Use automator to set to HiDPI

I have an iPad 3rd gen and a MacBook Air 13" (mid 2013). I am using the software "Air Display" to connect the iPad as a second screen. So far so good. The thing is, since it's a retina display, it goes by default into that resolution, whereas I would like to have a HiDPI resolution, given that a 9" screen is not comfortabe otherwise.
So I just go to System preferences and change the resolution. And it's done.
The thing is, I connect and disconnect the iPad loads of times, and every time I have to repeat the procedure. I contacted Air Display support to ask if they could help me set HiDPI as default and they replied with this:
Thanks for contacting us with your questions about Air Display and glad to hear that you are enjoying Air Display.
Currently we are unable to get the HiDPI resolution to be remembered by OS X as it's hidden by default. This means that if you wish to use this mode you'll have to switch to this resolution manually each time. We are still trying to determine if we can find a workaround to fix this but are hoping we can resolve the problem. We apologize for the inconvenience in the meantime.
If you have any other questions please feel free to ask. I'd be happy to answer them for you.
Cheers,
Aaron
Technical Support
Avatron Software, Inc.
That being said, is there a way to do this with Automator? Or with an applescript that I leave on my desktop and double click every time I connect the display. I'm not that familiar with Apple systems, but it seems like a reasonable task to be able to automate or "semi-automate".

Anyone?

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Can I use Automator to set up a link in TextEdit as some kind of hotkey?

I am a fan-o-textedit, but I wish I could get to some of the options in the menus a little easier. Going to to Text, and than to Link--there appears to be no hot key for this operation. Does anyone know how I can go about setting up my own hot keys for TextEdit? Can Automator help me to accomplish this? I am new to Automator.
Thanks!

You don't need Automator for this. First, go to System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts. Then, add a new shortcut (by pressing the "+"), and select TextEdit as the application. Enter "Link…" as the Menu Title (without the quotes) - the ending of that command is an ellipse, not 3 periods (you can insert that character from the Special Characters dialog). Key in the Keyboard Shortcut that you want to use (command-L, or whatever), and there you go.

Use Automator to Change a System Setting

Hi there,
I was just wondering if there was anyway to use Automator to be able to click one button and be able to turn off/on the F1, F2, F3 etc... functions, so I am able to use F1, F2, F3 etc... when I need it ( mostly using Pro Tools ) and when i'm finished use the Brightness, Volume etc.....
Thanks Craven

Here is an AppleScript that will do this:
tell application "System Preferences" to activate
tell application "System Preferences"
          reveal anchor "input" of pane id "com.apple.preference.sound"
end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
          tell table 1 of scroll area 1 of tab group 1 of window 1
                    select (row 1 where value of text field 1 is "Internal microphone")
          end tell
end tell
quit application "System Preferences"
You can put this into an AppleScript in AppleScript Editor (it's in Utilities), or run it in Automator.
The simplest way would be to save it as an AppleScript application and use that as a login item.
I wrote it up as a standalone AppleScript application called "InputMic" and saved it to my dropbox. You can download it here if you like: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/assrkjdvns0lj9m/RjP7Mc2HcM
You can put it in your Applications folder and set it as a Login Item in system preferences > Users & Groups.
Or drag it to the dock and then run it manually, or both. It will ask for your permission to run as an accessability item in Security & Privacy settings; just click the lock in the left corner, check the box next to InputMic, and then close the lock.

Setting PDF color background using Automator

Has anyone figured out how to add background color to PDF files using Automator? I need an easy, reliable way to establish a specific color background for an evolving series of PDF files (text and images) that are eventually to go online.
alan

So close.
Thanks All
https://decibel.ni.com/content/blogs/DailyCLAD

Using automator to render and save hundred's of LT files

hello. I have a few hundred LiveType projects that I need to render to QT movie--need to make them eneditable but still usable in FCP--So, does anyone know if I can do this with Automator, i.e. point it at a folder and let it open, render, save to different folder and close (rinse/repeat)?
Or is there an applescript that can do this?
thanks in advance.

Well, I was able to use automator, somewhat... where the hiccup occurs is when the file needs to be saved. If the render time takes more than a minute or so, then automator chokes. Fortunately, most of my files took less time to render, so the majority could be automated. When a hiccup occurred, the mac let out an alert sign and I manually rendered that file(s) and set automator up again until the next hiccup.
there is a "timeout" selection in Automator for each step, but try as I may to get the save step to delay 3 minutes, it wouldn't work. I tried everything.

