PSCS3 Mac: Can't get Applescript to open "desktop:folder:file.jpg"

Question

I have Photoshop CS3 and am scripting a lengthy workflow, and part of it requires that I get Metadata out of files using Photoshop.
I can not get Photoshop to open a file. Once I have the file open, I can get the metadata out using UI scripting, but I have tried numerous approaches to open files and it has me stumped.
I am making it as a function that I can call from the main script which compares a new list of files with a list that is a few minutes old to determine which files are new and repeats with each file in the list. So the function will be getting a file name or a path.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Brian

Answer 1

I got it! It needs to be an alias class path, and I had to concatenate the path incrementally before finally the whole path is in one variable I could coerce into an alias.
Of course, this is just one segment of the whole workflow.
tell application "Finder"
activate
set fileList to name of (items of folder "to gallery" of desktop)
repeat
set newFileList to name of (items of folder "to gallery" of desktop)
if length of newFileList > 0 then
repeat with thisFile in newFileList
if thisFile is in fileList then
else
my PSInfoGalAdd(thisFile)
end if
end repeat
set fileList to newFileList
end if
delay 30 --This will eventually be 4 minutes
end repeat
end tell
on PSInfoGalAdd(thisFile)
tell application "Adobe Photoshop CS3"
activate
set desktopPath to path to desktop
set toGalPath to desktopPath & "to gallery:" as string
set wholePath to toGalPath & thisFile
set openIt to wholePath as alias
open openIt
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Adobe Photoshop CS3"
key code 34 using {command down, option down, shift down} --File info window
delay 4
repeat 12 times
key code 125 --down arrow to Origin
delay 0.2
end repeat
repeat 5 times
key code 48 --tab to credit
delay 0.2
end repeat
key code 8 using command down --copy
delay 0.3
set credit to the clipboard
repeat 3 times
key code 48 --tab to instructions
delay 0.2
end repeat
key code 0 using command down --select all
delay 0.3
key code 8 using command down --copy
delay 0.3
set headline to the clipboard
key code 48 --tab to transmission reference
key code 0 using command down --select all
delay 0.3
key code 8 using command down --copy
delay 0.3
set body to the clipboard
key code 48 --tab
key code 36 --return key to dismiss info window
end tell
end tell
end tell
end PSInfoGalAdd