Folder action kicks in too early

I have a little applescript that is to add all files that are added to a specific folder to an iTunes playlist.
I added the script as a folder action to the folder.
It seems to work fine with single files.
However, when I copy several files (which takes a few seconds), then the script gets started too early, i.e., when only half of the files have been copied over. Consequently, only some of the files get added to the playlist.
In addition, when I copy a large number of files, it doesn't seem to work at all.
Any ideas what's wrong? or what I can do?
(Is this a bug in Mac OS? I read about an issue in 10.5 where folder actions got started before a single files was finished copying, but I haven't seen of any hints about my problem.)
Any kind of help will be highly appreciated.
Best regards,
Gabriel.
PS:
Here is my script, for completeness
Automatically add the files that are dropped on this applescript to
playlist named below.
To adapt it for a different playlist, just change the name below and save as application.
In addition, you can add this script as a folder action
Author: Gabriel Zachmann, Feb 2010
property playListName : "Hoerspiele"
on open theseFiles
addTheFiles(theseFiles)
end open
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
addTheFiles(added_items)
end adding folder items to
to addTheFiles(theFiles)
tell application id "com.apple.iTunes"
activate
set playL to some playlist whose name is playListName
set playID to persistent ID of playL
--display dialog ("persistent ID = " & playID) buttons {"OK"} default button 1
reveal (some playlist whose persistent ID is playID)
repeat with aFile in theFiles
try
add aFile to some playlist whose persistent ID is playID
end try
-- set new date, so we know later when we copied the files
set the file_path to the quoted form of the POSIX path of aFile
do shell script ("/bin/touch " & file_path)
end repeat
end tell
end addTheFiles
Message was edited by: GabrielZ

folder actions have always been buggy and this has always been an issue when folder actions have to process many files at the same time. it's supposed to have gotten better in snow leopard but it's still very far from being reliable. you can try the following trick to slow down your folder action and make it wait to process individual items before they are all copied. that might (or might not ) help
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8277780#8277780

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I finally go Folders Action to work, after being unable to use it even for a simple beep for years now.
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1. Changed permissions to 755 for the following folder and two contained files (note that 775 didn't work for me)
~/Library/LaunchAgents/
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.FolderActions.enabled.plist
~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.FolderActions.folders.plist
2. Changed the following lines within ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.FolderActions.enabled.plist (using TextWrangler)
from:
<key>OnDemand</key>
<false/>
to:
<key>OnDemand</key>
<true/>
Prior to the permissions changes within #1 above, the value of <true/> kept getting changed back to <false/> by something in the system... and though
there was improvement by the permissions changes, the following console message appeared until false was changed to true.
com.apple.FolderActions.enabled[4127] launchctl: Error unloading: com.apple.FolderActions.folders
At this point true is staying true, and not being changed by unknown forces to false, and the above message is not appearing.
3. The only other thing I did prior to #1 and #2 above, was to run the script (unsaved),
tell application "/System/Library/CoreServices/Folder Actions Dispatcher.app" to tick
This little tell line caused something to occur where my Folder Action surprised me and worked for the first time though it took about 30 seconds and was erratic,
sometimes performing, sometimes not, though if I would do move something into the folder to trigger the action that should occur, and did not occur, then at the point
running the above tell line or script would cause the action to occur.
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5. This is still too early to tell if this is the wonder pill I've needed since Leopard, and now Snow Leopard (and maybe Tiger as well: I forget when I even tried Folder Actions).
There was a time when I moved things around, so that the items normally found in the former AppleScript folder, were placed elsewhere in subfolders, so I don't know if that lead to this...
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<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
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padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
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Does anyone know how I can prevent the folder action being aborted when new files are dropped and placing the new files in "Hold", until the previous files are processed? How can I prevent a folder action being aborted when a item is dropped into another folder?
I've written a small script to test this behaviour. Just create one or more folders and attach the script below. Drop a item into the folder, wait a few seconds and drop another one in the same or another folder. To monitor what happens please check the console.
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
          set FolderName to this_folder as string
          set ItemName to added_items as string
          repeat with theIncrementValue from 1 to 15
delay 2
                    do shell script ("logger \"Folder: " & FolderName & " - Item: " & ItemName & " - Step: " & theIncrementValue & "\"")
          end repeat
          do shell script ("logger \"Folder: " & FolderName & " - Item: " & ItemName & " - Done...\"")
end adding folder items to
Thanks for any feedback.

That is pretty much the way Folder Actions work, especially since AppleScript is not multi-threaded. If you are using them as some intermediate step in a workflow, you might rethink the way you are handling the files (for example, use a droplet instead). Other options would be using launchd to watch a path or a shell script on a different thread.

Folder Action Problems with Leopard 10.5.8

My company recently upgraded from 10.4.11 to 10.5.8 and our folder actions have been stopping mid-process or not working at all. Sometimes a few files will process and then everything stops completely.
Our workflow involves the use of several different hot folders that use folder actions (converting InDesign CS4 documents to various quality of PDFs). All of the actions are single stream, meaning each folder does the action it's assigned and the original file is trashed and the new file remains in the folder. There are no subsequent folder actions that pull from the newly processed files. We also only run one folder action (with several files dropped in it) at a time.
I have also tried running a pre-made generic folder action script from Apple and it, too will stop mid-process, process a few files then stop, or not work at all.
Does anyone know what might be causing this problem with either the new Applescript or Folder Actions with Leopard 10.5.8?

I have several scripts that all work different ways. One script I have opens the InDesign document, exports a PDF to a different folder located elsewhere on the hard drive (where a different script searches for PDFs). After this the original document is sent to the trash. Nothing new is created in the original Folder Action Scripted folder.
What's more, even Apple's stock Folder Actions don't work properly and stop mid-process. I've seen vague reports of 10.5.8 having issues with Applescript or Leopard in general. The fact this script works perfectly in 10.4.11 makes me think that something has changed with the way Leopard handles the FA's.

Folder action kicks in too early

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