How can I use automator to import a .csv file into a an excel file

I would still like all the import settings that I get if I am using excel to do the process, i.e. going in with the text format instead of the general format. That way my dates don't change

You'll need to use Applescript in Automator.
Note: File extension cannot be CSV (Excel will assume that the file is comma separated), so add an action to copy or rename with extension TXT.
(You can rename back at end of Workflow is needed)
The Applescript Action is:
on run {input, parameters}
     repeat with f in input
          tell application "Microsoft Excel"
               open text file filename (f as string) data type delimited field info {{1, text format}} other char "|" with use other
          end tell
      end repeat
      eturn input
end run
NOTE: This is formating the 1st col to text
If you need to format the second, then you need to:
open text file filename (f as string) data type delimited field info {{1, general format}, {2, text format}} other char "|" with use other
(You'll need to list the 1st col, 2nd col, etc until you get to the col to format as text). Formats are (from the Applescript Excel Library):
[field info list] : A list contain parse information for the individual columns of data.
Formats are general format, text format, MDY format, DMY format, YMD format, MYD format, DYM format, YDM format, skip column.
Or you can skip using Automator and just use an Applescript App (this is a droplet, just drop the files on the icon, or click to choose files):
on run
     set fs to choose file with prompt "Select one or more files to open:" default location alias (the path to desktop folder as text) with multiple selections allowed
     proceed(fs)
end run
on open fs
     proceed(fs)
end open
on proceed(fs)
     repeat with f in fs
          tell application "Microsoft Excel"
               open text file filename (f as string) data type delimited field info {{1, text format}} other char "|" with use other
           end tell
      end repeat
end proceed

How can I use Automator to extract specific Data from a text file?

I have several hundred text files that contain a bunch of information. I only need six values from each file and ideally I need them as columns in an excel file.
How can I use Automator to extract specific Data from the text files and either create a new text file or excel file with the info? I have looked all over but can't find a solution. If anyone could please help I would be eternally grateful!!! If there is another, better solution than automator, please let me know!
Example of File Contents:
Link Time =
DD/MMM/YYYY
Random
Text
161 179
bytes of CODE    memory (+                68 range fill )
16 789
bytes of DATA    memory (+    59 absolute )
1 875
bytes of XDATA   memory (+ 1 855 absolute )
90 783
bytes of FARCODE memory
What I would like to have as a final file:
EXCEL COLUMN1
Column 2
Column3
Column4
Column5
Column6
MM/DD/YYYY
filename1
161179
16789
1875
90783
MM/DD/YYYY
filename2
xxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxx
xxxxx
MM/DD/YYYY
filename3
xxxxxx
xxxxx
xxxx
xxxxx
Is this possible? I can't imagine having to go through each and every file one by one. Please help!!!

Hello
You may try the following AppleScript script. It will ask you to choose a root folder where to start searching for *.map files and then create a CSV file named "out.csv" on desktop which you may import to Excel.
set f to (choose folder with prompt "Choose the root folder to start searching")'s POSIX path
if f ends with "/" then set f to f's text 1 thru -2
do shell script "/usr/bin/perl -CSDA -w <<'EOF' - " & f's quoted form & " > ~/Desktop/out.csv
use strict;
use open IN => ':crlf';
chdir $ARGV[0] or die qq($!);
local $/ = qq(\\0);
my @ff = map {chomp; $_} qx(find . -type f -iname '*.map' -print0);
local $/ = qq(\\n);
#     CSV spec
#     - record separator is CRLF
#     - field separator is comma
#     - every field is quoted
#     - text encoding is UTF-8
local $\\ = qq(\\015\\012);    # CRLF
local $, = qq(,);            # COMMA
# print column header row
my @dd = ('column 1', 'column 2', 'column 3', 'column 4', 'column 5', 'column 6');
print map { s/\"/\"\"/og; qq(\").$_.qq(\"); } @dd;
# print data row per each file
while (@ff) {
    my $f = shift @ff;    # file path
    if ( ! open(IN, '<', $f) ) {
        warn qq(Failed to open $f: $!);
        next;
    $f =~ s%^.*/%%og;    # file name
    @dd = ('', $f, '', '', '', '');
    while (<IN>) {
        chomp;
        $dd[0] = \"$2/$1/$3\" if m%Link Time\\s+=\\s+([0-9]{2})/([0-9]{2})/([0-9]{4})%o;
        ($dd[2] = $1) =~ s/ //g if m/([0-9 ]+)\\s+bytes of CODE\\s/o;
        ($dd[3] = $1) =~ s/ //g if m/([0-9 ]+)\\s+bytes of DATA\\s/o;
        ($dd[4] = $1) =~ s/ //g if m/([0-9 ]+)\\s+bytes of XDATA\\s/o;
        ($dd[5] = $1) =~ s/ //g if m/([0-9 ]+)\\s+bytes of FARCODE\\s/o;
        last unless grep { /^$/ } @dd;
    close IN;
    print map { s/\"/\"\"/og; qq(\").$_.qq(\"); } @dd;
EOF
Hope this may help,
H

