Saving result as file or copying to clipboard

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
, ,
#1

I’m trying to save result of this script as a file or put it on the clipboard (to use then in FileMaker):

tell application “Finder”
activate
get properties of entire contents of container (choose folder)
end tell

The result is a list of all properties of all files and folders in chosen folder.

Whatever I tried, I can’t convert the result into a text string. I’m a beginner however, so I’m probably missing something. I’m using Panther.

Is there a way to do this?

Thanks,
Leo

#2

Leo,
If you run your script in Script Editor with the “Result” button at the bottom of the script window selected, you will see that the result isn’t a list, but a record.
To make a record into a list, you have to build it from the record.

set some_record to {Least_Favorite_Song:"Piano Man", House_Number:123, Wife:"Mary", ratioofcirctodia:3.14159}
set new_list to {}
set the end of new_list to Least_Favorite_Song of some_record
set the end of new_list to House_Number of some_record
set the end of new_list to Wife of some_record
set the end of new_list to ratioofcirctodia of some_record
new_list

It’s interesting that what results from you script is a list of records, one record for each item in the folder. Take a close look at the result window in Script Editor.
I think you can see a better way of placing items into a FileMaker database.
Create your database
Set your list of records (you know how to do that, right?)
Loop through the list using a repeat loop
Get the items you want from each record, name, path, etc
Create a new FileMaker record
Set the fields in the database
That’ll give you a start, I’m sure you will have more questions…
Bill Briggs’s AppleScript Primer is a good overview of AppleScript.

#3

Thanks a lot for your help, Dennis!

I’ll try your solution, and Bill Briggs’s site has tons of info, too.

Yes, I know FileMaker scripting pretty well and once I get the text into FileMaker I can format it any way I want. The way the result looks like after running my original script is actually ggod enough for me.

I still seem to miss the critical point of how actually to “extract” the result from the AppleScript as text (just the way I can see in the Script Editor window). By either saving it as a text file, or copying to clipboard, or bringing directly into FileMaker…

Thanks,
Leo

#4

Alright, I got it!

Had to reread the final part of your post more carefully. As well as read some info on how to work with AppleScript inside FileMaker

Thanks again Dennis!

#5

Leo,
The Apple Events Reference is a very good guide on how to do things like get or assign data to fields. The reference file (it’s a FMPro database, natch) is in the English Extras on the v7 cd, and in the FileMaker and AppleScript folder in previous versions. Previous versions have examples also, that I steal^H^H^H^H^Huse as examples when writing my code.

set someRecord to {firstName:"Dennis", lastName:"Cox"}
set fName to firstName of someRecord
set lName to lastName of someRecord
tell application "FileMaker Pro"
     set cell "First Name" of record 1 of database "Test1" to fName
     set cell "Last Name" of record 1 of database "Test1" to lName
end tell