Batch printing with automator or applescript

Hey all,
I would really appreciate any help people could offer. I've looked at a bunch of forums and can't seem to find a solution to this problem though many people have similar problems that haven't been solved. I need to print a set of about 50 documents (mix of pdfs and docs) in a fixed order, multiple times throughout the week. I'd like any of the documents that are multiple pages to be double sided and stapled (we have a Ricoh 6000 that can staple) and for some of the items I need multiple copies (sometimes 4 copies, sometimes 2). I'm comfortable coding but new to automator and applescript so I'm having trouble finding the right combination.
I tried using automator as follows:
*do shell script*
defaults write com.apple.print.custompresets com.apple.print.lastPresetPref 2SidedPacket
*get specified finder items*
*print finder items*
with the idea that the shell script would change my printer settings to use the saved preset 2SidedPacket which is double sided and staples. i used get specified finder items and dragged the items that i needed from the finder. for items that i needed multiple copies, i just dropped them in "get specified finder items" the appropriate number of times. then "print finder items" speaks for itself.
The problem is that while the appropriate number of copies prints, the settings are not used and so i get a bunch of single sided sheets that aren't stapled.
Please help! This will save me quite a bit of time if I can get it to work.
I'm happy to hear any ideas; scrap mine entirely if you want and start from scratch if you think you have a solution that will work. or add to mine. whatever you want.
I appreciate your help.
-Jake

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Hi, everybody!
Hope I can find help in this section. Else, please forgive me if I posted in the wrong place...
I find myself in this situation.
I have many pdf's I need to transform into JPG's, but of course I need the name to be "meaningful". Each pdf contains 30 to 100 "sheets", that is to say it will produce from 30 to 100 jpgs
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prefix is (by now) fixed: MAD
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Edit: I am a he, by the way.

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Hello saer33,
Thanks for posting about batch printing!
Unfortunately, you've reached the Acrobat.com forums which
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Please visit the following Acrobat forums for any questions
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Check here
http://help.sap.com/saphelp_nw04/helpdata/en/67/576f39ff1ee32ce10000000a114084/frameset.htm
Reporting agent -> Batch printing
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Batch printing 1st page always bad

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We have an applescript that will batch print InDesign CS6 files from a folder to a laser printer using an InDesign print preset. The script does not work in OS X Yosemite. The script errors out with the print preset. Any thoughts?

tell application "Finder"
activate
set thefolder to choose folder with prompt "Select a Folder with InDesign Files to be Printed" as text
set thePath to thefolder as text
set the selected_items to every item of folder thefolder
if the selected_items is {} then
beep
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repeat with aFile in selected_items
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with timeout of 600 seconds
set user interaction level of script preferences to never interact
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set page range to all pages
end tell
print without print dialog
close saving no
end tell
end timeout
--might need this delay
--delay 10
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activate
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Hi
After I put a small delay in as shown, your code ran fine, tested on about twenty ID files, using ID CC 2014, OSX 10.10.2
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Automator or Applescript using png files with alpha channel

I have hundred of png files with alpha channel.
I want to suppress alpha channel.
How can i do it using Automator or Applescript ?
Thank you very much.

