A quick update to those following this thread…I have been working on the script today by doing some database / spreadsheet work to confirm that the script is picking up all the files and folders [not to mention, while I am at it, learning and identifying the “extra” files that the find command picks up]…this is an arduous task given I have progressed to larger and larger folders and am now using my DOCUMENTS folder which has 35,000+ files and folders.
I will be back in another day or two with the results and, to the extent that anyone is interested, I will publish the Access database / Excel spreadsheet that I am using.
You asked about the path limit and how it is calculated. Running this should give you the answer, at least for HFS+:
use AppleScript version "2.3.1"
use scripting additions
use framework "Foundation"
set deskPath to POSIX path of (path to desktop)
set deskPathLength to length of deskPath
set folderPath to current application's NSString's stringWithString:deskPath
-- create nested folders to build long path
set folderName to "123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d" -- 40 chars
set theNSFileManager to current application's NSFileManager's defaultManager()
repeat 24 times
set folderPath to folderPath's stringByAppendingPathComponent:folderName
theNSFileManager's createDirectoryAtPath:folderPath withIntermediateDirectories:true attributes:(missing value) |error|:(missing value)
end repeat
-- path should be 24 * 40 + desktop path characters -- say ~ 960-plus
set folderPathLength to folderPath's |length|()
-- save a file called "a" to the deepest folder
set dummyNSString to current application's NSString's stringWithString:"some text"
set filePath to folderPath's stringByAppendingPathComponent:"a"
dummyNSString's writeToFile:filePath atomically:true encoding:(current application's NSUTF8StringEncoding) |error|:(missing value)
-- keep renaming the file by adding an extra character to the name, until it fails
repeat
set filePathNew to filePath's stringByAppendingString:"a"
set theLength to filePath's |length|()
theNSFileManager's removeItemAtPath:filePathNew |error|:(missing value)
set theResult to (theNSFileManager's moveItemAtPath:filePath toPath:filePathNew |error|:(missing value))
if theResult as boolean is false then
display dialog "Failed at " & theLength & " characters. Last file name is " & (theLength - folderPathLength) & " characters. Path to desktop is " & deskPathLength & " characters."
exit repeat
end if
set filePath to filePathNew
end repeat
On my Mac, I get: “Failed at 1023 characters. Last file name is 19 characters. Path to desktop is 21 characters.” I tried modifying the number of intermediate folders, but it made no difference.
I also tried changing from path to desktop to a non-start-up HFS+ volume at “/Volumes/Extra”. The result then was:“Failed at 1023 characters. Last file name is 25 characters. Path to desktop is 14 characters.”
So it appears the limit is 1022 characters, and it includes all slashes in a POSIX file. But if any of the characters are non-ASCII, the limit decresaes (so it’s actually 1022 bytes).
I edited Shane’s script to use folderNames of 50 characters.
I got :
“Failed at 1251 characters. Last file name is 2 characters. Path to desktop is 26 characters.”
I’m puzzled by the result of two added log instructions.
(1)
log folderPath
→ («class ocid» id «data optr0000000020C8F85AC87F0000»)
set folderPathLength to folderPath’s |length|()
(2) set filePath to filePathNew
end repeat
log filePath
→ («class ocid» id «data optr00000000A0C8F85AC87F0000»)
I was assuming that they would return POSIX paths.
The longer folder path was :
“/Users/yvankoenig/Desktop/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/”
which is 995 characters long
So it appears that somewhere, the script tried to create some complementary folders but failed silently.
In fact, it created only 19 folders.
Interesting to see that using ASObjC code may hit erroneous status without issuing an error. I triple checked, no try - on try block in the script able to explain this behavior.
When I tried to drop a file in the late subfolder I got an error number -8058 which I was unaware of what it means.
I tried to drop a file with a shorter name and it worked so the error was probably saying that I was trying to build a too long path.
In fact, I was able to rename the file as “123456789012345678901234.rtf”
which gave a full POSIX path of 1023 characters.
Nothing new for the limit but I thought that it may be interesting to point the fact that with ASObjC we may issue an error which is not reported giving odd results.
With the correct log instructions, I got :
(1)
(/Users/yvankoenig/Desktop/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e)
Which is the string built but not the path really created.
(2)
“/Users/yvankoenig/Desktop/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/123456789a123456789b123456789c123456789d123456789e/a”
Which is not the really created path.
And what would today be without an update, so here goes…
But first a few house keeping items:
I use the term “AppleScript” to refer to the script in post #38 of this thread…a big thank you to Nigel who wrote the “file” portion of the script.
I use the term “Find Command” to refer to the script in post #39 of this thread…a big thank you to StefanK for who wrote the two “find” command shell scripts.
I wanted to make sure that the final script was working fully and properly so I compared and tested the results of the two scripts against the actual number of files and number of folders per Finder [note: I manually counted a few of the smaller folder / subfolders to confirm and understand the results of Finder’s Get Info command].
Test Results-Folders Without Deeply Nested Sub-Folders: Both scripts produced correct results.
