Setting variables from path

Question

How can I set the name of a value from an alias such as
"P & M:Editorial Photography:THISFOLDER:fpo:Book Shelf:"
to
"THISFOLDER"
Basically I want to set the name of a value to whatever the name of the second level folder up from the given path is.
Pedro

Answer 1

on script_title()
Filename : ExtractDirNameFromPath.scp.as
Pathame : ExtractDirNameFromPath.scpt (Script Debugger)
Author : Bill Hernandez
Version : 1.0.0
Updated : Friday, December 15, 2006 ( 12:18 AM )
end script_title
-- ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ ---------+---------
on script_notes()
How can I set the name of a value from an alias such as
"P & M:Editorial Photography:THISFOLDER:fpo:Book Shelf:"
to
"THISFOLDER"
Basically I want to set the name of a value to whatever the name of the
second level folder up from the given path is.
Pedro
end script_notes
-- ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ ---------+---------
property NoOfLevelsFromTheEnd : 2
-- ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ ---------+---------
on run
tell me
set delim to ":"
set theText to "P & M:Editorial Photography:THISFOLDER:fpo:Book Shelf:"
set aList to SplitString(delim, theText)
set NoOfItems to count items in aList
set whichItem to (NoOfItems - NoOfLevelsFromTheEnd)
set myVar to (item whichItem of aList)
my ShowMsg(myVar, 5)
end tell
end run
-- ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ ---------+---------
on SplitString(delim, theText)
if (the last character of theText is equal to delim) then
set theText to (characters 1 thru -2 of theText) as string
end if
set old_delims to get AppleScript's text item delimiters -- always preserve original delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to delim
set theList to text items of theText
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to old_delims -- always restore original delimiters
return theList
end SplitString
-- ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ ---------+---------
on join(theList, delim)
set old_delims to AppleScript's text item delimiters -- always preserve original delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to delim
set theStr to theList as string
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to old_delims -- always restore original delimiters
return theStr
end join
-- ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ ---------+---------
on ShowMsg(s, howLong)
tell application "Finder"
activate
if (howLong = 0) then
set theTime to 3
else
set theTime to howLong
end if
set b1 to "OK"
display dialog s buttons {b1} default button {b1} giving up after theTime
end tell
end ShowMsg
-- ---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------