OK, this feels like an idiot question, but I'm stuck - I don't know the first thing about AppleScript. I have a .scpt file and I want to double-click it and just have it run, but instead every time I click, it opens up the AppleScript Editor. This feels like it should just be an option on the file, but I'm missing something obvious.
Please help me feel less dumb, thank you.
From the “File” menu, choose “Export”; there’ll be a “File Format” dropdown underneath the file browser. To get a double-clickable application instead of a document, choose “Application”. This will produce a .app bundle like ordinary Mac applications (this will also let you package other resources with your script if you need to). You can choose “Run Only” or not; if you do, then anybody with just the .app won’t be able to edit your script further, since it’ll be compiled. (But if you’re saving a copy as the application, that might be what you want.)
Another option, as per an anonymous user on Ask Different, would be to save/export your file as a “Script” (.scpt) or “Script Bundle” (.scptd), save it in ~/Library/Scripts/, and check “Show Script menu in menu bar” in Script Editor’s preferences.
(If you’re running an old version of OS X, the first version of this answer has the information you’re looking for.)
There's more than one way to do it; i have found this to be the simplest:
In sum, you create an Automator application and place your applescript inside it (easier than it sounds, and it's not a hack either--there's actually a specific Automator action for this). Then when you are finished, you select "File" from the menubar, next "Save As Application", then select a location. Now check there and you'll see the newly-created Automator icon (little white robot holding a grenade launcher).
You can do anything that you would ordinarily do with this application icon--double click to open, drag it to your dock, etc.
Appstorm has created an excellent step-by-step tutorial for building an applescript-embedded automator action. On the page i linked to, the tutorial author has also supplied an Automator script that you can download and use as a template.
While it's certainly not the simplest route, one benefit to running your script from Automator, as doug suggested, is that you can set a hotkey or keyboard shortcut to execute your script if you hide it in an Automator Service (OSX 10.6+). See:
http://blog.fosketts.net/2010/08/09/assign-keyboard-shortcut-applescript-automator-service/
When you save a new script, a menu should appear asking what you want the file name to be, where it will be stored, any tags for it, and what script format you want it to be. There should be 4 scripts formats:
Script
Script Bundle
Application
Text
The script format you want to use would be "Application." This will turn it into a double-click application if its not in the dock.
Related
Hello all,
Can anyone tell me how to clear the 'Recent items' list in Preview application of Mac OS X through code? Is there a terminal command that can do this?
Or is there any way to click on 'Clear Menu' in 'Open Recent' of the 'File' menu in Preview?
Alternatively, does someone know where Preview stores this information and how do to remove it?
Check out this image to see what I mean.
Ok, so none of the described methods on the websites I could find actually succeeded in getting rid of all the 'recent document' lists in all of my apps.
I feel the most common sense approach would be (for OSX 10.12 / Sierra):
First go to system settings > general and choose "none" in the recent file dropdown menu (my OSX is in another language so the exact terms might be different, but you should be able to see what I mean). / This will get rid of most, but not all recent-items in different apps.
Get familiar with Apple's 'defaults' command in terminal. Now, hunt for any lists you might still want to get rid off, e.g. none of the options mentioned in the answers already listed here helped to get rid of the recent-items list in Finders "GO" menu. I played around with the defaults command and found that: "write com.apple.finder "FXRecentFolders" '({})' && killall Finder" does the trick for me. Playing around I found similar solutions for many of the other apps that where still able to maintain a list of recent items.
Create a shell script containing the commands you found during step 2.
Schedule the script to be run automatically on a preset interval or action (e.g. log out). AND/OR create an alias in your shell's profile (or directly apply the script as a function inside it) so you can call it with a single command from your terminal. (for instance: I have created an alias to it, so when I now type "killrecent" in terminal, it empties all the recent-items lists I've been able to find.
Hope this will be of some help to others. Good luck!
open Preview ->- go to File ->- Open Recent ->- Clear Menu
You may try the approach outlined here, which is to run
defaults delete com.apple.Preview.LSSharedFileList RecentDocuments
in the Terminal (manually or through your app). However I tried this and it didn't work for me (OSX 10.11), since the Preview defaults file doesn't contain this entry.
You can use
defaults write com.apple.Preview NSRecentDocumentsLimit 0
which will hide all recently used items, but as soon as you set that number to anything greater than 0, they will show up again.
I also checked the ScriptingBridge Interface for Preview, but couldn't find anything useful. So unfortunately it looks like this is not possible.
with 10.11, there are at
~/Library/Application\ Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/com.apple.LSSharedFileList.ApplicationRecentDocuments/com.apple.preview.sfl
Is there any way in Spotlight to have a folder open in a Terminal window, either by providing an "Open in Terminal" option in search results, or (ideally) by holding down a key when selecting a result? Basically the same way holding down command will "Open containing folder" maybe make it so holding option (or whatever key) could "Open in Terminal".
Alternately, is there a way to setup the Alfred app so that it will always open folder search results in the Terminal? that might be even better, then I could use ctrl-space exclusively for opening folders in the Terminal and command-space (Spotlight) for everything else.
The closest thing I can find to anything like these is the "cdto" application, which adds an "Open in Terminal" button to the Finder. This is nice, but being able to do this directly from Spotlight or with a keypress would be much more convenient.
This question is old and you undoubtedly found the answer by now; for the sake of completeness: the latest version of Alfred allows one to search/navigate the filesystem from within Alfred, and take action on the folder or file found. One folder action is "Open Terminal Here", which seems to be what you are asking for.
I've found this to be the fastest method without any external tinkering.
