A simple script that does not work

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
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#1

Can anyone explain why the following script works as expected, but if you comment out the one line “choose from list allFiles” it does nothing.

tell application "Finder"
	activate
	set allFiles to the name of every file in the front window
	choose from list allFiles
	set the current view of the front Finder window to icon view
	tell application "System Events"
		tell process "Finder"
			tell menu item 1 of menu 1 of menu item 7 of menu 1 of menu bar item 5 of menu bar 1 to click
		end tell
	end tell
end tell

Thanks.

#2

Hi John,

on my machine your script works also without the choose fom list line

#3

The ‘choose from list’ line doesn’t make any difference for me either. But the script itself is slightly fragile.

The ‘set allFiles.’ line will error if the front window isn’t a ‘Finder window’.

The GUI Scripting won’t work if the “Keep arranged by” box in the window’s “View Options” is ticked, because that disables the menu item you’re trying to click. It would be more sure-footed to script the Finder directly for that:

tell application "Finder"
	activate
	tell front Finder window
		if (it exists) then
			-- set allFiles to the name of every file of its target
			-- choose from list allFiles
			set its current view to icon view
			set arrangement of its icon view options to arranged by name
		end if
	end tell
end tell