Using Automator to change Kensington Trackball Settings

Hi All,
I have several shared company computers, all have the Expert Kensington Trackball Mouse. The computer in question is an Intel Mac Pro running Leopard. I have 2 sets of users that need to use the rig and both sets of users prefer different settings to the Kensington Mouse (I only need 2 separate profiles, not 4). Kensington does not provide software to quickly switch user profiles. The simplest solution is to create different users for the computer, but that is not an option here. We've been trying to use Automator to script the changes quickly between mouse profiles, but while using the 'Watch Me Do' (none of us are particularly experienced with Automator) feature, we are able to set the bottom two mouse buttons, but the top 2 buttons result in the error message "This operation cannot be performed". The Kensington settings are in System Preferences, and have several drop-down menus and text boxes. There must be a better way to do this. Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

I have a similar problem with the ultra sensitive trackpad with the "Clicking, Dragging, Drag lock" checked in Preferences/Keyboard & Mouse. I'm always turning them on and off depending on which application I am using.
My problem is that when I record a series of actions in Automator, the resulting action list has no text behind the action for the mouse click for the Clicking checkbox. Its as though it doesn't even know that its there. All of the other actions show up.
Got any ideas on how to fill that void or another workflow that would do the same thing ? I think that running the workflow again would turn it back on as the actions are identical.

Using Automator to create a text box of certain size

I'm very new to using automator... in fact I haven't used it at all, but I am wondering if I can use it to create a text box of the same size each type to type in within preview (a PDF document). Basically I want to click or push something and have a text box be generated that is the same size each time.
Thanks!

1. In the Finder actions you will need:
- Get Specified Finder Items, and point it towards the folder that will contain the movie.
- Get Folder Contents - to get what's inside the folder.
- Filter Finder Items - set to filter by 'Name Extension' 'Is equal to' 'mov' and make sure all your video files have the right extension...
- Open Finder Items - in QT Player - note that this might cause problems if there are multiple files in the folder...
Then from the QT Player actions:
- Play Movies.
2. Save As... Application, then after saving, drag the app into the login items for the user account.
3. That's going to need some AppleScript, but this thread should get you started:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=455825&tstart=0
Ian

Using Automator to create a "video server"

I'm looking to turn an Xserve into a video server for a digital signage situation. I know I can use Automator to open a video file in Quicktime and automatically play it full screen, however, is it possible to do the following with automator (or in some other easy fashion):
1. Have it go into a designated folder and open up the video file in that folder no matter what the files name is. (So I can update the video content monthly and just copy the new file into the folder and not have to change anything in the Automator script. I could always give the file the exact same name every month, but it would be nice if I didn't have to.).
2. Automatically run the Automator script on system boot - so we can boot up the Xserve in the morning with 1 button and once the OS is up it automatically starts playing the video file.
3. Last, (and this is probably the hard one), any thoughts on a way I can get the server to play a file to its end, and then check and see if there is a newer file present before looping? If not, it continues looping the same file, if so, it begins looping the new file instead? I'm guessing this would be more of an Applescript thing than Automater? This would be for a "content update while playing" situation.
I may not even mess with number 3, but the first two are a must. I'm not asking that you take time to develop working code for all the above, just letting me know that I can do it and whether I should be looking at Automater or Applescript for certain functionality would be fine and I can further research from there.
Thank you.
Don Hertz

1. In the Finder actions you will need:
- Get Specified Finder Items, and point it towards the folder that will contain the movie.
- Get Folder Contents - to get what's inside the folder.
- Filter Finder Items - set to filter by 'Name Extension' 'Is equal to' 'mov' and make sure all your video files have the right extension...
- Open Finder Items - in QT Player - note that this might cause problems if there are multiple files in the folder...
Then from the QT Player actions:
- Play Movies.
2. Save As... Application, then after saving, drag the app into the login items for the user account.
3. That's going to need some AppleScript, but this thread should get you started:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=455825&tstart=0
Ian

How can I choose 60x60 pixel in Automator's Set Folder Views?

Hi, I was looking for something that can change Folder Views for several folders at once; I think Automator can help me do that, but I'm stuck on two problems:
1. It doesn't allow me to choose 60x60 pixel, only 56x56 or 64x64.
2. It doesn't allow me to set the grid spacing.
Is there a way to choose 60x60 in automator (it is selectable in Finder's Show View Options)? If it's not possible, what's the most likely workaround? Applescript? Or perhaps some 3rd party apps?
Thank you for your time.

Try looking into ' *mac os x: batch rename freeware* ' via google search?
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&expIds=27022&sugexp=leprodsca4&xhr=t&q=MacOS+X%3A+batch+rename+freeware&cp=31&pf=p&sclient=psy&aq=f&aqi=&aql=f&oq=Mac+OS+X :+batch+renamefreeware&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=8bc48c66f0d3c525
An example of a batch rename file utility that may (or not) be of some use...
• NameChanger - MRR Software:
http://www.mrrsoftware.com/MRRSoftware/NameChanger.html
• Name Mangler - Elegant batch file renamer: low cost, fair trial period
http://manytricks.com/namemangler/ - this may be worth a try.
There also are some instructions or ideas online and in your Help viewer on how to use
Automator to do these kinds of tasks within the supplied & supported Mac OS X system.
Or other methods within the various OS X unix systems to create a workflow.
Good luck & happy computing!

Using Automator in place of Tether

+I posted this in another topic in reply to a question, but since I get asked this a lot I figured I'd give it a unique post.+
So, if you were one of the many hoping Apple would add the ability to shoot tethered directly from within Aperture, only to discover the newly added feature left your shiny new Canon SLR out in the cold, here's how to more or less achieve the same thing using Automator and the Canon software:
Using Automator to accomplish the task is pretty simple. You'll of course need to use Canon's EOS Utility software to do the remote capture. It's better than Aperture anyway, since it'll actually let you change the settings on the camera remotely as well (Aperture simply lets you click the shutter).
Once you have the Canon software set up and running, you'll choose a folder to capture the photos to. This can be any folder you like, named anything you like. Within Aperture, create a new project or use and existing project. Do the following:
1. Open Automator
2. Choose a "Custom" workflow
3. You can narrow the action list down by choosing "Photos" under library, and then find the Aperture Icon with "Import Photos" and drag it to the area on the right.
4. Choose your project from the drop down menu, then select "Import by reference" if you want Aperture to leave the photos where they are and just reference them. Leave it unchecked if you want them imported to the Aperture library. You can also choose to have them deleted after the import if you'd like.
5. Once you've set up the action with your project and import preferences, go to the file menu and choose "Save as Plug In." Name the action "Tether" or another appropriate name.
6. In the first drop down menu choose "Folder Action"
7. In the second drop down menu choose the folder where you have your Canon captured shots going and click "save".
That's it! Now every time you take a photo using the Canon software, the photos will automatically be imported to the project of your choosing. Good luck!

I was advising a friend to budget $1000 for a suitable tethered camera along with Aperture2, & more ram.
I had previously used a video camera to take a snap of a product that he wanted sent via email to a web host on a daily basis. It worked when using iMovie and saving frames.
As of yesterday, I became familiar with Automator, set up an action that should do the trick anddon't have to use iMovie.
I do have Adobe Acrobat Pro for making pdf's so I can output in that format, however, will Leopard also output as a pdf without acrobat Pro?

Announcement/message before shutdown by using Automator?

I wondered if it was possible to show a message or announcement when I try to shut down, like a message of some sorts that reminds me to set my Magic Mouse on off to save batteries and stuff like that. I'm not experienced enough with Applescript to know if it's possible by using Automator. If it is: how do I do it?

This will only trigger if you run the Automator workflow to shut down the system. You can alternatively set up a logout hook to trigger such a message a logout. First create a small applescript that will issue the desired alerts and prompts an then shut down. Then create a small shell script that uses the "osascript" command to execute the applescript. You can also save the Automator workflow as an application and then target this application for execution directly from the shell script instead of using "osascript" (there are ultimately many ways to go about this).
Then create the logout hook so it points to the shell script, by opening the Terminal and running the following command:
sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook /path/to/script
When experimenting with this, if you cannot get it to work then you can undo this hook setting by running the following command:
sudo defaults delete com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook

Using Automator to Batch Create PDFs

I've been trying to find a way to make an Automator workflow that will take the name of a folder and combine it's files into a PDF with as little manual input as possible and have finally figured out how to do so. I've seen others ask how to do this for a while so I wanted to share how I did it.
Why would you want to create PDFs? If you have scanned books, photos, documents or anything else on your Mac, you can create PDFs out of them. You can then store these in iTunes and either read them using Preview on your Mac or iBooks on your iOS device.
What this workflow will do:
Take a folder with images, get the folder's name, and create a PDF of the images with it's name.
On the next pass of the workflow, it will send the previous folder to the trash.
Create/have a backup of your files!
Create a folder somewhere that you can drop your folders in. Name it Automator Dropbox. You can create one wherever you want, but this workflow was created with Automator Dropbox in mind so you'll need to change it as necessary.
Open Automator and create a new workflow.
Find Finder Items
- Search Automator Dropbox
- [All] of the following are true:
- [Label] is [Red]
This will search for any folders that were done before.
Move Finder Items to Trash
This will move the previous folder/files to the trash.
Ask for Finder Items
- Prompt: [Choose a Folder]
- Start at: Automator Dropbox
- Type: [Folders]
This will ask you to choose the next item to convert to PDF.
Set Value of Variable
- Variable: pdfvariable
This will take the name of the folder you just selected and use it to to rename your PDF.
Label Finder Items
- [Red]
This will mark the folder you're working on for deletion the next time the workflow is ran.
Get Folder Contents
This will grab all the image files within the folder so that it can create a PDF out of them.
Scale Images
- To size (pixels): 1600
This will scale the maximum dimension of your image down (or up) to 1600px. I find this to be the sweet spot for performance on the iPad 3, and it looks just fine. If the maximum dimension of your image is lower than 1600px, I'd create a duplicate workflow of this and leave out this step; otherwise you will be upscaling and your image won't look as good. You can also leave this step out if you want your original image size kept, but on the iPad 3 and below there will be a delay going from page to page.
New PDF From Images
- Save Output to: [Desktop]
- Output File Name: tempname
This will save your finalized PDF to the Desktop. You can change this to whatever you want; I would suggest the Automatically Add to iTunes folder located in [Music > iTunes > iTunes Media > Automatically Add to iTunes]. You will find your PDF in the Books category in iTunes.
Rename Finder Items
- [Replace Text]
- Find: tempname in [Full Name]. Ignore Case checked.
- Replace: [pdfvariable] (Drag pdfvariable from the variables window into the text field for "Replace". If you don't see the variables, go to "View > Variables."
You can't just drag the variable into the PDF name field in the step above, so this extra step is necessary. It will rename your PDF with the name of the folder it was created from. It will also add the full file path, which will be taken care of in the next step.
Rename Finder Items
- [Replace Text]
- Find: Users/yourname/Documents/Automator Dropbox in [Full Name]. Ignore Case checked.
- Replace: LEAVE EMPTY
This will delete the name of the path from the name of your PDF. If your working folder is not Documents/Automator Dropbox, change it to whatever that is.
If you're running this workflow on a bunch of folders, you can simply keep your cursor over the workflow's play button and press the right arrow + enter to select the next item in queue. This workflow was made for using a little human interaction as possible, so if anyone has suggestions on how to improve on it please post below.
One last thing - if you're seeing a red folder when you run the workflow to choose a folder, it's because spotlight hasn't indexed it yet and the workflow could not find it to delete it. Just go on to the next item.

Someone (not me) has created an automator workflow that does this, using a shell script that runs the "pstopdf" unix command. I just downloaded it and tested it on 10 .eps files. You will need to edit the first automator action in the workflow to find the eps files you want (by default it looks for all eps files on your computer), but once you do that, it works like a charm! Converted my eps files to pdf's. Of course, once they are pdf files, you can use automator to convert them to whatever format you want.
http://mad-sci.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-i-hate-computers.html
(link to the actual zip file containing the workflow below)
http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/~burkes/code/PDFworkflows.zip

Can I use automator to type text?

I am looking for a way to fill in my email address in various types of online forms by using a shortcut. Can I use automator to insert an email address? If so, how? Is there a better way to do this, like an autocomple function? I am tired of typing my rather long email address everytime I need to insert it somewhere.

Hello Pierre L.
The bundle identifier is safer than name because application's executable name is not necessarily equal to the package name minus extension. E.g. Firefox.app => firefox.
--SCRIPT
tell application "System Events" to get bundle identifier of process 1 whose frontmost is true
tell application id result to activate
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "hello"
--END OF SCRIPT
The code works fine under 10.5.8 as well.
I guess the compatibility issue is due to the different implementations of Script menu and the different behaviours of AppleScript Runner (post-10.5) or System Events (pre-10.5) per OSes.
All the best,
H
P.S. The script below (saved as application bundle) works fine under 10.4.11.
--SCRIPT 2
    Save this as application bundle or application
    and invoke it from Script menu
delay 0.1
tell application "System Events"
    tell (process 1 whose frontmost is true) to set visible to false
end tell
delay 0.1
tell application "System Events"
    tell (process 1 whose frontmost is true) to keystroke "hello"
end tell
--END OF SCRIPT 2
/H

Use automator to set to HiDPI

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