Simple Automator+Applescript Question

EvoCam has a feature where when an event happens, such as motion, the app quits, starts, etc., it can run an AppleScript. I'd rather use automator, because it's just easier to understand for me. I wrote and automator workflow. However, as I mentioned, EvoCam only runs AppleScripts. Can someone give me an AppleScript to run an Automator workflow? I assume there is a way to run it. If not, I'll just save it as an app and have applescript run the app.
iMac Intel Core Duo 17" Mac OS X (10.4.8) iPod mini 2nd Gen 4GB

I was able to find the answer by using Script Editor's record function and then modifying the code it gave me.
iMac Intel Core Duo 17" Mac OS X (10.4.8) iPod mini 2nd Gen 4GB

Similar Messages

Thinking Home Home Automation Applescript Question

Hello,
I have a quick question on writing an applescript for Thinking Home 2.02. I'm just looking to do a few basic functions like turn off device "x" turn on device "y" etc. Any ideas? I looked in the dictionary for the application but I keep getting the error that it "can't get the device "b2" of controller "usb". Any ideas? Thanks again!
tell application "Thinking Home"
activate
tell controller "USB"
turn on device "B2"
end tell
end tell

Looking at the dictionary, it seems that you should be using something like:
turn on device address "B 2"
In other words you're missing the 'address' property. Without that it is assumes you're providing a name which is more likely to be something like "Living room lamp" or "Coffee machine".

Help Needed: Automator Applescript for Folder Action - Encode Video

Hi !
I have created an Automator Applescript for a Folder Action to do the following:
When a new video file is moved to the target folder (i.e. Download of Vuze is done), automatically launch the Applescript Action that does the followin g(Applescripted):
1) Using "run shell script" and FFMPEG on a UNIX command line, determine Width/Height, Framerate, Bitrate
2) Calculate encoding parameters (slightly reduced bitrate, reduced Aspect etc.)
3) Using "run shell script" with ffmpeg on the command line and the calculated parameters to encode the video file
At the same time, the action is written to a log file so I know if a file is recognized, when encoding started etc.
It works fine if I save this Action as an .app, make an alias on the Desktop and drop video files on it.
It also works fine if I attach the script to a folder as a folder action and drag a video file in there.
However, when I attach the script as a folder action to the Vuze download folder, it encodes only some video files, i.e. if there was a download of 5 files, chances are good that it will not encode 1 or 2 files out of those 5.
If for example a second download finishes while the encoding for the first download is still going on, sometimes the second file starts encoding after the first encode finishes, sometimes it does not, the file does not make the log file at all, i.e. the folder action missed it or the automator action dropped it because it was still encoding. Still, sometimes it happens, sometimes not.
As I need a solution that is 100% accurate, I would like to ask if there are any ideas on how to do this better maybe? As I am not an Applescript Guru, I would need some help to know what works and what doesn't and what the syntax is.
My main idea right now:
Similar to how ffmpegX works with its "process" application, have a second script (as .app) that receives the files to be encoded from the automator action and puts them in a queue, then proceeds to encode this queue while the main automator action is free to receive the next file.
Writing this second app is quite straightforward (a modified version of my current script) but I have some questions I need help with:
1) How do I call another applescript from within an existing applescript that launches the new applescript in a new process?
2) How do I pass parameters to this new applescript?
3) In case of this "Queueing" Idea, once I called the external applescript the first time, how do I make sure when I call next time, that I don't open a second instance of this script but rather pass another queue item to the original instance to be processed?
Or in general: Is there a better way to achieve this automatic encoding solution that I have not thought about?
Alternatively:
Does anyone know how to call the "process" application that comes with the ffmpegX package with the correct parameters to use as a queueing / processing tool?
Thanks!
Joe
Message was edited by: Joe15000
Message was edited by: Joe15000

To do this, I created an Automator workflow with an Applescript snippet to change the 'media kind'.
Here is the 'Run Applescript' workflow step code:
on run {input, parameters}
          tell application "iTunes"
                    set video kind of (item 1 of input) to movie
          end tell
          return input
end run
Prior to this running, I have an 'Import Files into iTunes' workflow step.
You can switch out 'movie' with: 'TV show', 'music video', or anything in ITLibMediaItemMediaKind.
Good luck,
Glenn

