Contextual menu (rightMouseClick) ... new text file ... in 10.6 - howto?

"OMC" worked superb in 10.5 - not anymore in 10.6
"nufile" does not seem to work in 10.6, neither?
! Please tell me how I can
click with the right mouse button into a finder folder, and
(a) create a new empty text file there, or
(b) open a terminal in that folder.
Thanks a lot!

old contextual menus are completely gone in snow leopard. they have been all replaced by services. there are plenty of 3rd party services by now that provide various contextual menu functionality. but you can also easily make services that do what you want using automator.
for example, to open a terminal window in selected folder make the following service using automator. make it accept folders. the workflow itself should consist of the following single "run applescript" action
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #ADD8E6;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
on run {input, parameters}
tell application "Finder"
set ppath to POSIX path of ((item 1 of input) as alias)
end tell
tell application "Terminal"
activate
do script "cd " & quoted form of ppath
end tell
end run</pre>
save it and it will become available in the right-click menu when you right-click on a folder.

Similar Messages

How can I add a "Create New Text File" contextual menu?

Hi,
I'd like to add a "Create New Text File" contextual item. I found the "new text file" action in Automator, but I don't really know where to go from there... I want it to work on the desktop and in finder...
Thanks

See:
Mac OS X Automation,
Automated Workflow Tips,
Introduction to Automator tutorial, and
a four-parter on Automation in Snow Leopard by Sal Saghoian:
Snow Leopard Services,
Services for iPhoto,
Safari and WebKit integration, and
Installing and using services.
Finally,
Developing AppleScript Applications and
Apple's Automator Developer Documentation

Add date to new text file name and generic text in body

Okay, I hope this is the right forum. To help manage and keep track of incoming assets/files and I created an Automator workflow with the following: "Get Selected Finder Items → Get Folder Contents → New Text File (w/Show this action when the workflow runs so I can give a unique name).
This creates a text file with the folder contents listed in the body.
I would like to know if I can do two things:
1. Automatically add a date/time stamp to the Save as field so it will automatically have a unique file name?
2. I also want to add text before the listed contents within the text file. (e.g.: Let's say the folder contents are Volumes/Mac HD/Generic_movie.mov. I want the final text to read:
"The following file has been moved to the local volume at: Volumes/Mac HD/Generic_movie.mov"
Is there a way to accomplish either one or both of these with Automator or AppleScripts?
Thanks.

I would like to know if I can do two things...
This might address your first concern:
*1) Get Selected Finder Items*
*2) Get Folder Contents*
*3) New Text File* -- select a destination folder and check *Show Action When Run*
*4) Rename Finder Items:*
Choose *Add Date or Time* from the popup
Date/Time: select Created, Modified, or Current - Format: *Month Day Year*
Where: *After name* - Separator: *Forward Slash*
Separator: Space - check *Use Leading Zeros* (optional)
*5) Rename Finder Items:*
Choose *Add Text* from the popup
Add: *" at"* -- put a leading space before "at" (without the quotes), and select *after name*.
*6) Rename Finder Items:*
Choose *Add Date or Time*
Date/Time: Current - Format: *Hour Minute Second*
Where: *After name* - Separator: Dash
Separator: Space - check *Use Leading Zeros* (strongly recommended)
+--- End of Workflow ---+
Save the workflow as an application and use it as a droplet. Drop a desired folder onto the saved applet and enter a name when the dialog appears. The new text file, which will be found in the destination folder, should be appended with a date and time stamp, e.g., *"My Folder List 7/8/2010 at 23-54-09"*
Tested using Mac OS 10.4.11 and Automator v. 1.0.5
Good luck; hope this helps.

