Applescript/Automator and iWork

Is there any way to script the iWork programs...? I have a basic workflow in which I export a Numbers sheet to CSV, then take one of those files and run a droplet on it to convert it to tab-delimited (an AppleScript droplet I wrote, adapting from code I found).
I tried using Automator's Record function in Leopard, but that doesn't seem to work predictably in this instance since it involves menus and such.
Thanks,
Dov

For these items, you must use the Automator's feature allowing you to record a set of actions then replay them later.
It's really boring but there is no provision to drive text blocks by AppleScript in Numbers.
At this time, I leave the Fonts dialog (cmd + T) and the Colors inspector open so I may apply what you required easily.
select a chunk of text and apply the wanted text color or the wanted striketrough mode.
Highlighting is not so easy because it apply on a full line of text.
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) mardi 17 novembre 2009 19:30:20

Similar Messages

Applescript, automator, and iCal

Hi - I'm having a lot of trouble finding the right documentation to do a little applescript in an automator workflow.
Our exchange server, for reasons we don't really know in spite of playing with the settings, sends all calendar events to me with calendar "badcal" and with an alarm set 15 minutes before the event (we've tried turning the alarms off in various settings to no avail). So, now, I open each of these up and manually change the calendar to "goodcal" and set the alarm to "None."
I'd like to create a simple automator service so that I can either click on an event and run the workflow or -- even better - just go through all of the entries in "badcal" changing the calendar and alarm setting.
Can someone help me or point me in the right direction?
Thanks,
Gerry

Hi - I'm having a lot of trouble finding the right documentation to do a little applescript in an automator workflow.
Our exchange server, for reasons we don't really know in spite of playing with the settings, sends all calendar events to me with calendar "badcal" and with an alarm set 15 minutes before the event (we've tried turning the alarms off in various settings to no avail). So, now, I open each of these up and manually change the calendar to "goodcal" and set the alarm to "None."
I'd like to create a simple automator service so that I can either click on an event and run the workflow or -- even better - just go through all of the entries in "badcal" changing the calendar and alarm setting.
Can someone help me or point me in the right direction?
Thanks,
Gerry

Still no Automator / Applescript Support in iWorks 09

Hi everybody,
i find it extremly annoying that there are still no iWork Actions in Automator nor is there any native Applescript Support ! Come on Apple, even the bad guys at Microsoft do have Automator actions in their Office 2008 product. I bought iWork 08 i will not buy iWork 09. Am i the only person who would like to have support for automator and applescript build into the products ?
cheers
Ronny

No, M$ feels they have to lead you by the hand. Apple knows there users are brighter and can do many things themselves.
What are they going to make? How do they know what automator actions will be needed by the community until the scripting is out and available, And they see how we end up using the technology.
Perfect example, they didn't introduce all 350+ functions available in XL in the numbers 1.0 version. They released about 150, then listened to the community to see what we wanted most. THEN they let their engineers go on those points, not WASTING their time and money creating stuff that nobody needs, or only 5% need. Now we have ~100 more functions, and even a new data type, duration, that XL doesn't have. why? because many people were trying to use Numbers to keep track of things like blood pressure logs, jogging logs, etc...
Another real world example, college campus', Believe it or not the best designers of campuses do not put sidewalks in except for around the buildings themselves, not between them. Because they cannot predict what class patterns the students will end up having, or what habits they, as a group, will develop. They wait till about a year later, see where the grass has been worn down to paths and make sidewalks over those paths.
This is classic design paradigms when you have a random, unpredictable user base that could require almost anything from you. Let them start by designing to fit their needs, then make official releases that take those concepts one step further and completely debugged and up to your standards.
Just my second set of two cents,
Jason

Applescript, iMovie and Automator problem

Hi,
Sorry for reposting from another area, but maybe this will fair better in the right section.
I'm trying to convert a .mov file to .mp4 using Visualhub and automator, but a step in my automator file uses an applescript step that just causes the automator flow to stop and the end and not gon one with the rest of the actions.
More specifically:-
1. I use my HD camera to film something.
2. Connect the camera to my mac.
3. Import the video using iMovie.
4. My Automator actions ask me to confirm that iMovie has finished the import
5. Then Ask for finder items, which is get the newly imported .mov into VisualHub
6. Run the problematic Applescript:-
on run {input, parameters}
--we need to unset the default timeout length of two minutes, we'll make it 45
with timeout of (45 * 60) seconds
tell application "VisualHub" to set VisualHub to load script (scripts path of main bundle & "/automation.scpt" as POSIX file)
tell VisualHub
LoadSettings("/Volumes/MyBook/hd.cam.settings.vhub")
--SetSaveLocation("YOURHARDDRIVE:Users:YOURNAME:Desktop:iphonemovies:temp")
AddFiles(input)
StartConversion()
QuitApp()
end tell
end timeout
return input
--delay 15
end run
Which I've used from this site (http://professafresh.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/fun-with-automator/) and just stopped the two lines with a comment marker.
What is supposed to happen after that is that
7. Automator asks to confirm that VisualHub has finished.
8. VisualHub quits
9. Finder finds the .mov that was created when the film was imported
10. Finder then moves the item to the trash.
So there is something going on with the applescript that causes the process to stop after the conversion.
Some points:-
1. I have used the VisualHub import and convert script step but the default settings are not what I'm after as I want the video resized to 960x540.
2. iMovie recognizes and keeps all the head info as long as the file name is the same. So if you skip over the thumbnail in iMovie the timestamp changes to reflect the time that the video was taken. If you convert the .mov to .mp4 the info is retained but with a much smaller video size.
I've tried to give as much info as possible, sorry if it's too much.
Regards,