Help with simple Automator script

I have a simple Automator script for updating a specified folder with files from another folder. It consists of only two actions:
1. Get Folder Contents (from the folder I drop on the Automator executable).
2. Copy Finder Items.
I left the option "replace existing files" unchecked because there's no point in replacing a bunch of files that already exist (we're talking about 4000-5000 files in the source folder). I assumed that meant to ignore any existing files but, on the contrary, I found out that the script is copying duplicates of all the existing files -- making my target folder about 9000 files strong!
How do I get a command into the middle of this script to restrict the Copy Finder Items command to files that do not already exist in the target folder? (It would be even nicer if it could check for files that are older than the files being copied and actually replace (only) those as well.)
Any ideas?

If you need the Terminal window to stay open, then you're looking at scripting Terminal. You can do this with Automator's run applescript action, or you can just use Script Editor (in Applications > AppleScript). Either way you will need to save the workflow/script as an application and drag it to your Login Items (in System Preferences > Accounts).
click here to open this script in your editor<pre style="font-family: 'Monaco', 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; overflow:auto; color: #222; background: #DDD; padding: 0.2em; font-size: 10px; width:400px">tell application "Terminal"
activate
set commands to "cd /Users/lenny/ventrilo/
/Users/lenny/ventrilo/ventrilo_srv"
do script commands in front window
end tell</pre>
PowerMac G5 (June 2004) 2x1.8GHz 1.25GB, PowerBook G4 (12-inch DVI) 1x1GHz 768MB Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Can't get simple Automator actions (services) to work

I've been trying to get very simple Automator services to work in 10.6.2 but I can't. Here's an example.
I launch Automator, and hit Services, then choose:
Service receives selected: audio files in: any application.
Then add an action: Set Info of iTunes Songs, and fill in some of the fields. Then I hit save and give it a filename "iTunes Assign Info."
When I go to the Finder and right-click on an MP3, I see an option there for "iTunes Assign Info" and I select it, but it doesn't work -- the file never gets those properties.
Same thing happens for a similar action for graphic files:
Service receives selected: files and folders in: any application
Then I add some resizing and scaling actions. Then I save. I test by right-clicking on a JPG in the finder, choosing my action, but the action never takes effect.
What am I doing wrong?

David Das wrote:
On the 1st: an iTunes song is an MP3 (or AAC, or WAV, or AIFF). There's no difference.
oh yes, there is.
this is a computer program. it has to be precise. it only understand input of certain format which in this case is an itunes object not an mp3 file. the action uses scripting tools of itunes. it only works with with items in itunes library. and it says so. to use it you'd have to import the track into itunes first, change the title info and spit the file back out. there are scripts out there that do that. look here
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/
there may be one that does what you want there already.
And Automator allows such a file to be passed from the Finder to it. Plus the metadata gets written directly to the file (not to iTunes), therefore, that action should work. (The description doesn't say it won't; it slightly implies that it will.)
Anyway...
On the second (image resize), I should have mentioned that I tried it both with and without Get Selected Finder Items and neither works.
works perfectly for me as a service without "get selected finder items".

Simple X-fi Question, Please Help

!Simple X-fi Question, Please HelpL I've been looking for an external sound card that is similar to the 2002 Creative Extigy and think I may found it in the Creative X-Fi. I have some questions about the X-fi though. Can the X-fi:
1. Input sound from an optical port
2. Output that sound to 5. surround- Front, surround, center/sub
3. Is the X-Fi stand-alone, external, and powered by a USB or a wall outlet (you do not need a computer hooked up to it)
Basically I want to connect a TosLink optical cable from my Xbox to the X-Fi. That will deli'ver the sound to the X-Fi. Then I want that sound to go to a 5. headset that is connected to the X-fi via 5. front, surround, and center/sub wires. The X-Fi has to be stand-alone and cannot be connected to a PC to do this.
Thank you for your help.

The connector must match, and the connector polarity (plus and minus voltage) must match. Sorry, I don't know if the positive voltage goes on the inside of the connector or the outside. Any wattage of 12 or more should be adequate.
Message Edited by toomanydonuts on 01-10-2008 01:29 AM

Simple Crop tool question... how do I save the crop section?

