How to script File Menu "Create Archive of..."

Question

I have been trying to script the File Menu's "Create Archive" command but i can't figure out how to add the quote characters around the items name when only one item is selected for archiving. I have tried the escape character but applescript errors on it. I can get it to work if I use menu item number, but that varies by system.
here is what I have so far.
try
tell application "Finder"
activate
select item "PicaX4:BackUp:"
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Finder"
-- create archive
click menu item "Create Archive of \"BackUp\" " of menu 1 of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1
end tell
end tell
on error errMsg
end try
on a related topic, how do I wait for the completion of the archive process so I can then do something with the zip file?
any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
thank you, greg

Answer 1

Since 'Create archive' basically creates a .zip file, it would be far easier to use a shell script to do this:
do shell script "/usr/bin/zip -r /Volumes/PicaX4/BackUp.zip /Volumes/PicaX4/BackUp"
If you still want to take the UI approach you should note that the menu item uses 'smart' quotes “and” and not the regular quotes.