You can do that all in iMovie
Select 300 photos set the length to 3:15 - Import
Select all in the timeline. Pick your transition. Set it to .29. Apply.
Daniel C. Slagle - Keeper of the "Unofficial" iMovie FAQ
http://iMovie.danslagle.com
Quad - 2.5 Ghz G5 Mac OS X (10.4) GeForce 7800 GT, 3G RAM, 250GB & 500GB internals

I want to create an applescript/automator tool to launch the "Add to library" command in iTunes with a specific path. Need process under the hood

I want to create an applescript/automator tool to launch the "Add to library" command in iTunes with a specific path. I need to know what process is run under the hood to create such a script.
To put you in context, I have an NFS mount point with all my music and with the "add to library" command, I can add more music to the folder and update iTunes without dragging the individual folders or the whole mount point and avoid having the songs show up as doubles.
Anyone know what OS/Unix process is being called for such a command?

I want to create an applescript/automator tool to launch the "Add to library" command in iTunes with a specific path. I need to know what process is run under the hood to create such a script.
To put you in context, I have an NFS mount point with all my music and with the "add to library" command, I can add more music to the folder and update iTunes without dragging the individual folders or the whole mount point and avoid having the songs show up as doubles.
Anyone know what OS/Unix process is being called for such a command?

Do Applescript / Automator work with Final Cut Express?

Hey list,
I'm a nubie in all things Applescript / Automator related. Does Final Cut Express support commands from these? For example, can I tell it to go pick up a batch of photos I created, put them in a seqeunce, and export them as an MOV? If so, it would make my life a lot easier
-Chris
Message was edited by: Chrisryantaz

Hi(Bonjour)!
If you want to drive an appication by applescript or automator, this application has to be "driveable" by script.
If you open Applescript editor, select dictionnary and look if the application appears. If not, it cannot be driven by scripts.
FCE is not scriptable. You can automate the lauching of the app itself (from finder scripts) but no more.
But with select all command, you can drag all your stills (they will be inserted in the same order as they appear in column list view) in timeline.
Also, use the "storyboard tips" by placing them in a diffrent order in icon view (in perfect row and column), select all and drag in timeline. The order will be respected from upper left-corner to lower-right.
Michel Boissonneault
Message was edited by: Michel Boissonneault

Applescript/Automator to import Photoshop Elements Albums?

My husband finally converted to a Mac in January (yay!!!), and all in all everything works beautifully for him, because all of the programs he was using on his Windows PC are on his Mac. Our biggest issue though is that Photoshop Elements will not sync through iTunes on his Mac. While you might think it would be easier for him to just convert his albums to iPhoto or Aperture, we will not discuss the reasons why this is not going to happen :-)
However, I'm trying to see if there isn't a way for me to create some kind of "background" automation that could copy his albums into iPhoto or Aperture. I use Aperture myself, so in using "referenced" files he would only end up with copies of the albums themselves, and not actually duplicate the photo files. I haven't used iPhoto enough to know if this is possible.
Can anyone think of a seemless way I could set this up for him? It wouldn't need to be TOTALLY automatic. I mean I could give him an icon to click occasionally. I just don't see anything in Automator for Elements, so I would have to do an Applescript if even possible, and I while I can take an existing applescript sometimes and modify it to my needs, I'm DEFINITELY not very good at Applescript.
Or should I really just make him move away from Photoshop Elements?
Thanks!
Danita

Danitaz,
Did you ever figure out the problem with your mail that was going out from the wrong server (2 yrs. ago)? I have the same problem from my MacBook Pro, using Mac Mail. I try to send email from my work account and then find to my surprise and dismay that I get an autoreply in my personal gmail account from the person I wrote to. I look in the Sent mail for my work account and it looks like the message went from there but I can see in the reply that it instead went from my gmail account! I tried checking the box in my work account that says "send only from this SMTP server" but that didn't fix the problem. The only way seems to be turning off the gmail in order to send with certainty from my work account. If you have any suggestions I would love to try them. Thanks!
PS Sorry to write off topic here. I wanted to reply to the original posting but I guess since it is so old I couldn't do so.

