How do you download all files using Fetch and applescript? - applescript

Question

I have the following script (modified to remove any private information).
-- This line is for testing.
set the clipboard to "1234567890"
set loginName to "username"
-- Password is stored in KeyChain (you need to do manually).
-- Create Remote path
set folderNumber to the clipboard as string
set subdir1 to character 1 of folderNumber
set subdir2 to character 2 of folderNumber
set remotePath to "/files/" & subdir1 & "/" & subdir2 & "/" & folderNumber
-- Create Local path
set homeFolder to (path to home folder) as string
set localPath to homeFolder & "LOCALSTORAGE" as string
set localStorage to localPath & ":" & folderNumber & ":" as string
-- Create Local file
tell application "Finder"
try
make new folder at localPath with properties {name:folderNumber}
on error e number n
-- Do nothing.
end try
end tell
-- Connect to FTP
tell application "Fetch"
activate
set tWindow to make new transfer window at beginning with properties {hostname:"ftpServerAddress", username:loginName, initial folder:remotePath}
tell window tWindow
download every remote item to beginning of alias localStorage
close window
end tell
quit
end tell
-- Open folder
tell application "Finder"
open localStorage
end tell
When I run the script the following line fails.
download every remote item to beginning of alias localStorage
The error I get is as follows:
error "Fetch got an error: Can’t get every remote item of window (transfer window id 232280960)." number -1728 from every remote item of window (transfer window id 232280960)
Does anyone know what the error means or how to fix it? I've tried the Fetch website without much luck. "Fetch" btw is the Fetch FTP client.

Answer 1

First you should check that the remotePath that you're generating really exists (e.g. by adding a log statement such as log tWindow's remote items and looking up in the Script Editor's event log whether it was able to get those).
If the path is correct, I think the problem is that you're using the download command with a reference to a list object (every remote item...). In the documentation, the command expects a specifier of a single item:
download specifier : the remote file, remote folder, shortcut, or url to download
That's why you need to loop through the items. The snippet below works perfectly for me:
-- my settings for testing
set theHost to "ftp.fetchsoftworks.com"
set loginName to "anonymous"
set remotePath to "/example/"
set localStorage to ((path to home folder) as text) & "LOCALSTORAGE:1234567890:"
-- Connect to FTP
tell application "Fetch"
activate
set tWindow to make new transfer window at beginning with properties {hostname:theHost, username:loginName, initial folder:remotePath}
set localStorage to (localStorage as alias)
repeat with theItem in tWindow's remote items
try
download theItem to localStorage
end try
end repeat
close tWindow
quit
end tell

Answer 2

There's no problem passing a list to download. But there are two problems with the original code:
tell window tWindow
download every remote item to beginning of alias localStorage
close window
end tell
The tell block directs the enclosed commands to a generic window object, rather than a transfer window, and the generic window object does not contain remote items.
The download command's to parameter should be an alias, not an insertion location (e.g. beginning of ...).
This should work:
tell tWindow
download every remote item to alias localStorage
close
end tell