Access to Google Drive Path

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
#1

In my attempt to AppleScript a path to a file on a shared Google Drive, I noticed that the path assigned to the file by Google Drive, can vary between users.
On my Mac , the path

/Volumes/GoogleDrive/

permits retrieval of files from the shared Google Drive. On other users’ Macs, where Google Drive is not mounted in the Volumes directory, access to the shared Google drive file requires a path through Cloud Storage, beginning with

/Users/USERNAME/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-USEReMAIL

Attempting to evaluate Google Drive’s preferences on my Mac, with read defaults

do shell script "defaults read ~/Library/Preferences/com.google.drivefs.settings"

yielded

{
DoNotShowNotifications = “{\“entry\”:[{\“notification_type\”:174},{\“notification_type\”:234},{\“notification_type\”:190},{\“notification_type\”:170},{\“notification_type\”:201}]}”;
PerAccountPreferences = “{\“per_account_preferences\”:[{\“key\”:\“GOOGLEDRIVEkeyA\”,\“value\”:{\“mount_point_path\”:\”/Volumes/GoogleDrive\“,\“mac_smb_port\”:55319,\“enable_smb_spotlight\”:true}},{\“key\”:\“GOOGLEDRIVEkeyB\”,\“value\”:{\“mount_point_path\”:\”/Users/USERNAME/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-GoogleDrive-USEReMAIL\“}}]}”;
SearchHotKey = SEARCHHOTKey;
}

It appears to me that Google Drive maintains various account mount points, one through the Volumes directory and the other via Library’s Cloud Storage. Although the Google Drive preferences on my Mac contain these two mount points, other users preferences’ mount points only contain a Cloud Storage path.

My goal is to write an AppleScript that can locate the path to a file on this shared Google Drive, regardless of the user’s email address, so that AppleScript will locate a file on any Mac that has access to this shared Google Drive.

1 Like
#2

I’m interested in this too. For now I’m trying Transmit5 and its Google Drive mode.

#3

I have written a script that finds the Google Drive Path from a retuned JSON(?) from the defaults read command of Google Drives Preferences. This will allow the script on multiple users’ Macs and capture their Google Drive account and email information. The script will then construct a pix path so that files on the shared Google Drive can be accessed.

set GoogleDriveLocalPart to "Local-Part" --insert GoogleMailuser name
set GoogleDriveDomainName to "DomainName.com" --insert domaine name referenced by Google Drive


set GoogleDriveFullEmail to GoogleDriveLocalPart & "@" & GoogleDriveDomainName
set GoogleDriveRootPath to my ConstructGoogleDriveRootPathUsingGoogleDriveEmail:GoogleDriveFullEmail

on ConstructGoogleDriveRootPathUsingGoogleDriveEmail:GoogleDriveFullEmail

#	Read  Google Drive Preferences
set jsonString to do shell script "defaults read ~/Library/Preferences/com.google.drivefs.settings"

#	Parse Google Drive's mount point path that corresonds to the GoogleDrive domaine name
set text item delimiters to "mount_point_path"

#	Convert list to text
set jsonStringTextItems to text items of jsonString
repeat with jasonStringItems in jsonStringTextItems
	set jsonStringText to contents of jasonStringItems as string
	
	#	Identifty a string that reflects the user's library path
	if "Users" is in jsonStringText then
		
		#	Get the start of the Google Drive path
		set pathStart to "/Users"
		set text item delimiters to pathStart
		
		#	 Rebuild the GoogleDrive posix path 
		set PathRemainderBlock to text item 2 of jsonStringText
		
		#	Get the end of the Google Drive root path
		set PathEnd to "/GoogleDrive-" & GoogleDriveFullEmail
		
		set text item delimiters to PathEnd
		
		#	Get the remaining middle of the  GoogleDrive posix path
		set PathMiddle to text item 1 of PathRemainderBlock
		
		#	Reconstruct the Posix Path 
		set GoogleDrivePath to pathStart & PathMiddle & PathEnd
		return GoogleDrivePath
	end if
end repeat
GoogleDrivePath
end ConstructGoogleDriveRootPathUsingGoogleDriveEmail:

I tried to script Foundation’s NSJSONSerialization, unsuccessfully with the following code:

use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use framework "Foundation"
use scripting additions

set jsonString to do shell script "defaults read ~/Library/Preferences/com.google.drivefs.settings"
set jsonList to (current application's NSJSONSerialization's JSONObjectWithData:((current application's NSString's stringWithString:jsonString)'s dataUsingEncoding:(current application's NSUTF8StringEncoding)) options:0 |error|:(missing value))

As my Foundation’s NSJSONSerialization produced no response, I would like to hear your ideas to decode this Google Drive JSON response

#4

I do not know why I did not see this simple solution earlier. Google’s root directory structure can be accessed via Google Drive’s folder, located in the home folder.

set home to do shell script "echo  $HOME"
set GoogleDrive to home & "/Google Drive/"
#5

Now that I have gained access to Google Drive using the home path & “/Google Drive/”, my following attempt a find a folder, named “Shared”, in that directory failed.

set home to do shell script "echo $HOME"
set GDPath to home & "/Google Drive/"
set findSh to "find " & quoted form of (GDPath) & " -iname " & quoted form of "*Shared*" & " -type d"
do shell script findSh

When I ran the findSh string in Terminal, the command returned an error that the operation was not permitted

find: /Users/alan/Google Drive/: Operation not permitted

I am looking for ways to AppleScript a command to find a folder in Google Drive For Desktop, and I appreciate all ideas.

#6

The simplest way to test the existence of a file or folder is:

set theFolder to ("" & (path to home folder) & "Google Drive:Shared:")
theFolder as alias

Triggers an error if no file/folder exists at this path.

Or an AppleScriptObjC variation:

use framework "Foundation"
use framework "AppKit"
use scripting additions

set thePath to current application's NSHomeDirectory()'s stringByAppendingString:"/Google Drive/Shared/"
set theURL to current application's NSURL's fileURLWithPath:thePath
theURL's checkResourceIsReachableAndReturnError:(missing value)

Returns false if the folder is not found.

#7

Thank you, Ionah. Your idea to use the checkResourceIsReachableAndReturnError instance method confirmed the existence of a file in the Google Drive, and addressed my initial post question.

Now that you answered that question and I can access Google Drive, I would like to find a Google Drive file, whose name I do not completely know but for whom I have several variables.

Prior to Google Drive’s removal of its /Volumes/ mount point, I used a do shell script using unix’s find command. Since the change in Google’s mount point, it appears that Google Drive does not permit such find operation.

Do you have any ideas how to perform a find operation in Google Drive’s new environment, via alternative means?

#8

Could you give an example?