Automator and sound preferences

Imac Mac OS X (10.4.9)
Is there any way set up an automator script (or Apple script) to change sound preferences. Example, change from Imic output to headphone output, turn off and on Isub. Any help would be appreciated.

Furthermore, I came across this applescript in forums which appears to do switching, it opens the preference panel and selects sound but then stops with the fault.
System Events got an error: NSReceiverEvaluationScriptError: 4
I don't understand the script language yet as I am new to automator and apple script.
i need to switch between imic output(with sub off) and headphone output (with sub on)
Also whats the best place to learn apple script language?
tell application "System Preferences"
activate
set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.sound"
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell process "System Preferences"
click radio button "Output" of tab group 1 of window "Sound"
repeat until (value of radio button "Output" of tab group 1 of window "Sound") is 1
end repeat
if (selected of row 1 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of tab group 1 of window "Sound") is true then
select row 2 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of tab group 1 of window "Sound"
repeat until (selected of row 2 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of tab group 1 of window "Sound") is true
end repeat
else
select row 1 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of tab group 1 of window "Sound"
repeat until (selected of row 1 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of tab group 1 of window "Sound") is true
end repeat
end if
end tell
quit
end tell
Imac Mac OS X (10.4.9)
Imac Mac OS X (10.4.9)
Imac Mac OS X (10.4.9)

How on EARTH to parameters work in AppleScript Automator Actions for SL?

Prior to Snow Leopard, creating a new AppleScript Automator Action would create a template something like...
on run{input, parameters}
but now, on Snow Leopard, I get:
on runWithInputfromAction_error(input, anAction, errorRef)
where to I get the 'parameters' collection from? If I just reference 'parameters', without it being declared in some way, I get errors....
I assume there is some new mechanism in SL, what is it??
Thanks

Sorry, I misunderstood what you said the first time around. I thought that you wanted to use the +Run AppleScript+ action within Automator but now I see that you are trying to create a new Automator action using applescript. Now that I try it in Xcode I to get the same method/handler signature. Tried to look at the [Mac Dev Center|http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/AppleApplications/C onceptual/AutomatorTutorialAppleScript/Introduction/Introduction.html] but it hasn't been updated lately. Also tried looking at the [Automator Programming Guide|http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/DOCUMENTATION/AppleApplications/Co nceptual/AutomatorConcepts/Articles/ImplementScriptAction.html#//apple_ref/doc/u id/TP40001512] and the documentation for [AMBundleAction|http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/DOCUMENTATION/AppleAppli cations/Reference/AutomatorFramework/Classes/AMBundleAction_Class/Reference/Refe rence.html] but can't figure anything out. Sorry I don't have much experience in Xcode, so can't help you much with that.

Are qt-tracks switchable per Applescript/Automator?

my idea is the following scenario:
I do have a Quicktime.mov containing TWO video tracks.
What I'm looking for is a 'single button'-solution, which allows to switch between both tracks.
possible? how?
any ready-made scripts/actions avail?
to give additional info about my project:
I'm recording soccer games with two (... four) cameras simultanously.
the team's coach needs a 'dumb' solution (no word about soccer-coaches! ) , to see the action from one or the other perspective.
it's simple to stitch the two videos into a single mov, and I do know how to 'select tracks on display' in QT7pro.
but he doesn't.
my idea is, to create a (local, on usb-stick) website, offering that video. (and additional info)
or, even better, a Pages/iBooks document .......
plus a 'switch'-button, which is a kind-of applescript/automator action/whatever, which changes 'priority'. that way both videos are always in synch.-
anybody any idea?
thanks in advance
k.

I'm recording soccer games with two (... four) cameras simultanously.
the team's coach needs a 'dumb' solution (no word about soccer-coaches! ) , to see the action from one or the other perspective.
it's simple to stitch the two videos into a single mov, and I do know how to 'select tracks on display' in QT7pro.
but he doesn't.
Hi Karsten, it's been while since I last saw a posting by you here.
Simplest approach would be to create a file containing side-by-side or over-and-under display of two angle cameras or a combination of the two to display four simultaneous camera angles. If you combine, align, and offset the video tracks in QT 7 Pro and then compress to your target diplay file, then the sync alignment of the source tracks will be locked in the combined frames of your final output file unlike individual source tracks each of which might drop frames independently during playback in a multiple video track standalone file. This, of course, means that all viwing angles are displayed simultaneously and the viewer must switch his or her attention to the specific angle of interest but does allow you to play the file in any compatible media player, on a web site or on any compatible mobile device without having to program track switching which may or may not be compatible will all of the viewing options previously mentioned.
A second approach would be to key your video tracks to alternative language options and have the viewing angle (track) change when the associated language is selected. Unfortunately, this only works in apps/on devices which support built-in alternate languages and/or multiple video track control. For instance, it QT X and QT 7 will switch the video track when the appropriate language is selected but VLC has separate built-n video track switching controls and iTunes doesn't recognize alternative video tracks. Unfortunately, there is a secondary problem with this approach. Playback can sometimes become jittery after switching tacks. This problem can be correctly by momentarily stopping playback and then restarting it but this can be a pain.
A third option might be the use of sprite buttons to script switching between tracks. Unfortunately, I can't say how difficult or successful this approach may be based on any personal experience.

