Launching app only if it exists...?

[oranje]

hey,

pardon my newbie-ness, but…

i’m making a little script to be run on a group of machines, in which there are several programs which can be launched from the script. not all of the programs are present on all of the machines, however.

if the script is run on a machine missing one or more programs, it prompts the user to find the program on the disk, which is not the behavior i want. if the script can’t find the program, the program doesn’t exist! how does one prevent applescript from prompting users to locate these apps…?

[jonn8]

Take a look here.

To find out an App’s creator code, do this:

return (file creator of (get info for (choose file)))

Jon

[DizzyPenguin]

Here’s a solution using the file ID of applications (all credits to Rob)

try
	tell application "Finder" to set theApp to application file id "TTXT" as string
on error -- the app is not installed...  
	display dialog ¬
		"The application was not found on your system." buttons {"Cancel"} default button 1
	return -- quit script 
end try

[Rob]

Here’s a solution using the file ID of applications (all credits to Rob)

try
	tell application "Finder" to set theApp to application file id "TTXT" as string
on error -- the app is not installed...  
	display dialog ¬
		"The application was not found on your system." buttons {"Cancel"} default button 1
	return -- quit script 
end try

Note: The file ID is case sensitive and may contain spaces. The proper case and spaces are required for accurate results. For instance, the example above will likely say that the application was not found, but if the file id is changed to “ttxt”, it should find the TextEdit application. Jon has provided a script (above) to find the correct ID.

– Rob

[DizzyPenguin]

Hehe Rob,
I did know about case sensitivety and put it uppercase knowingly… although I should have been more explicit and explain… but then you did!

[oranje]

Take a look here.

To find out an App’s creator code, do this:

return (file creator of (get info for (choose file)))

Jon

so, i feel like an idiot having to ask this… but…
what’s the syntax for the snippet you gave me ?

i’ve fiddled with it for a while, and it can’t find any file that i throw at it…

but, on the plus side, the other stuff you guys threw at me seems to work for those apps i can find the file id for.

[jonn8]

Does this help?

set the_app to my path_from_cc((file creator of (get info for (choose file)))) –make sure you choose an application and not a file
if the_app is not false then
tell application the_app
activate
–and anything else you want to tell it
end tell
end if
return the_app

– you should wrap this in a “using terms from…” block to make sure any application specifc terms are compiled properly:
set the_app to my [color=green]path_from_cc/color
if the_app is not false then
using terms from application “Safari”
tell application the_app
activate
end tell
end using terms from
end if

on [color=green]path_from_cc/color
if length of the_cc is not 4 then return false
tell application “Finder”
set the_process to (every process whose creator type is (the_cc as type class)) as list
if the_process = {} then
if exists application file id the_cc then
return ((application file id the_cc) as alias) as string
else
return false
end if
else
return ((file of item 1 of the_process) as alias) as string
end if
end tell
end path_from_cc

–this script was automatically tagged for
–color coded syntax by Script to Markup Code

Jon

[oranje]

actually, i specifically meant the (choose file) part of it.

an example of what one would put there is what i need…
i’ve been trying stuff like…
return (file creator of (get info for (“/Applications/Foo.app”)))

but, i always get syntax errors, or file not found.

[jonn8]

Ah, I love tautology. To get an application’s path as a string you need the creator code and to get that you need the application’s path as a string. In other words:

set the_cc to (file creator of (get info for (choose file))) –navigate to “/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder”
–>“MACS”
set the_app to my [color=green]path_from_cc/color
–>“Macintosh HD:System:Library:CoreServices:Finder.app:”

–which is the same as

set the_cc to (file creator of (get info for (((path to “csrv”) as string) & “Finder.app” as alias)))
–>“MACS”
set the_app to my [color=green]path_from_cc/color
–>“Macintosh HD:System:Library:CoreServices:Finder.app:”

–which is the same as

set the_cc to (file creator of (get info for (“Macintosh HD:System:Library:CoreServices:Finder.app:” as alias)))
–>“MACS”
set the_app to my [color=green]path_from_cc/color
–>“Macintosh HD:System:Library:CoreServices:Finder.app:”

Now again, this is just for the prep work of your script, after you have the creator code, all you’ll use in a script for distribution is:

set the_app to my [color=green]path_from_cc/color
if the_app is not false then
using terms from application “Finder”
tell application the_app
activate
– and anything else you want to tell it
end tell
end using terms from
end if
return the_app

on [color=green]path_from_cc/color
if length of the_cc is not 4 then return false
tell application “Finder”
set the_process to (every process whose creator type is (the_cc as type class)) as list
if the_process = {} then
if exists application file id the_cc then
return ((application file id the_cc) as alias) as string
else
return false
end if
else
return ((file of item 1 of the_process) as alias) as string
end if
end tell
end path_from_cc

–this script was automatically tagged for
–color coded syntax by Script to Markup Code

Jon

[oranje]

aah yes, the colons.
i didn’t realize that applescript didn’t recognize unix directory structure.

sorry for the frustration, but thanks for the excellent answer.