The key observations – in no particular order – are as follows:
a) Files: Both the AppleScript and the Find Command do a relative good job of identifying the files. AppleScript failed to identify 18 files which appeared in Finder. Find Command identified every file that appeared in Finder but also identified 216 extra files [i.e. files such a package contents, icon files, temporary files, etc.].
b) Folders: AppleScript failed to identify 210 folders/sub-folders which appeared in Finder. Find Command identified every folder/sub-folder that appeared in Finder but also identified 65 extra folders/sub-folders [i.e. folders such a package contents, etc.].
c) Conclusion: As the objective is to identify files whose pathnames exceed a prescribed length both AppleScript (identified 99.94% of the files) and Find Command (identified 100% of the files) are fairly reliable.
I will however be completing the script using the Find Command code as I would rather identify a few too many files over identifying a few too few files.
With that, I will be completing the script over the weekend and sharing the final script so that anyone interested in it can tweak / use it or do whatever you want with it.
Objective-C, and therefore ASObjC, does not generally throw errors unless there’s something drastically wrong. So what happens when you try to create a folder is that the method returns true or false, depending on whether it succeeded. But because the folders were just making up the character count, and I knew they were going to be just short of the limit, I didn’t bother checking the result, to keep the script simpler. But once you started adding extra loops or characters to the folder name, the call to make the folder failed, but the script didn’t check so it didn’t strike a problem until the attempt to write the file to a non-existant folder.
If it weren’t a one-off, you would use something like:
set theResult to (theNSFileManager's createDirectoryAtPath:folderPath withIntermediateDirectories:true attributes:(missing value) |error|:(missing value))
if theResult as boolean is false then
...
After finding a few hours to code / script I am ALMOST done…the resulting script [which I invite everyone to try produces – at least in my mind – a very good looking and useful spreadsheet] is as follows:
-- Provide the user with a dialog box that outlines the next two steps
display dialog "This script creates an Excel file that lists the file pathname's length and the file pathname of every file whose pathname is greater than a user specified maxCount in a user specified folder (which can be a drive).
The next step two steps, in order, are i) specifying the maxCount (for which a dialog box exists) and ii) specifying the folder (for which a Finder Choose a Folder window exists)." buttons {"Okay"} default button 1 with icon note
tell application "Finder"
-- Define the list of files whose pathnames exceed maxCount characters
set fileList to {}
-- Define / set maxCount characters
display dialog "What is the maxCount of characters to test each filename's lenght against?
When entering a value make sure to adjust the value for the volume location / type [i.e. a Window's volume will have pathnames that start with \"C:\" in place of \"Volumes\" meaning that a value of 256 should be entered when wanting to test for a pathname length of 250 (i.e. 250 - 2 + 8)]." default answer "225" buttons {"Cancel", "Return"} default button 2 with icon note
set maxCount to text returned of result
-- Pick the disk / directory / folder (and sub-folders) whose files' pathnames will be compared / tested against maxCount
set FolderTarget to POSIX path of (choose folder with prompt "Choose the disk / directory / folder whose file lengths' will be compared against maxCount" default location (path to home folder))
set FolderTarget to characters 1 through -2 of FolderTarget as text -- remove the second "/" between the folder chosen and any nested folders
-- log "folderTarget"
-- log folderTarget
-- Set fileList to those filenames whose lengths are greater than maxCount
script o
property filePaths : ""
property folderPaths : ""
end script
set o's filePaths to paragraphs of (do shell script "/usr/bin/find " & quoted form of FolderTarget & " -type f ! -type l ! -name '.*'")
set o's folderPaths to paragraphs of (do shell script "/usr/bin/find " & quoted form of FolderTarget & " -type d")
display dialog "Are the file pathname lengths being tested in HFS or POSIX file format?" buttons {"HFS", "POSIX"} default button 2 with icon note
set fileFormat to button returned of result
if fileFormat = "POSIX" then
repeat with aPath in o's filePaths
if (length of aPath) > maxCount then set end of fileList to contents of aPath -- as alias
end repeat
else
repeat with aPath in o's filePaths
set HFSPath to POSIX file aPath as text
if (length of HFSPath) > maxCount then set end of fileList to HFSPath -- as alias
end repeat
end if
-- Set fileList to include the count/index, the file pathname's length and the file's pathname
repeat with i from 1 to count of fileList
set item i of fileList to {count of item i of fileList, item i of fileList}
end repeat
-- Sort fileList based on the files' pathname lengths from highest to lowest to highest
set callSortLocation to "Macintosh HD:Users:JoelC:Documents:Apple:Scripts:Utilities:20141125_script to sort a list of items_specific_complete.scpt" as alias -- Set callSort to load a compiled sorting script
set callSort to (load script callSortLocation)
tell callSort -- Tell callSort to sort fileList
set fileList to simple_sort(fileList)
end tell
log "Total files are " & (count of o's filePaths)
log "Total folders are " & (count of o's folderPaths)
log "Total files and folders to compare to finder are " & ((count of o's filePaths) + (count of o's folderPaths) + 1) -- The 1 is for the parent folder
log "The fileList follows"
-- return fileList
end tell
tell application "Microsoft Excel"
open
-- Get current date in YYYYMMDD format
set currentDate to current date
set currentDateYear to year of currentDate
set currentDateMonth to month of currentDate as integer
if ((day of currentDate < 10) is true) then
set currentDateDay to "0" & day of currentDate
else
set currentDateDay to day of currentDate
end if
set currentDateYYYYMMDD to currentDateYear & currentDateMonth & currentDateDay as string
-- