Aliases of movie files in ~Movies/ for Front Row usage

Question

Hi everyone.
In the first place I apologise for my bad English.
I want one applescript for folder action wich will make an aliases of all movie files (.mov, .avi, .mpeg, .mpeg, .divx ,etc.) in freshly mounted CD/DVD/HD in ~Movies/ folder because I want to play those files in Front Row.
Another Script is needed for deleting unwanted aliases upon unmounting that CD/DVD/HD.
I figured out that all CD/DVD/HD are mounted in /Volumes folder, and I created such two scripts:
On mounting drive:
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
try
tell application "Finder"
make new alias file to these_items at "Macintosh HD:Users:USERNAME:Movies:" with properties {name:"Movie"}
end tell
end try
end adding folder items to
On unmounting drive:
on removing folder items from this_folder after losing these_items
try
tell application "Finder"
delete alias file "Macintosh HD:Users:USERNAME:Movies:Movie"
end tell
end try
end removing folder items from
I attached those two scripts as /Volumes folder action and they are working good, but there is a problem.
When I mount CD, and then when I connect my iPod, alias of CD is moving to trash and new alias to iPod is created with same name. Also, when I connect iPod, and then CD and then I disconnect iPod alias to CD is moving to trash. ****, that's not quite what I am looking for.
Apparently I have and idea, but I lack experience with applescript.
Creating alias script should work like that:
on mounting drive in filesystem
1) Scanning about 2 levels for QT supported files
2) Making alias to each movie file in those 2 levels in ~Movies/
3) Adding constant Spotlight comment (for alias removing purposes in other script) to those alias files in ~Movies/
Removing unwanted Aliases:
on unmounting drive from filesystem
1) Scanning ~Movies/ For alias files with constant spotlight comment
2) removing those alias files (moving to trash preferably, for security purposes)
This way script would make only good aliases, and there could be multiple drives mounting into system. Apparently, after unmounting any drive aliases with constant spotlight comment will be moved to trash, but I don't have any idea for that.
Can someone help me?

Answer 1

Hello imrik,
Firstly, I don't use OSX myself, so the rest of this post is based upon my experience under OS9 and some knowledge from OSX documentations, etc.
Folder Actions suite (terms for Folder Action's handler) is defined in StandardAdditions.osax, that is located at (probably):
/Library/ScriptingAdditions/StandardAdditions.osax
In brief, the dictionary states (under OS9):
on adding folder items to fda after receiving aa
-- fda is alias of the folder that receives new item(s)
-- aa is list of aliase(s) the folder fda received
end adding folder items to
on removing folder items from fda after losing nn
-- fda is alias of the folder that loses item(s)
-- nn is list of aliase(s) or list of item name(s) the folder fda loses.
end removing folder items from
* Open the dictionary of the OSAX in Script Editor for more details.
As far as I can tell (under OS9.1, AS1.8.3), 'removing folder items' handler always provides list of names that the folder loses, in spite of the description in OSAX dicitonary.
I don't know the reason why 'removing folder items' handler provides {} in 'after losing' argument in your environment. It should provide list of names of unmounted volumes (unless '/Volumes/' directory is something so special as to deceive Folder Action Server in some way.)
(Possibly your method to check the handler's arguments is not appropriate.)
If you want to check the class of value/object in AppleScript, the proper way is to use a code such as SCRIPT1:
-- SCRIPT1
set x to (path to desktop) -- alias
--set x to {1,2,3} -- list
set c to class of x
display dialog ("" & c) -- this will show class name string of x.
return c -- this will return class of x in result window (when run in Script Editor).
-- END OF SCRIPT1
And to check the contents of value/object, you may try SCRIPT2 (for AppleScript's native value/object):
-- SCRIPT2
-- in target script (run in e.g. Applet or Folder Actions)
set x to {1, 2, 3}
tell application (path to frontmost application as text)
activate
set the clipboard to x
end tell
-- in checker script (run in Script Editor)
set y to the clipboard
return y -- y is given in result window of Script Editor.
-- END OF SCRIPT2
So as a whole, you may try something like SCRIPT3 as your test Folder Action and SCRIPT3A as its corresponding checker:
-- SCRIPT3
on adding folder items to fda after receiving aa
tell application (path to frontmost application as text)
activate
set the clipboard to {fda, aa}
display dialog ("" & (class of aa) & return & (class of (aa's item 1)))
end tell
end adding folder items to
on removing folder items from fda after losing nn
tell application (path to frontmost application as text)
activate
set the clipboard to {fda, nn}
display dialog ("" & (class of nn) & return & (class of (nn's item 1)))
end tell
end removing folder items from
-- END OF SCRIPT3
-- SCRIPT3A (to be run in Script Editor)
set y to the clipboard
return y -- clipboard contents is displayed in result window of Script Editor.
-- END OF SCRIPT3A
That's all for now.
Good luck,
H
  Mac OS 9.1.x