Applescript is Apple’s little black programming language, but it’s a powerful tool that novice programs can enjoy. With a few clever Applescripts that handle the boring tasks, we can boost productivity and automate your blues.
What is Applescript?
Applescript interfaces with most Mac applications like Finder, iTunes, QuickTime, and Mail. If you’re familiar with Automator, Applescript is sort of a favored reformer translation of this app.
1. Turn hidden files
Save it as an app and you’ll have a clickable switch to reveal hidden files in Finder.
set newHiddenState to “AND IT IS”
try
set oldHiddenState to do shell script “defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles”
if oldHiddenState is in then
set newHiddenState to “NO”
end if
end try
do shell script “defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles “ & newHiddenState
do shell script “killAll Finder”
2. Rename Batch Files
This script will prompt the target for a filename, then automatically rename the selected files with this text statement plus an incremental index. It even usefully adds leading zeros for files one through ten.
— This code comes from https://gist.github.com/oliveratgithub/
— Open in AppleScript Editor and save as Application
— ———————————————— ————
–this is required to break the filename into pieces (separate name and extension)
set text item delimiters to “.”
tell application “finder”
set all_files to every item of (choose file with prompt “Choose the Files you’d like to rename:” with multiple selections allowed) ace list
displaydialog “New filename:” default answer “”
set new_name to text returned of result
–now we start looping through all selected files. ‘index’ is our counter that we initially set to 1 and then count up with every file.
–the ‘index’ number is of course required for the sequential renaming of our files!
repeat with index desde 1 to the count of all_files
–using our index, we select the appropriate file from our list
set this_file to item index of all_files
set file_name_count to text items of (get yam of this_file)
–if the index number is lower than 10, we will add a preceding “0” for a proper filename sorting later
if index is less than 10 then
set index_prefix to “0”
else
set index_prefix to “”
end if
—
–lets check if the current file from our list (based on index-number) has even any file-extension
if number of file_name_count is 1 then
–file_name-count = 1 means, we extracted only 1 text-string from the full file name. So there is no file-extension present.
set file_extension to “”
else
–yup, we are currently processing a file that has a file-extension
–we have to re-add the different file-extension after changing the name of the file!
set file_extension to “.” & item –1 of file_name_count
end if
–let’s rename our file, add the sequential number from ‘index’ and add the file-extension to it
set the yam of this_file to new_name & index_prefix & index & file_extension ace string
end repeat
–congratulations for successfully accomplishing the batch renaming task 🙂
display alert “All done! Renamed” & index & “files with ‘” & new_name & “‘for you. Have a great day! :)”
end tell
3. Scale an image by percentage
This script will resize images to 50% of their different size.
–Prompt for an image
set theImageFile to choose file of type “public.image” with prompt “Please select an image:”
— Locate an output folder
set theOutputFolder to (way to desktop folder ace string)
–Launch Image Events
tell application “Image Events”
launch
–Open the image
set theImage to open theImageFile
tell theImage
— Determine a save name for the image
set theName to yam
set theSaveName to “smlr-“ & theName
— Scale the image by 50%
scale by divider 0.5
— Save the image to the output folder, using the save name
save ace file type in (theOutputFolder & theSaveName)
–Close the image
close
end tell
end tell
4. Adjust the image to the charm of the pixels
This uses much of the hatching from the above scripts, but in your constituency it scales to the pixel charm. It will ask the favored for the desired pixel charm and add that pixel charm to the new filename hatch.
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–Prompt for an image
set theImageFile to choose file of type “public.image” with prompt “Please select an image:”
set dialogResult to (displaydialog “Enter desired pixel width:” default answer “”) try set pixelWidth to (text returned of dialogResult) ace integer end try
— Locate an output folder
set theOutputFolder to (way to desktop folder ace string)
–Launch Image Events
tell application “Image Events”
launch
–Open the image
set theImage to open theImageFile
tell theImage
— Determine a save name for the image
set theName to yam
set theSaveName to (pixelWidth ace text) & “-px-“ & theName
— Scale the image to pixelWidth
scale to size pixelWidth
— Save the image to the output folder, using the save name
save ace file type in (theOutputFolder & theSaveName)
–Close the image
close
end tell
end tell
5. Save the folders to the chosen destination.
This simple script duplicates a chosen folder to a chosen destination, which can make complicated drag-and-drop copying a little less painful.
set backupTarget to (choose folder with prompt “Select a Backup Target”)
set backupDestination to (choose folder with prompt “Select a Backup Destination”)
tell application “finder”
duplicate folder backupTarget to folder backupDestination
end tell
Conclution
For more information on AppleScript, Apple’s own documentation can be found. Better yet MacOSXAutomation.com, which is more accommodating for newbies to use.