Hi,
I have a very simple crop tool question. I'm a photoshop girl usually... so Illustrator is new to me. When I select the crop section I want... how do I save it?... if I select another tool in the tool panel, the crop section disappears and I can't get it back when I re-select Crop tool. If I select Save as... it saves the whole document...and not just my crop section.
Like I said, simple question...but I just don't know the secret to the Illustrator crop tool.
Thanks!
Yzza

Either press the Tab key or F key.

A Simpler, More Direct Question About Merge Joins

This thread is related to Merge Joins Should Be Faster and Merge Join but asks a simpler, more direct question:
Why does merge sort join choose to sort data that is already sorted? Here are some Explain query plans to illustrate my point.
SQL> EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
2 SELECT * FROM spoTriples ORDER BY s;
PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
|   0 | SELECT STATEMENT |              |   998K|    35M| 5311   (1)| 00:01:04|
|   1 | INDEX FULL SCAN | PKSPOTRIPLES |   998K|    35M| 5311   (1)| 00:01:04|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Notice that the plan does not involve a SORT operation. This is because spoTriples is an Index-Organized Table on the primary key index of (s,p,o), which contains all of the columns in the table. This means the table is already sorted on s, which is the column in the ORDER BY clause. The optimizer is taking advantage of the fact that the table is already sorted, which it should.
Now look at this plan:
SQL> EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
2 SELECT /*+ USE_MERGE(t1 t2) */ t1.s, t2.s
3 FROM spoTriples t1, spoTriples t2
4 WHERE t1.s = t2.s;
Explained.
PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
|   0 | SELECT STATEMENT       |              |    11M|   297M|       | 13019 (6)| 00:02:37 |
|   1 | MERGE JOIN            |              |    11M|   297M|       | 13019 (6)| 00:02:37 |
|   2 |   SORT JOIN            |              |   998K|    12M|    38M| 6389 (4)| 00:01:17 |
|   3 |    INDEX FAST FULL SCAN| PKSPOTRIPLES |   998K|    12M|       | 1460 (3)| 00:00:18 |
|* 4 |   SORT JOIN            |              |   998K|    12M|    38M| 6389 (4)| 00:01:17 |
|   5 |    INDEX FAST FULL SCAN| PKSPOTRIPLES |   998K|    12M|       | 1460 (3)| 00:00:18 |
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
   4 - access("T1"."S"="T2"."S")
       filter("T1"."S"="T2"."S")I'm doing a self join on the column by which the table is sorted. I'm using a hint to force a merge join, but despite the data already being sorted, the optimizer insists on sorting each instance of spoTriples before doing the merge join. The sort should be unnecessary for the same reason that it is unnecessary in the case with the ORDER BY above.
Is there anyway to make Oracle be aware of and take advantage of the fact that it doesn't have to sort this data before merge joining it?

Licensing questions are best addressed by visiting the Oracle store, or contacting a salesrep in your area
But I doubt you can redistribute the product if you aren't licensed yourself.
Question 3 and 4 have obvious answers
3: Even if you could this is illegal
4: if tnsping is not included in the client, tnsping is not included in the client, and there will be no replacement.
Tnsping only establishes whether a listener is running and shouldn't be called from an application
Sybrand Bakker
Senior Oracle DBA

Simple Automation question

OK, I can't imagine that this is something that Logic missed out, probably just an oversight on my part, but Ive dedicatad some time to this and still no answer, so here goes:
I use Logic 8.0, Ive noticed that with the exception of volume level automation, NONE of logic's strip channel controllers get automated, including pan, busses, etc... In other words, I set up logic for Touch/Latch mode, I press play, if I move the volume level it will write nodes as it goes along, but if I try and manipulate any other controller, via the channel strip or external control surface I get nothing, the only thing i get is the OVERALL value of the specific controller Im trying to manipulate will move, but it wont "create nodes" as I go along, even when in touch/latch/write modes.
what am i doing wrong??
I also have problems when I try to assign an "other..." controller number in Hyper Draw, sometimes it freezes, and sometimes it just wont select a different controller, but simply stay on Bank MSB.
Can anyone here please shed some light into this matter?
Thanks!

