Looking for, and replace special characters

Question

Hi
I am quite new to AppleScript and can't figure this out. Any help would be appreciated.
I have received several (a lot of) folders containing images with some strange characters in the file names. The images has to go to web, and I want to replace those characters with some that are web friendly. The characters in question is some Swedish A's and O's (Ä, ä, Ö, ö) and one that looks like the Apple Command symbol. (I was told this one is a combination of a and e).
Then, I would like to replace all spaces between the words in the file names with an underscore.
In addition, all image file names start with capitals and I would like to replace these as well.
Thanks
Neal
G5   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

Answer 1

Here's a modified version of the standard script:
try
tell application "Finder" to set the source_folder to (folder of the front window) as alias
on error -- no open folder windows
set the source_folder to path to desktop folder as alias
end try
display dialog "Search and replace in:" buttons {"File Names", "Folder Names", "Both"} default button 3
set the search_parameter to the button returned of the result
repeat
display dialog "Enter text to find in the item names:" default answer "" buttons {"Cancel", "OK"} default button 2
set the search_string to the text returned of the result
if the search_string is not "" then exit repeat
end repeat
repeat
display dialog "Enter replacement text:" default answer "" buttons {"Cancel", "OK"} default button 2
set the replacement_string to the text returned of the result
if the replacement_string contains ":" then
beep
display dialog "A file or folder name cannot contain a colon (:)." buttons {"Cancel", "OK"} default button 2
else if the replacement_string contains "/" then
beep
display dialog "A file or folder name cannot contain a forward slash (/)." buttons {"Cancel", "OK"} default button 2
else
exit repeat
end if
end repeat
display dialog "Replace “" & the search_string & "” with “" & the replacement_string & "” in every item name?" buttons {"Cancel", "OK"} default button 2
tell application "Finder"
set the item_list to every item of entire contents of source_folder
tell me
set item_list to reverse of the item_list
end tell
set source_folder to source_folder as string
repeat with i from 1 to number of items in the item_list
set the_name to name of item i of the item_list
set this_item to item i of the item_list
set this_info to properties of this_item
set the current_name to the_name
set change_flag to false
repeat with this_char from 1 to (count items of search_string)
if the current_name contains item this_char of (search_string) then
if the search_parameter is "Folder Names" and ¬
folder of this_info is true then
set the change_flag to true
else if the search_parameter is "File Names" and ¬
folder of this_info is false then
set the change_flag to true
else if the search_parameter is "Both" then
set the change_flag to true
end if
if the change_flag is true then
set this_item to item i of the item_list
-- replace target string using delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the item this_char of search_string
set the textitemlist to every text item of the current_name
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the item this_char of replacement_string
set the newitemname to the textitemlist as string
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
set the current_name to newitemname
end if
end if
end repeat
my setitem_name(thisitem, current_name)
end repeat
end tell
beep 2
on setitem_name(thisitem, newitemname)
tell application "Finder"
--activate
set the parentcontainerpath to (get the container of this_item) as text
if not (exists item (the parentcontainerpath & newitemname)) then
try
set the name of this_item to newitemname
return this_item
on error the error_message number the error_number
if the error_number is -59 then
set the error_message to "This name contains improper characters, such as a colon (:)."
else --the suggested name is too long
set the error_message to error_message -- "The name is more than 31 characters long."
end if
--beep
tell me to display dialog the error_message default answer newitemname buttons {"Cancel", "Skip", "OK"} default button 3
copy the result as list to {newitemname, button_pressed}
if the button_pressed is "Skip" then return 0
my setitem_name(thisitem, newitemname)
end try
else --the name already exists
--beep
tell me to display dialog "This name is already taken, please rename." default answer newitemname buttons {"Cancel", "Skip", "OK"} default button 3
copy the result as list to {newitemname, button_pressed}
if the button_pressed is "Skip" then return 0
my setitem_name(thisitem, newitemname)
end if
end tell
end setitemname
This script variant works by accepting a source string in the form "AB" and desired string "CD". When run, ABCA will become CDCC with the sample strings.
(19254)