hiding a folder

[watertuin]

Dear Applescripters,

Is it possible to hide/unhide a foider with applescript?

Thank you in advance for any answers,
Jan B.

Model: Powerbook 2Gz dual core
AppleScript: 1.10.7
Browser: Safari 531.21.10
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.4)

[Craig_Williams]

Here is a Ruby script that will do what you want. It will toggle hidden status on a file or folder.
Don’t worry if this is a bit scary, someone will probably post an AppleScript example shortly.

Save it with a .rb extension and call it from AppleScript like this.

The paths need to be POSIX paths.

do shell script "ruby " & quoted form of rubyFilePath & quoted form of itemToHideRevealPath

Ruby Script.

#!/usr/bin/env ruby -w

require ‘fileutils’

#==============================================================

Methods

#==============================================================

def usage
error = “\nPlease supply a file path for the item to hide / reveal.\n\n”
error += “Example usage:\n”
error += “\t ruby #{FILE} ~/desktop/folder\n\n”
puts error
end

Expands path if supplied a tilde

Creates the hidden path

def make_paths
@filePath = File.expand_path(@filePath) if @filePath =~ /^~/
fileName = File.basename(@filePath)
@hiddenPath = File.dirname(@filePath) + “/.” + fileName
end

Determines if path exists and whether

to hide or reveal the path

def hide?
hide = File.exists?(@filePath)
reveal = File.exists?(@hiddenPath)

if !hide && !reveal
puts “File ‘#{@filePath}’ does not exist”
exit
end
return hide
end

def update_item(path)
osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to update POSIX file \"#{path}\"'
end

#==============================================================

Execution

#==============================================================

Make sure there is an argument

if ARGV.size != 1
usage
exit
end

Get first argument

@filePath = ARGV[0]

make_paths

if hide?
FileUtils.mv(@filePath, @hiddenPath)
update_item(@hiddenPath)
else # reveal
FileUtils.mv(@hiddenPath, @filePath)
update_item(@filePath)
end

[chrys]

System Events can set the visible flag for a file or folder:

set f to missing value
try
	set f to choose file with prompt "Choose a file to hide/unhide. Click Cancel to choose a folder." with invisibles
end try
if f is missing value then ¬
	set f to choose folder with prompt "Choose a folder to hide/unhide." with invisibles
set p to POSIX path of f

tell application "System Events" to set v to visible of disk item p

set {s, d} to {"not hidden", "Hide"}
if not v then set {s, d} to {"hidden", "Unhide"}
display dialog p & " is currently " & s buttons {"Cancel"} & d default button d

tell application "System Events" to set visible of disk item p to not v

tell application "Finder" to update f
-- On 10.4, update is not immediately effective. For open Finder windows, must navigate away and back before change will be effective. For desktop, have to quit and restart Finder, since you can not navigate away from the desktop.
(*
-- generally, too disruptive to really consider
tell application "Finder" to quit
tell application "System Events" to repeat until not (exists application process "Finder")
	delay 0.1
end repeat
tell application "Finder" to launch
*)

Model: iBook G4 933
AppleScript: 1.10.7
Browser: Safari 4.0.4 (4531.21.10, r52242)
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.4)

[watertuin]

Both Graig and Chrys, thank you for the assistance.

Greetings from sunny Bonaire N.A.

[Craig_Williams]

Nice chrys. I updated my script to use the less disruptive “update” command. Much better!