Create new text file in UTF-8 format by default

I'm working a lot with UTF-8 text files and mainly in this format. It's becoming annoying when I have to manually save every text file as UTF-8. After several trial-and-errors, I've made up a procedure that I've put in a blog. I think I could share
it here for those who need it. Hope it helps.
http://instrumenti-meliora.blogspot.com/2014/04/create-new-text-file-in-utf-8-format-by.html

You've made a procedure?
Are you sure you didn't :
Didn't what?
https://www.google.com/#q=change+notepad+default+encoding
Well, I'm not sure what you want me to see, but your search keywords do
NOT make sense. You do note change *Notepad* default encoding. What you can change is a
TEXT file's default encoding.
Well, of course, if you have access to Notepad source code and you're able to change it and re-compile again, then you could really say you change Notepad's "default encoding", which I suppose would mean "default encoding every time we save".
Why wouldn't you just provide a link (or some attribution) to the top result
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_programs/default-utf-8-encoding-for-new-notepad-documents/525f0ae7-121e-4eac-a6c2-cfe6b498712c
or a link to watch this done on youtube?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnL6smxQE9k
The title of that forum post and Youtube video is a non-sense. New
"Notepad" document? Come on! That's apparently how a newbie think what it is and it's very likely he has not a clue what it is and what he is doing. And what if I don't use Notepad to create such file? If I
use UltraEdit, then mine should be "UltraEdit" document and that should be different from Notepad document, correct? LOL
The fact that you're able to find this video would also mean you're thinking like him in that the file is really called Notepad document LOL
For your information, that's called a text file (or document if you prefer this prettier term). It's also called plain text file.
Now, let's see the content of both links:
First of all, why did they tell people to create a new text file somewhere and then
COPY it to template folder? That's really so dumb
LOL Isn't it more intelligent to create such file directly INSIDE the folder?
Secondly, their procedures are not foolproof. What if the Windows directory is not c:\windows? They should tell people to open %Systemroot%\ShellNew instead. I suppose they don't even know how this folder is called because
nowhere is the term "template folder" ever mentioned.
Thirdly, what if that folder doesn't work for unknown reason (which might happen in XP)? Did they give any hint to a "failover" folder? No, they didn't. But I do in my procedure.
Fourthly, they are saying as if the file name has to be "TXTUTF-8.txt", but actually we can call it whatever we like. But smart people would have figured this out at the end.
5 (I'd stop saying fifthly and so on LOL) I'm not sure it's necessary (or recommended) to change "fSavePageSettings" & "fSaveWindowPositions" DWORD values for Notepad as "advised" in that answer.
As a side-note, I don't know what
http://www.pc1news.com/saving-changes-to-notepad-configuration-1216.html is supposed to give but when I open this, I got some uTorrent warning. Really seems like some malware webpage which tries to deceive people!
I actually searched how a (generic) new file is created and started from there.
So, maybe next time when you want to criticize or discredit somebody else, try to be more expert first? ;)

New Text File Action Does Not Output Correctly (Corrupts)

I posted this in here by accident. I reposted it in the 10.5 Automator forum...
I have a simple automator script that uses "Get Specified Text" that contains some arbitrary shell script text, and I pass that to "New Text File" which has the location selected from a variable called "Temporary path" of value "/tmp". The output of 'New Text File" will not contain the text I specified. Here are steps to recreate:
New automator script
Get specified text action with the following text:
#!/bin/sh
cd "`dirname \"$0\"`"
if [ true ]; then
echo 1
fi
New variable called "Temporary path" with the value "/tmp"
New text file action
--- Save as: test.txt
--- Where: "Temporary path" (drag Temporary path to the drop down box)
--- Replace existing file: checked
I run the script. New text file result shows "/private/tmp/test.txt". Then from the "Terminal" I try to view it ("cat /tmp/test.txt") and the contents are:
if [ true ]; then\"`"
fi echo 1
So the specified text was corrupted. If I create the new file in Desktop or Documents (tried those) it works correctly. What is so special about /tmp? Is there a reason why this shouldn't work?
Regards,
John
Message was edited by: techiejohn