Requirement: need to have iTerm or Terminal in the Dock:
Type the folder name into Alfred / Spotlight
Click and drag the folder that was found into the iTerm / Terminal icon in the Dock
Try this tool:
https://github.com/nmadhok/OpenInTerminal
This is a really handy tool for programmers on Mac as it lets you open the folder directly in Terminal. You can select multiple folders to open them in multiple terminal windows. You can also select files to open the parent directory in Terminal. This application works with Finder as well as without Finder which is a plus!
use this Alfred extension
https://github.com/LeEnno/alfred-terminalfinder
then just lob off the input and set it to a hotkey.. I have one to open the current finder in terminal and vice-versa
#Verboze - I'm still looking for an answer :)
Perhaps it should be migrated to stack exchange or the other one used non-programming topics, such as system administrivia. Though a case could be made that the command line is essential to programming.....
Windows has "Command Prompt Here". Linux has Nautilus' "Open In Terminal". The world's most advanced operating system has nothing (the best I can tell).
For completeness, I did look at the customizable toolbar ('drag your favorites here'; but my favorite is missing). I also found an old Action Script or Automator Script that did not work (the article was old, and it could not be followed).
I did find a program called "CD To...", but its broken. Upon opening the first terminal, the program opens two terminals. I'm not sure what other programming mistakes were made by the developer, and I really don't want to experiment.
Check this: https://github.com/miromannino/alfred-new-terminal-window
It opens a new Terminal/iTerm window in the current space.
Holding the alt key, the new window is also opened opened in the current frontmost Finder folder.
For me that is almost sufficient for my daily work!
Hope it helps!
How can I create a droplet that takes a text selection as input? When I create a script that starts with on run inputText, the resulting application icon will only darken when files are dragged over it.
You can achieve a similar result by using Automator to make a service. Services can be fed selected text, (or urls or files etc) and not just from Finder, but from the right-click contextual menu or the Services menu. You can run applescript inside the Automator script, so basically Automator makes a wrapper for your appleScript. The downside is that it tends to be even slower than applescript.
Dropplets in AppleScript only support files. You can follow #stib's suggestion of using a service with Automator or using the Scripts menu (launch AppleScript Editor and choose AppleScript Editor>Preferences from the menu bar, General in the preferences window and check "Show Script menu in menu bar"). You can then place the script in the /Library/Scripts/ or ~/Library/Scripts folder to have the script appear in the menu. Alternatively, check out FastScripts to include the ability to assign keyboard shortcuts to the scripts and enhanced menu organization.
In applescript, you can create a simple droplet like this:
on open theThing
set fileToRead to open for access theThing --open the file so we can perform operations on it
set myVar to (read fileToRead) --The myVar variable is set to the contents of the dropped file
display dialog myVar --Shows the contents of the file in a dialog; do what you want with the text here
//other code here
close access fileToRead
end open
So, it's not too hard, just make sure you open for access the file first. I hope this helped!
Helpful Links:
http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=24772: About Droplets
http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=24745: About File IO
As far as I could tell, this could only be achieved by wrapping the Applescript in a Cocoa application. I don't know Objective-C, but was able to cobble something together. When I get a chance I'll try to clean up a bit and post an explanation.
I have opened the AppleScript Editor and pressed Record button.
Then I run TextEdit, create a file and put some text there.
When I click the Stop button in AppleScript Editor, nothing was recorded, the window is blank.
What is the problem?
You can use the Record feature of the Automator to record the UI interaction steps needed to do the relevant workflow. Then you can then literally select and copy the recorded steps in automator and paste them into a new Applescript Editor window. This will give you applescript which may or may not work. You'll probably want/need to edit the resulting script, but at least it should help give an idea what is needed to achieve your workflow programatically. This method is usable regardless of whether or not the target application has an applescript dictionary or supports the AppleScript Editor Record button, as it is the interaction with the underlying UI elements which is recorded.
Steps:
Open Automator
Start a new "Workflow"
Start recording
Perform whatever steps you require with your app (in this case typing into textedit)
Stop recording
This will create a list of actions in Automator like:
Select all these and copy (CMD+c)
Open the Applescript Editor app
Paste (CMD+v). The result will be valid applescript to perform the actions you just recorded:
Note that as is generally the case with UI automation, the automator records steps exactly and the script plays them back exactly. This my not be exactly what you want - e.g. if a different application were active, the text could get typed in there instead. The generated applescript should be used as a guide to the final applescript.
The problem is that applications need to explicitly support AppleScript recording in order for it to work, but almost no applications actually do. Finder still supports it a bit, and maybe a couple other apps (BBEdit comes to mind), but for the most part, AppleScript recording has been pretty useless for quite some time.
Not all apps are recordable (in fact, only a small handful are). Recordablity is something each app needs to implement, and I guess TextEdit isn't recordable.
When debugging in Xcode, how do I simulate a user starting my Cocoa droplet application by dropping one or more files onto it's application icon?
The app just opens, processes the files while displaying it's progress and then closes again.
Passing arguments (via the "Arguments" tab of the entry under "Executables") should allow this, but I could not find out how.
What I really want is to hit "Build and Go" and then have the droplet open with whatever files I need.
A last resort would be to use AppleScript or the "open" command on the command line to achieve this. I want to streamline this as much as possible.
Thanks for any pointers!
Add each absolute path to a file you want to open with the application as an argument. You may need to wrap each one in quotation marks (which shouldn't be necessary, and is a bug if it is, but I do remember needing to do).
You should be able to use variable references like $SRCROOT in order to refer to files within the project root directory.