Create a Skype Video Call button on the desktop in Snow Leopard

Question

Hi There,
I'm having trouble working out how to create a script that will allow my 70+ year old mother in law make a video call in Skype from a button on the desktop.
I found a discussion from 2007 on the forums but the steps don't seem to apply to the Snow Leopard version of Automator.
Any suggestions would be most welcome.
Cheers

Answer 1

OK, have done some digging around and have come up with an Automator workflow that will not only start a video chat, but will speak to my mother in law so that during pauses (like when Skype starts up) she knows what's going on.
There is practically no info online about how to do this so these instructions are for my reference just incase I forget - but others may find it useful.
It looks like a lot of work but in reality it only took me 5mins to put together (I promise) and just makes it easier for people who have limited computer experience to call you.
This works in both Leopard and Snow Leopard and may work in older versions too.
1. Open Automator
Open Automator at: /Applications/Automator
The Automator starting point window will appear
If you're using Leopard, choose "Custom" and and click the "Choose" button in the bottom right
If you're using Snow Leopard, choose "Workflow" and click the "Choose" button in the bottom right
Now you will have a blank workflow document open
2. Create the Automator workflow
In the Workflow document window, ensure the "Library" icon in the first list on the far left is selected so all variables are available
Just above the lists you'll see a little search box, type "hide" into it
The list will now show the "Hide All Applications" variable
Click and drag the variable from the list and drop it into the main workflow section on the right
Type "launch" into the search box and drag the "Launch Application" variable onto the workflow so it is under "Hide All Applications"
Select "Skype" from the application drop-down menu
Type "get text" into the search box and drag "Get Specified Text" into the workflow so it's under "Launch Application"
Type "Now starting Skype, please wait a few moments." into the text box
Type "speak" in the search box and drag "Speak Text" into the workflow under "Get Specified Text"
Leave the voice on the default text of "Alex" - he's the easiest to understand bar far
Type "pause" into the search box and drag "Pause" into the workflow under "Speak Text"
Set it for 5 seconds. This will allow Skype time to sign-in. Depending on your connection speed, you may need to make it longer
Shift click on the previous "Get Specified Text" & "Speak Text" variables in the workflow area
Both should now have blue borders around them
Hold down the option key and drag both items to duplicate them and drop them under the "Pause" variable
Now you should have a copy of the "Get Specified Text" & "Speak Text" variables under the "Pause" variable
If not, just manually add both items again by searching and dragging the variables into the workflow pane one by one as per above
Replace the text in the new "Get Specified Text" box to: "Now checking to see if <name> is online"
Where <name> is the person you would like to contact and removing the - I just used the first name
Option drag the previous "Pause" variable above and drag it so it's under the last "Speak Text" variable
Leave it at 5 seconds. Again, you may need to allow more time depending on your connection speed
Type "run applescript" into the search box and drag "Run Applescript" so it's under the last "Pause" variable
Now you should have an AppleScript window that will show some placeholder AppleScript
3. Inserting the AppleScript
Select and delete the placeholder AppleScript
Copy the following script and paste it into the AppleScript box
SkypeCall("<skypeUserName>")
on SkypeCall(login)
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " "
tell application "Skype"
set foo to send command "GET USER " & login & " ONLINESTATUS" script name "MyScript"
set UserStatus to my GetPart(foo, 4, " ")
if UserStatus is "ONLINE" then
say "<skypeUserName> is online, calling her now."
send command "CALL " & login script name "MyScript"
else
say "<skypeUserName> is not online at the moment. Maybe try again later."
end if
end tell
end SkypeCall
on GetPart(s, p, d)
set theList to every text item of s
return (item p of theList)
end GetPart
4. Insert the Skype username of the person you would like to call into the script
In the AppleScript box, locate ("<skypeUserName>") on the first line
Change <skypeUserName> to the username of the person you would like to call removing the
e.g. if the Skype username is johnbrown2, the first line of the script should look like:
SkypeCall("johnbrown2")
Do this in the two other places further down the script - remember to remove the when doing so
These other two ares in the script tell the caller if the person is online or not
5. Making the workflow a button on the desktop
In Automator, choose >File >Save As
Give your workflow a name like "Call John"
Select "Application" from the "File Format" drop-down list
Save it to your desktop
NOTE: If you need to edit the workflow, you'll have to open it from Automater using >File >Open as double clicking it from the desktop will now run the workflow and call the person.
6. Turning on Speech
Because the older generation expect this to work like a telephone (and work instantly), I turned on Speech so the script tells them what is going on during the pauses in the script.
Go to "System Preferences" from the Apple menu top left
Click the "Speech" icon
Click the "Speech Recognition" tab/button at the top if it isn't already selected
Click the "On" radio button
If this is the first time using Speech, you'll get a window asking you to enable access for assistive devices
There should be a button to take you to the appropriate preference pane
If not, just go to the "Universal Access" pane in System Preferences
Once there (either way) check the "Enable access for assistive devices" box bottom left
Back in the "Speech" preference pane", under the On/Off radio buttons, click the "Commands" tab/button
Turn off all the check boxes except "Application Specific Items"
Close System Preferences
NOTE: Obviously if you use text to speech normally, leave these last settings alone and just ensure "Application Specific Items" is on (It's on by default normally).
7. Hiding the Speech Microphone icon
If you've done everything correctly, you will now have a big round microphone icon showing that can't be hidden
I dragged mine to the bottom left corner and then further so all you can see is a little bit of the top right corner
If anyone has a better way of disabling or hiding this big icon, sing out!
8. Running the workflow and making a call
Now double click your icon and the workflow will run. The script will check to see if the Skype user is online, if they're not, the script will tell them and stop running.
If they are online, the worflow will start a video chat as long as you have "Start my video automatically" selected in your Skype preferences under "Video"
Special thanks to SIMO HUOPIO ESPOO in Finland for the script I found on his blog here: http://huopio.fi/simo/blog/2009/03/learnin...ling-skype.html
If you don't want the workflow to talk, don't turn on Speech in steps 6 & 7...