Alas, my example does work... In hopes of narrowing the problem I tried to narrow the text.
Anyway below is the full "script" that I'm trying to write to the file that does not work, although if you copy it from here directly, it does work. So to reproduce, I can copy it from here to TextWrangler (that will fix the extra blank lines) then from TextWranger to Automator and the issues remains. The result of "Get specified text" looks correct, but the output still is not.
<pre>
#!/bin/bash
cd "`dirname \"$0\"`"
clear
\# display output from a previous run
if \[ -e "$0".txt \]; then
cat "$0".txt
/bin/echo -n "Run again? "
read run
if \[ "$run" = "n" -o "$run" = "N" -o "$run" = "no" -o "$run" = "No" -o "$run" = "NO" \]; then
run=""
else
run="Yes"
fi
else
run="Yes"
fi
if \[ "$run" \]; then
date
echo "Running unison for $USER..."
if \[ -e "/Users/$USER" -a -e "/Volumes/$USER" \]; then
/opt/local/bin/unison \
"/Users/$USER" "/Volumes/$USER" \
-auto \
-rsrc false \
-terse \
-logfile /dev/null \
-ignore "Name .DS_Store" \
-ignore "Name .Spotlight*" \
-path "Desktop" \
-path "Documents" \
-path "Downloads" \
"$@"
exit=$?
case "$exit" in
0) echo "Successful synchronization; everything is up-to-date now.";;
1) echo "Some files were skipped, but all file transfers were successful.";;
2) echo "Non-fatal failures occurred during file transfer.";;
3) echo "A fatal error occurred, or the execution was interrupted.";;
esac
else
echo "/Users/$USER or /Volumes/$USER does not exist."
exit=255
fi
else
exit=0
fi
\# wait for error acknowledgement
if \[ "$TERM" -a "$TERM" != "dumb" -a "$exit" -gt 0 \]; then
/bin/echo -n "Error #$exit; press enter or return to continue: "
read
fi
\# close the terminal window
termpid=`/opt/local/bin/pstree -p $PPID | grep Terminal.app | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}'`
if \[ "$termpid" \]; then
kill "$termpid"
fi
exit $exit
</pre>

Automator New Text File Trouble

Pumping text into the New Text File action produces a file with unreadable characters (looks Chinese).
Interestingly, pumping into New TextEdit Document works just fine.
I don't believe it's related to any TextEdit encoding setting (I'm using the defaults.)
I've found others on Google with the same problem, but no resolution.
Any ideas?
Eric
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)

I did some research on the issue (Google). Others also have the same problem. It appears to only be a problem on Intel platforms. I tried your clipboard idea. The resulting text file is still unreadable, but the contents of the clipboard are just fine, so the problem is definitely in the New Text File action.
The Intel theory is supported by the fact that when I run Automator under Rosetta the problem isn't there.
Eric

Help:i need a code for making a new text file then adding 1 blank line

i have done makng load, edit and save for a command line text editor. now my problem is, i dont know how to make a new blank text file and store it on the current directory. and i need to have that new text have 1 blank line with full of white space. help please.

PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter(new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("NewBlankTextFile.txt")));
pw.println(" ");
pw.close();

Define contents of menu bar from text file

Hi,
I would like to list the contents of the menu bar dynamically by reading it from a text file. Is there a way to do this?
Thanks!
Sinnas
Solved!
Go to Solution.

I suppose you can do it by using InstallMenuDimmerCallback () function: this command installs a function that is called by the system before the menu is shown so that you can dim / undim the appropriate menu items depending on the execution state. See this tip of mine and the following commend from LuisG
This is the original purpose: you could customize the menu bar instead by using SetMenuBarAttribute () to change the item name(s) and event the associated callback function. I have never used this function that way, though, so I cannot tell you how efficent the mechanism can be and how much delay will it introduce before the menu is shown.
Proud to use LW/CVI from 3.1 on.
My contributions to the Developer Zone Community
If I have helped you, why not giving me a kudos?