zukodany wrote:
Can anyone here please shed some light into this matter?
Thanks!
As long as you shed some light as to what controller you're using...
I'm with a MC Control and MC Mix, and all the automation gets nodes on my machine, since 8.0.2, when I bought these units. I have not really used LP9 too much yet, so I cannot opine on that version's operation.
Cheers

Simple AppleScript question I think

I have hundreds of jpg images some with but most without the .jpg extension. I'm not great at script writing to be honest. I can write the initial part that changes the name of one file but who couldn't. My bigger problem is I need to to go through multiple folders and add the extension to the images that need it.
I was trying to fix my artwork in iTunes for CD art. In some cases the art downloaded art is wrong I have the artwork due to a database I am running, but in the older system OS the extensions weren't a deal breaker. But now it seems to be an issue.
So my folders are as follows:
CD Art
Then genre like Rock/Pop
Tthen band name
Inside that folder would be the images all of which I know to be jpg's
it would be awesome to have it go to "CD Art" and then go through all the folders and sub folders and add .jpg to the images that are missing the extension.
Ken

Aslink wrote:
Thank you so much for your time however after re creating this in automator and running it nothing happened to my image files. I may not understand anything that was typed but I know I can copy and paste.
Ken
Lets debug it.
Use this in the Run Shell Script Action:
for f in "$@"
do
if [ "${f%.*}" = "$f" ] ; then
t=$( file -b "$f" | cut -d ' ' -f1 )
echo "$t" "$f"
fi
done
Then after it runs, click [Results] in the Run Shell Script Action.
This will give a list of the type of all files without extensions and the location.
Are you seeing any JPEG listed?

ICal questions, maybe going into applescript question

Hello, I am trying to create a recurring ICAL event with different titles for a time period. It is simple, I want on monday of everyweek tor 7 monthes to read, week1, week2, week3 etc. Is this possibe in ICAL, or possible via applescript (beginner applescripter)?
Thanks!

All do-able in DVDSP... and pretty easy to do as well.
You can create the menus with links to the chapters in your track (which will play the chapter and then continue), you can set the chapters into stories and point the menu buttons to those instead and you can set each story to go back to the right menu.
You can then point a play all button at the track itself, which will then play all... which hopefully answers mish's question as well as yours.
Much of this is in the tutorials that come with DVDSP, and it is well worth your time going through those if you haven't already moved up to DVDSP. There is a lot of help available on this forum as well, mind you!

Ridiculously simple audio editing question for Garage Band

Ok, so this is really a fundamental
question. It concerns editing technique.
In analog mixing, the editor put
the sounds to be saved in the right
places on each of several tracks --
narration, sound effects, lip sync,
music, etc. The tracks were then
all locked together and the mixer
adjusted the volumes to either save
or reject audio information.
A blank master received the information
and that was your final product,
in sync, sprocket by sprocket, with
the video.
My question, then, is, how do you
do it in digital multitrack such as
Garage Band? Are you aiming to have
4 or 5 tracks all level controlled
or do you simple erase unwanted
sound, or what exactly do you do,
in post production? If you are going
to do a voice over, then you have to
do a mix at some point, not just a
cut and paste. What's the philosophy,
if you don't mind my asking?
Thanks,
Ed

Wow... you gave me flashbacks to a movie soundtrack I scored, with separate reels of tape all synced up and whirling away for final mixdown!
To answer your question as best I can in a paragraph or two, digital mixing is unlimited compared to analog. Whereas tape has a physical limit, you can always add another digital track (there are limitations to digital, but they are becoming harder to reach as systems become increasingly powerful). So no need to erase. Editing is also a breeze. Digital tracks are endlessly malleable, with virtually every parameter available for automation.
Sometimes you might mix down to stems or mix everything down to a stereo master (or alternative mixes) for post production. Similarly, in post, they can deal with huge numbers of digital tracks from different sources.
In terms of a professional workflow, Logic is the more typical choice over Garageband, and includes a number of features designed for scoring to picture: variable sample rates, frame rates, etc.
Gain staging in digital recording is different than in analog, and it requires a different approach to achieve excellent sounding results. But the digital workflow is so much more flexible, forgiving, and economical, that it has been the death-knell for the analog workflow. Infinite bussing, routing, mixing, comping, storing, stemming... infinite possibilities, really!

