; do
dir=${f%.*}
dir=${dir% LOW}
mkdir -p "$dir"
mv "$f" "$dir"
done
I'd like to create an automator action to help manage DNG/XMP files. I'd like to be able to drag a DNG (or several) onto the action which will send the DNG and the matching XMP file to the trash. The files have the same name except for the extension, they are in the same directory. For example, IMGP1361.DNG and IMGP1361.xmp
This would be a simple task for a shell script, but is there an Automator way to do it (to learn more about Automator)? Is there a way to get at the file name of the input finder item, change it in a variable and use that as input to another action?
Thanks.
This script for Automator will delete all of the files that share the same prefix and whose name extension is listed in the grep command. You may add additional extensions as well. (xmp|DNG|pdf|xls)
on run {input, parameters}
try
repeat with anItem in input
tell (info for anItem) to set {theName, theExt} to {name, name extension}
set shortName to text 1 thru ((get offset of "." & theExt in theName) - 1) of theName
tell application "Finder"
set parentFolder to parent of anItem as alias
set matchList to every paragraph of (do shell script "ls " & POSIX path of parentFolder & " | grep -E '" & shortName & ".(xmp|DNG)'")
delete (every file of parentFolder whose name is in matchList)
end tell
end repeat
end try
end run
OK, got it. You can use the AppleScript given below inside an Automator workflow like this:
For every selected file in the Finder, if its extension is in ext_list, it will be moved to the Trash, and so will all other files of the same name in the same folder whose extension is one of those in also_these_extensions.
It can be useful, e.g. also for cleaning a folder with auxiliary LaTeX files: just put "tex" into ext_list and all the other extensions (such as "aux", "dvi", "log") into also_these_extensions.
The selected files don't need to be inside the same folder; you can also select several items in a Spotlight search results window.
on run {input, parameters}
-- for every item having one of these extensions:
set ext_list to {"dng"}
-- also process items with same name but these extensions:
set other_ext_list to {"xmp"}
tell application "Finder"
set the_delete_list to {}
set delete_list to a reference to the_delete_list
-- populate list of items to delete
repeat with the_item in input
set the_item to (the_item as alias)
if name extension of the_item is in ext_list then
copy the_item to the end of delete_list
set parent_folder to (container of the_item) as alias as text
set item_name to text 1 thru ((length of (the_item's name as text)) - (length of (the_item's name extension as text))) of (the_item's name as text)
repeat with ext in other_ext_list
try
copy ((parent_folder & item_name & ext) as alias) to the end of delete_list
end try
end repeat
end if
end repeat
-- delete the items, show info dialog
move the_delete_list to the trash
display dialog "Moved " & (length of the_delete_list) & " files to the Trash." buttons {"OK"}
end tell
end run