Keep Arranged By (icons)

Question

I would like to write a script that, when run, would have the same effect as clicking on the desktop, navigating to menubar>View>ShowViewOptions>, and then setting the "Arrange by" field to the value of my choosing. I can't seem to make this happen using the "view options" and "arrangement" properties of finder because it has difficulty with the fact that the desktop is actually pointing to things that exist in AFS space. I'd like to get it done by way of menu tells since that has at least appeared to be more promising. Using tells, I can choose the "Show View Options" menu item, but I can't seem to access anything therein.
Here is my code:
tell application "Finder"
activate desktop
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Finder"
tell menu bar 1
tell menu bar item "View"
tell menu "View"
tell menu item "Show View Options"
get properties
get entire contents
end tell
end tell
end tell
end tell
end tell
end tell
end tell
In the above code, get properties does return the properties of the window, but get contents returns empty braces. Furthermore, I don't know what language I should use to refer to the menu item that contains the arrangement options.
I'd appreciate any help on the matter.
Message was edited by: Halling

Answer 1

You know, I was about to use the various window properties from *Finder's scripting dictionary*, but then I noticed that the *column view options* don't have an *arrange by* property. Since there is one in the *VIew Options* window (even though the menu item is grayed out) and it appears to work, I took another look.
The problem with getting at those popup menu items is that the menu doesn't really exist until you actually press the popup button. Then, those sneaky folks at Apple tend to do stuff like hide one item inside of another, or don't give names to items, or number items backwards from what it look like - you know, fun stuff. If you have the *Developer Tools* installed, there is a handy utility for looking at the various GUI elements at /Developer/Applications/Utilities/Accessibility Tools/Accessibility Inspector.app, although it may still look like Greek.
Give this script a try (I threw in a general purpose MenuClick handler at no extra charge):
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
font-weight: normal;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px; height: 340px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #FFEE80;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
on run -- example
MenuClick at {"Finder", "View", "Show View Options"}
tell application "System Events" to tell front window of application process "Finder"
tell pop up button 1
perform action "AXPress"
tell menu item "Date Created" of menu 1 to perform action "AXPress"
(* 1 = Name
2 = Date Modified
3 = Date Created
4 = Size
5 = Kind
6 = Label *)
end tell
end tell
MenuClick at {"Finder", "View", "Hide View Options"}
end run
to MenuClick at MenuItems
click a menu item in an application (the application will be activated)
    the number of menu items is not fixed, but must be at least 3 (application, menu, item)
    the last menu item doesn't need to be exact, just close enough for a match - it can also be an integer
  parameters: MenuItems [list] -
item 1 [text]: the application name
item 2 [text]: the menu bar item name
item(s) 3+ [text]: the menu item(s)
returns [boolean]: true if successful, false if no match or error
try
set ItemCount to the count of the items in MenuItems
if ItemCount is less than 3 then error "MenuClick handler:  menu item list contains too few items"
set {appName, MenuName} to items 1 thru 2 of MenuItems
set MenuItem to the last item of MenuItems
tell application appName to activate
tell application "System Events" -- set up the menu path
set MyMenu to menu MenuName of menu bar item MenuName of menu bar 1 of application process appName
if ItemCount is greater than 3 then -- process any sub menu items
repeat with MyItem from 3 to (ItemCount - 1)
set MenuName to item MyItem of MenuItems
set MyMenu to menu MenuName of menu item MenuName of MyMenu
end repeat
end if
if class of MenuItem is integer then
click menu item MenuItem of MyMenu
return true
else -- look for a match in the target menu
repeat with MyItem in (get name of menu items of MyMenu)
if MyItem contains MenuItem then -- can also use 'begins with'
click menu item MyItem of MyMenu
return true
end if
end repeat
error "MenuClick handler:  menu item \"" & MenuItem & "\" not found" -- no match
end if
end tell
on error ErrorMessage number ErrorNumber
if (ErrorNumber is -128) or (ErrorNumber is -1711) then
return false -- user cancelled
else
error ErrorMessage number ErrorNumber
end if
end try
end MenuClick
</pre>
Edit: the above script only works in Icon and Column views (the only popup button in List view is for text size)