Automator (Newbie Question)

Hi,
I'm new to automator and got a free Compare Folders action from the excellent
http://www.completedigitalphotography.com/index.php?cat=10
website.
I have tried dragging it in to the automator window and saving it as a finder plugin.
I imagined that when I multi-select two folders on my desktop, right click and choose the action from the drop down it should run and tell me which are different or similar or something.
Instead it just runs and then nothing happens, no alerts, no errors.
Here's a link to the Action, which seems pretty useful...
http://www.completedigitalphotography.com/Features/OtherAutomatorActions/Compare Folders.zip
I'm sure it's that I'm not using automator correctly.
Does anyone have a similar automator action? if so, how does one deploy it?
Thanks,
Tom B
PS- If anyone knows how to delete an unwanted Finder plugin (like the ones I've created so far) that would be great too!

Hi Tom,
If you have selected in "Compare Folders" the option that returns files in either folder, a simple (but not ideal) solution is to put a "Run AppleScript" action next in your workflow, and paste the following in:
on run {input, parameters}
if the (count of the input) is greater than 0 then
tell application "Finder"
open the selection
select input
end tell
end if
return input
end run
This is not ideal because it opens both folders, and if the "Compare Folders" action returns items it found while recursing through sub-folders/bundles, then those open up in new Finder windows and the differing folder/bundle isn't highlighted. If the "Compare Folders" action returned the folders/bundles that were different, as well as their contents, then I think this could be pretty easily modified to take that into account.
If you are using one of the options that only returns from one folder or the other, you could try this in your "Run AppleScript" action instead:
on run {input, parameters}
tell application "Finder"
set theSelection to the selection
set folder1 to item 1 of theSelection as alias
set folder2 to item 2 of theSelection as alias
set theSelection to (folder1 & folder2)
set theFolder to ""
repeat with i from 1 to the count of the input
set theFile to item i of the input
if theSelection contains ((the container of theFile) as alias) then
set theFolder to ((the container of theFile) as alias)
exit repeat
end if
end repeat
if theFolder is not equal to "" then
open theFolder
else
open theSelection
end if
select the input
end tell
return input
end run
This works best if the folders you are comparing are flat, meaning not a lot of sub-folders or bundles inside. Perhaps you could write to the author of the action and suggest that he also return the folder/bundle that differs, along with the contents?
In any case, hopefully this gives you an idea of what you might be able to do. Hope it helps!

Automated AppleScript not working...

Hi all,
I was trying to create a simple AppleScript to use in Automator to make any selected file visible or invisible.
The AppleScript is first supposed to get the path of the selected file/folder, and than use a Shell Script writte to to toggle by the SetFile command the visibily property of the file.
Here is try:
on run
tell application "Finder"
copy selection to theSelected
set outputPath to {}
copy (POSIX path of theSelected) to outputPath
do shell script "SetFile -a V " & outputPath
end tell
end run
The script is compiled, but when asked to run returns an error such as "Can't make «class docf» "file.txt" of «class cfol»..." etc.
Any clue?