Contextual menu not working on files, ok on folders though

Tried resetting pram and repaired permissions. Can't think what the problem is. When you hold down the Control key and click on the file the screen clears so all you can see is the desktop background picture and then all icons re appear and that's it. It's fine on folders though.
Any ideas?
Cheers
Andy

Probably a bad contextual menu item. If you have StuffIt Deluxe it is undoubtedly theirs. Take a look in
"/Users/yourname/Library/Contextual Menu Items"
and see what's there. I hear Stuffit has a fix that is supposed to work, but since their little goodie has broken things this way repeatedly for years I would just remove and trash it. If you don't have Stuffit, take everything out of the folder, log out and in or relaunch the Finder, then put items back one at a time until you find the culprit.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

Creating new text file (txt.) everytime a string is passed in

Dear all, need some help from you all. I am now developing a web service program to allow users to type in a string of characters. And will need to create txt. file to store this strings. Currently, i hard code the directory and the name of the txt file (e.g C:\\test.txt) does anyone know if possible solution to create new txt. file (using different names) whenever a string is passed in from the web service? I am using J2EE as programming language and BEA Workshop for Weblogic Platform version 10.
Thank You very much.

well, make the name as argument.
and new File(name)...blablablabla

Is there a working Contextual Menu Plugin to move files to folders

Mountain Lion killed a lot of the old plugins I've used to move say; a desktop image to the picture folder by control clicking and selecting "move to"
Are there any plugins out there now like that; perhaps free; that work in Mountain Lion?
thanks

Cool. Both worked. Turns out I had an old version of Finderpop; didn't know they updated. Made a nice little automator script as well. ;-) Move images on the desktop to the pictures folder.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2lcofi408og6qqj/R7BoiMtg85/JPG_MoveTo%20.app

New Line in Text File

Hi -
Im using the FileWriter and BufferedWriter classes to output text into a .txt file.
The text I am writing is taken from another text file using the FileReader and BufferedReader classes.
The text is reading from the file, and will also output to the new text file, however it won't insert a new line, it only inserts an 'unprintable' character i.e. an empty square
My code is below - its only starting out so its farily simple at the moment, just reading from one file and outputting to another.
Is there a way i can get the actual new line/carriage return inserted instead of the empty square. (im running Windows XP)
Thanks in advance
import java.io.*;
public class Pad {
private String inputPath;
private String outputPath;
/** Creates a new instance of Pad */
public Pad() {
inputPath = "C:\\OUTBOUND.TXT";
outputPath = "C:\\04'06.txt";
* @param args the command line arguments
public static void main(String[] args) {
// TODO code application logic here
System.out.println("PAD File");
//Read PAD File
Pad p = new Pad();
p.readPADFile(p.inputPath, p.outputPath);
public void readPADFile(String inputPath, String outputPath)
inputPath = this.inputPath;
outputPath = this.outputPath;
//System.out.println(inputPath);
int recordCount = 0;
String record = null;
try
FileReader fr = new FileReader(inputPath);
FileWriter fw = new FileWriter(outputPath);
BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(fr);
BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(fw);
record = new String();
while((record = br.readLine())!=null)
recordCount++;
//System.out.println(recordCount + ": " + record);
bw.write(record + "\n");
bw.close();
br.close();
fw.close();
fr.close();
}catch(IOException e)
System.out.println("IOException Error");
e.printStackTrace();
System.out.println(e.toString());
}

I assume by using the
System.getProperty("line.separator") that this will
work independent of platform.Yes. And using bw.println() instead of bw.print() will already do it for you. So all you need to change in your program are two letters.

Inserting new line to a text file at position #

Hi,.
Is it possible to do this in java?
1. Open a new text File (woutFile)
2. woutFile.write(" line #1\r\n"); // write new line
3. woutFile.write(" line #2\r\n"); // write new line
4.woutFile.write(" line #3\r\n"); // write new line
5. Go to line #2 position on a text file
6. Insert NEW LINE between line #2 and Line #3
7. move to the end-of-file
8.Close the file
Please help

Is it possible to do this? please look at question
inside comments.Your question has already been answered. Beyond that,
if you have some code and you want to know if it will
work, then run it and see.The answer was no. It's one of the fundamental properties of files that you cannot insert content in the middle, just at the end. To insert content you first have to make room for it. In this respect a file works like an array and not like a linked list.

Altering a text file using methods, help please!