New discussion category request -- Applescript & Automator

Dear Administrators, Jay T. et. al,
I think it would be a nice addition to the Aperture Discussion if you added a new sub-category for us: Applescript & Automator.
Scripting and automation will be a big part of Aperture's future success. It will make it easier for us propeller heads to monitor developments it we have a dedicated category we can subscribe too. I won't subscribe to the entire General Usage cagegory because there would be to much daily traffic on unrelated topics.
I don't think this will prevent the general audience from seeing interesting posts on these topics.

It would be nice to have a good location for more technical posts along those lines. Don't let the lack of one stop you though!

ILife 08 and iWork 08 great on Intel Macs, shameful on Power PC

We've all lived with Apple developing software towards the latest greats OS, but this is the most shameful experience I've had in ten plus years of buying their products.
Working with the new iLife 08 and iWork 08 software on the Intel computers is a joy.
Working with the same software on a dual 2.3 running 10.4.10 PowerPC G5 is a joke.

I too am still working on a G4 PM & iDVD6. Haven't upgraded to 08 yet. Plus I also work with apps like FCP HD and DVDSP3. I don't think this latter software (in terms of standalone pro versions) will even run on an intel based mac. So like Len, I too am at a standstill as far as further updates are concerned.
Unfortunately I don't see an easy solution to this short of buying all new software as well as new hardware.

I use "element 12" and want like in the old PS version due Automating and Contact II upload multiple filesand print them with any columns and rows on the same page . How does it work?

I use "element 12" and want like in the old PS version due Automating and Contact II upload multiple filesand print them with any columns and rows on the same page . How does it work?

Can you supply a link?

Crystal Reports 2008 - automation and scheduling

Hey there Crystal Reports experts... please answer this question:
I've been evaluating the Crystal Reports 2008 package (client package) and have been able to generate some nice summary reports form our SQL database using summary pages which have multiple (up to 4) embedded sub-reports in them. I think it's doing what I need it to, but my next hurdle is to automate the summary report for 100+ different customers of ours. The criteria which changes for each customer is a table value in each subreport as well as the date range for the data on the report. I also need to have the title in the report header of each customer, change to reflect the different customer name and date range.
Is there a way to automate this with the standard Crystal Reports 2008 version? I've found a few 3rd party applications online that take care of the Crystal Report automation and scheduling as well as conditional data selection at the same time... is that what I need to use if we don't have ther server version of Crystal, or can I automate it using just the standard 2008 client version??

Hi,
Yes, you need the CR 2008 client license to create the reports and then the server license to distribute the reports.
CR Server 2008 is a single server reporting solution for distributing Crystal Reports only. BOE is a full BI server that can be scaled beyond a single server solution. In addition to just reporting it has other capabilities such as ad hoc query and analysis, dashboarding/scorecarding, etc.
CR Server 2008 currently does not include the "Publishing" functionality yet. Therefore, if you schedule the report to email, all users will see the exact same report. BOE XI 3.1 does have "Publishing" which lets you burst the report so that through a single schedule, each user only sees their slice of the data for that report. You can still use CR Server to accomplish something similar, but it would require you to setup an individual schedule per every customer where each schedule is configured to only return the appropriate data for that customer. This would require a little more effort to setup and maintain.

How can I open my old Apple Works 6 documents now that I have OS X 10.7.2 and iWork 4.1 (pages '09)

I have a lot of Apple Works 6 documents that I can not open now that I Have OS X 10.7.2 and iWork 4.1 (Pages'09). How can I open and convert those documents. I really need those documents.

Pages '09 (4.1) should have no problem opening your AW6 word processing documents.
You can open an AW6 wp file in Pages by -
• Do a Get Info on the AW6 file, then choose Pages from the Open With pulldown menu. Close the Get Info window, then double-click the AW6 file. If you want to do this to all of them, befoe closing the Get Info window click the "Change all" button just under the previous pulldown menu.
• Start up Pages, use the Open item in the File menu to navigate to and open the AW6 file.
• Drop the AW6 file onto the icon for Pages.

Applescript/Automator and iWork

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