As previously mentioned, vanilla AppleScript has dialogs for choosing either files or folders, but not both. Automator has a Finder action to allow choosing both as well as getting folder contents (nothing invisible though), so you might look at plugging those into a shell scrpt.
I also dug out a script that uses a choose from list dialog to allow choosing files and folders at the same time. I tweaked it a little to allow for invisibles and to return the contents of folders selected - it is fairly well documented, so you should be able to take it from here:
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px; height: 335px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #FFDDFF;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
on run -- example
ChooseStuff from (choose folder default location (path to home folder) with invisibles)
log result
end run
to ChooseStuff from SomeFolder
creates a list of folders and files to choose from
parameters - SomeFolder [alias]: the folder to list
local objects - Tool [script]: contains utility routines
returns [list]: a list of aliases
script Tool -- local utility handlers and properties
property FileHeader : "Choose File:"
property FolderHeader : "Choose Folder:"
to MakeList(Title, Content)
makes a list of items, with added formatting to extract them later
parameters - Title [text]: a title for the items
Content [list]: a list of content items
returns [list]: a list of the formatted items
set {TempTID, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, return & tab}
set TheItems to paragraphs of ((Title as Unicode text) & return & tab & Content)
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to TempTID
return TheItems
end MakeList
end script
set ItemList to {}
-- format the files and folders into a list
tell application "System Events" to tell (SomeFolder as reference) -- invisibles
-- tell application "Finder" to tell (SomeFolder as reference) -- no invisibles
if (count folders) > 0 then set ItemList to ItemList & Tool's MakeList(Tool's FolderHeader, name of folders)
if (count files) > 0 then set ItemList to ItemList & Tool's MakeList(Tool's FileHeader, name of files)
end tell
-- present the dialog
if (count ItemList) is 0 then return ChooseStuff from (choose folder with prompt "There are no items in " & POSIX path of SomeFolder & " - please choose another folder:" default location SomeFolder with invisibles)
set Choice to (choose from list ItemList with prompt "Choose from " & POSIX path of SomeFolder & ":" OK button name "Select" cancel button name "Change Folder" with multiple selections allowed and empty selection allowed)
if Choice is false then return ChooseStuff from (choose folder default location SomeFolder with invisibles)
set Choice to Choice as Unicode text
-- seperate the items in the result
set TempTID to AppleScript's text item delimiters
repeat with AnItem in {Tool's FolderHeader, Tool's FileHeader}
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to AnItem
if (count Choice's text items) > 1 then
set Choice to Choice's text items
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
set Choice to Choice as Unicode text
end if
end repeat
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to tab
set Choice to rest of Choice's text items
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to TempTID
-- output the selected items
tell application "System Events" to tell (SomeFolder as reference) -- invisibles
-- tell application "Finder" to tell SomeFolder as reference -- no invisibles
set ItemList to {}
if (count Choice) > 0 then repeat with AnItem in (get name of items)
if AnItem is in Choice then if class of item AnItem as text is "folder" then -- get contents
repeat with AnotherItem in (get name of items of folder AnItem)
set the end of ItemList to (SomeFolder & AnItem & ":" & AnotherItem) as text as alias
end repeat
else
set the end of ItemList to (SomeFolder & AnItem) as text as alias
end if
end repeat
end tell
return ItemList
end ChooseStuff
</pre>

Using automator/applescript to do terminal commands/ssh

hi,
pardon my extreme novice question here, but i was looking for quick & easy ways to create a small applet to basically run a script on a web server to remotely check & update it's IP address with its web host, and also serve internet services to a wifi access point.
here's the basic stuff we usually do in terminal —
my-Computer:~ admin-user$ ssh admin@+{web server IP, ex.: 0.0.0.0}+
+{we then have to wait for it to connect and ask for a password}+
Password: {our input for password}
Last login: Sat Jun 14 15:04:58 2008 from 0.0.0.10
Welcome to Darwin! +{so we are now connected}+
www:~ webserver-admin$ sudo /var/root/IP_update.sh
+{there is then a long output as that script runs and updates the IP with the web host}+
www:~ webserver-admin$ sudo route add -net 0.0.0.0/24 0.0.0.3 +{serve up internet services to a wifi access point, returns output that it was done, failed or already connected}+
www:~ webserver-admin$ sudo /opt/local/sbin/lighttpd -f /opt/local/etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf & +{starts up our web server, returns that it was started or already on because port 80 is in use}+
so that's what i want it to do. i thought using automator and the *run shell script* option in it would work, but i can't even get past the first ssh command without an error. i have it set to use /bin/sh, and have tried it with *pass input* setting set either way, *to stdin* or as arguments, but in either case, just on this first line alone, i get the following error —
Run shell script failed
Pseudo-terminal will not be allocated because stdin in not a terminal.
does anyone know why this is happening? how do i get around this and proceed on with my script using automator?
also, if anyone could please give tips about how to use the "pause" to have it wait for prompts over the network (like the "Password:" prompt coming back after an indeterminate number of seconds) and which automator command might be used to pop up a dialogue for user input (like asking for the password), it would be much appreciated. thanx.

You'd want the *do shell script* command in AppleScript for this
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn2002/tn2065.html
however you're not going to be able to use it as you would tools such as Expect which allow you to wait and provide additional input on stdin. If all you're doing is updating an IP address why not simplify the entire mess with BIND's dynamic updates?

Simple Automator+Applescript Question

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