Hi I'm new to this forum so please bear with me, my problem is I have written a program for a gym using methods, my program works fine but i need to add another switch (case 5:) to my program, this new switch needs to take the information from case 4: and enable me to change any details and store these changes into a new text file, I know i need a filewriter to store new details into a new text file but i cant figure out how to get the details from case 4: into case 5: and be able to alter these details on screen??, hope this is enough information as to what my problem is. Thnx
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;
import java.io.*;
     class GymProgram1
static void menu(String gym[][])
          int choice = 0;
while (choice < 1 || choice > 5)
String input = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter a numerical choice to...\n1: Find customers who smoke, lost weight, use cycles, treadmills, steps, skis or weights \n2: Find customers over a certain age \n3: Find average of all customers \n4: Find a customers details \n5: Exit");
          if (input == null)
          menu(gym);
          try
          choice = Integer.parseInt(input);
          catch (NumberFormatException e)
          switch (choice)
          case 1: search(gym, choice);
                    break;
          case 2: age(gym, choice);
                    break;
          case 3: average(gym, choice);
                    break;
          case 4: details(gym, choice);
                    break;
          default: System.exit(0);
menu(gym);
static void search(String gym[][], int choice)
          String output = "";
          int column = 0;
          boolean printed = false;
switch(choice)
case 1: int yessearch = 0;
     while (yessearch < 1 || yessearch > 7)
String input = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter a numerical choice to...\n1: Find customers that smoke \n2: Find customers who lost weight \n3: Find customers who use cycles \n4: Find customers who use treadmill \n5: Find customers who use steps \n6: Find customers who use ski's \n7: Find customers who use weights ");
          if (input == null)
          JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Cancel pressed");
          menu(gym);
          try
          yessearch = Integer.parseInt(input);
          catch (NumberFormatException e)
     switch (yessearch)
          case 1:     column = 3;
                    break;
          case 2: column = 4;
                    break;
          case 3:     column = 5;
                    break;
          case 4:     column = 6;
                    break;
          case 5:     column = 7;
                    break;
          case 6:     column = 8;
                    break;
          default:column = 9;
     for (int row = 0;row < gym.length ;row++ )
          if (gym[row][column].equalsIgnoreCase("yes"))
          output += gym[row][0] + " " + gym[row][1] + '\n';
          printed = true;
          if (printed == false)
          output = "No data found......";
          display(output);
static void age(String gym[][], int choice)
          String output = "";
          int column = 2;
          boolean printed = false;
          int ageentered=0;
          int customerage=0;
String input=JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter an age");
          if (input==null)
          JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Cancel pressed");
          menu(gym);
          try
          ageentered =Integer.parseInt(input);
          catch (NumberFormatException e)
switch(choice)
case 2:
     for (int row = 0;row < gym.length ;row++ )
          customerage=Integer.parseInt(gym[row][column]);
          if (ageentered <= customerage)
          output += gym[row][0] + " " + gym[row][1] + " = " + gym[row][2] + '\n';
          printed = true;
          if (printed == false)
          output = "No data found......";
          display(output);
menu(gym);
static void display(String output)
     JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, output);
static void average(String gym[][], int choice)
          boolean printed=false;
          String output="";
          int column = 0;
          int counter=0;
          int totalage=0;
          int average=0;
switch (choice)
case 3:
          column = 2;
     for (int row = 0;row < gym.length ;row++ )
          counter++;
          totalage+=Integer.parseInt(gym[row][2]);
          printed = true;
          average=totalage/counter;
          if (printed == false)
          output = "No data found......";
          output="Average age = " + average;
          display(output);
menu(gym);
static void details(String gym[][], int choice)
          String customer = "";
          String output = "";
          int column = 1;
          boolean printed = false;
switch (choice)
case 4: customer = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter a customers surname");
          if (customer == null)
          JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Cancel pressed");
          menu(gym);
     for (int row = 0;row < gym.length ;row++ )
          if (gym[row][column].equalsIgnoreCase(customer))
          output += gym[row][0] + " " + gym[row][1] + "\n age = " + gym[row][2] + "\n smoke = " + gym[row][3] + "\n weight loss = " + gym[row][4] + "\n cycles = " + gym[row][5]+ "\n treadmills = " + gym[row][6] + "\n steps = " + gym[row][7] + "\n skis = " + gym[row][8] + "\n weights = " + gym[row][9] + '\n';
          printed = true;
          if (printed == false)
          output = "No data found......";
          display(output);
static String[][] inputData()
          String gym[][] = new String[25][10];
     try
          FileReader file = new FileReader ("a:/assign.txt");
          BufferedReader buff = new BufferedReader(file);
     for (int row = 0;row<gym.length ;row++ )
          for (int column = 0; column < 10;column ++)
          gym[row][column] = buff.readLine();
          buff.close();
     catch (IOException e)
     System.out.println("Error - - " + e.toString());
     return gym;
public static void main(String[] args)
          String gym[][] = inputData();
          menu(gym);
     for (int row = 0;row < gym.length ;row++ )
          System.out.println(gym[row][0] + " " + gym[row][1] + " " + gym[row][2] + " " + gym[row][3] + " " + gym[row][4] + " " + gym[row][5] + " " + gym[row][6] + " " + gym[row][7] + " " + gym[row][8] + " " + gym[row][9]);
     }