You can use the free command line image processing tool ImageMagick in your Applescripts or Automator workflows, as well as from a Terminal shell.
You can download ImageMagick from http://www.imagemagick.org, but Cactuslab has simplified installation by putting together an installer package. It’s available at http://cactuslab.com/imagemagick/. Download the package and double-click on it. Follow the instructions to install. It will install ImageMagick into /opt/ImageMagick and add it to your $PATH by creating a file in /etc/paths.d/. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
The two ImageMagick commands we’re concerned with are “convert” and “mogrify”. Convert is more efficient for multiple and piped operations on the same image file, and mogrify is more efficient for batch processing. Generally speaking, convert will output a file separate from the input file. Unless a path is specified, mogrify will overwrite the input file with the output file. An important distinction.
You can perform various operations on the alpha channel using arguments after either the convert or mogrify command. Two of the available arguments are:
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-alpha remove - Composite the image over the background color.
Also of use are the -flatten and -background options:
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Start off using the convert command with a single image to see the effect and adjust to your liking. Once you’ve achieved the desired outcome, then use the mogrify command to batch process the chosen images.
Before getting into how to use Automator or Applescript in your workflow, use Terminal and the command line to see the effect on a single image. Copy one image to your ~/Desktop. In Terminal change the directory to ~/Desktop by typing the following command and pressing the Enter key:
cd ~/Desktop
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convert input-photo.png -alpha remove output-photo.png
You can check the alpha channel (transparency) and background in the Preview app, go View > Show Image Background from the menu bar.
Once you’re ready to batch proces, place all the photos you want to convert with the same command into one folder. Copy the folder to your ~/Desktop. Let’s assume you’ve labeled the folder “InPhotos”. It’s prudent to manipulate copies in case something goes amiss. In that event you can copy the folder with the originals again and start over. Create a new empty folder on your ~/Desktop and call it “OutPhotos”. Let’s also assume your home directory is called “Me”. The following command will process the photos from the InPhotos folder and put them in the OutPhotos folder:
mogrify -alpha remove -path /Users/me/Desktop/OutPhotos/ /Users/me/Desktop/InPhotos/*png
According to Apple Technical Note TN2065:
"when you use just a command name instead of a complete path, the shell uses a list of directories (known as your PATH) to try and find the complete path to the command. For security and portability reasons, do shell script ignores the configuration files that an interactive shell would read"
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To batch process using Automator, use the “Run Shell Script” action (note: retain the single space at the beginning of the last line):
/opt/ImageMagick/bin/mogrify \
-alpha remove \
-path /Users/Me/Desktop/OutPhotos/ \
/Users/Me/Desktop/InPhotos/*png
To batch process using Script Editor (Applescript), use the “do shell script” command:
do shell script "/opt/ImageMagick/bin/mogrify -alpha remove -path /Users/pd/Desktop/OutPhotos/ /Users/pd/Desktop/InPhotos/*png"
Further info on ImageMagick:
http://www.imagemagick.org/script/command-line-options.php#alpha
http://www.imagemagick.org/Usage/masking/#remove
http://www.imagemagick.org/index.php
http://www.imagemagick.org/script/command-line-tools.php
http://www.imagemagick.org/script/command-line-options.php
Examples:
The original PNG image:
-alpha off:
-alpha remove:
-background black -flatten:
-background blue -flatten:
-channel alpha -evaluate Divide 2:
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*bold*Automated Batch Printing

How do i code automated batch printing.
I had no idea how to start and I had read up most online help on Google but still I can't figure out how to do automated batch printing in Java
I am required to read a folder consists of multiple RTF files.
Its easy to read a single RTF file and print it but how do i read a folder and print everything .
Another problem would be that the printing done should have courier font and alignment in the RTF file however i had tried different way to read and print the data in the RTF file ,which I could only get either courier font with no alignment or not courier font with alignment , i need both of the courier font and alignment to suit an external application RightFax.
Thus I had thought of a way to direct print the RTF files from folder , an example will be the application SilentPrint how can i call the window's or Microsoft's office print services ? or is it even possible for Java?
Thanks a lot if help is provided , at least a little clue of where to start?
or u at least tell me whether is it possible to code automated batch printing in java ? like what SilentPrint can do
Edited by: yarmageddony on Oct 30, 2007 1:36 AM

Thanx again for the clue for runtime.exec
runtime.exec cant help you print but by searching i found the usage of desktop
which is what i want exactly for batch printing :)
java.io.File folder = new File("Z:\\BTSS Log\\Fax\\Y2007 M10 D25");
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     try {
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     File fi = new File("Z:\\BTSS Log\\Fax\\Y2007 M10 D25\\Deleted");
     fi.mkdir();
     listOfFiles[i].renameTo(new File("Z:\\BTSS Log\\Fax\\Y2007 M10 D25\\Deleted",listOfFiles[i].getName().toString()));
     } catch (IOException e1) {                                                     // TODO Auto-generated catch block
     e1.printStackTrace();
System.out.println("File: " + listOfFiles[i].getName());
} else if (listOfFiles[i].isDirectory()) {
System.out.println("Directory: " + listOfFiles[i].getName());
}hope my code helps other who are looking for batch printing in folders as there isnt much help online out there ^^
Edited by: yarmageddony on Oct 30, 2007 3:59 AM

Batch printing with automator or applescript

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