Thnx for the reply TJ, I'm still confused about this problem, heres what ive done now and i still cant get the details of a customer up on the screen for me to change their details, i havnt pasted the whole program this time just what ive altered in the menu and case 5:, hope you can help.
static void menu(String gym[][])
          int choice = 0;
while (choice < 1 || choice > 6)
String input = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter a numerical choice to...\n1: Find customers who smoke, lost weight, use cycles, treadmills, steps, skis or weights \n2: Find customers over a certain age \n3: Find average of all customers \n4: Find a customers details \n5: Update a customers details \n6: Exit");
          if (input == null)
          menu(gym);
          try
          choice = Integer.parseInt(input);
          catch (NumberFormatException e)
          switch (choice)
          case 1: search(gym, choice);
                    break;
          case 2: age(gym, choice);
                    break;
          case 3: average(gym, choice);
                    break;
          case 4:
          case 5: details(gym, choice);
                    break;
          default: System.exit(0);
menu(gym);
static void details(String gym[][], int choice)
          String customer = "";
          String output = "";
          int column = 1;
          boolean printed = false;
switch (choice)
case 4: customer = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Enter a customers surname");
          if (customer == null)
          JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Cancel pressed");
          menu(gym);
          for (int row = 0;row < gym.length ;row++ )
          if (gym[row][column].equalsIgnoreCase(customer))
          output += gym[row][0] + " " + gym[row][1] + "\n age = " + gym[row][2] + "\n smoke = " + gym[row][3] + "\n weight loss = " + gym[row][4] + "\n cycles = " + gym[row][5]+ "\n treadmills = " + gym[row][6] + "\n steps = " + gym[row][7] + "\n skis = " + gym[row][8] + "\n weights = " + gym[row][9] + '\n';
          printed = true;
          if (printed == false)
          output = "No data found......";
          display(output);
case 5:
     try
          String display1 = "assign.txt";
          FileInputStream fi = new FileInputStream(display1);
          byte inData[] = new byte[fi.available()];
          fi.read(inData);
          fi.close();
          String text = new String(inData);
          String textToAppend = "kjkjhjhKJ";
          byte outData[] = textToAppend.getBytes();
          FileOutputStream fo = new FileOutputStream(display1,true);
          fo.write(outData);
          fo.close();
     catch(Exception e)
     System.out.println("Error - - " + e.toString());
display(output);
menu (gym);
}

Can I Export to Text File?

hi,
can i export my ical events to a text file?
thanks.
samantha

I have figured out a way to do this with free available programs:
Download this program:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/faview.html
Faview will allow the bookmarks exported in html format to be saved as a text file. This text file is in a uniform state.
Open the text file with a spreadsheet program. I used the free program called spread32.exe that can be found anywhere on the internet.
Highlight all the columns and do a sort by Column A. The urls will now be in alphabetical order at the bottom of the spreadsheet. Cut and paste into a new text file.

Contextual menu (rightMouseClick) ... new text file ... in 10.6 - howto?

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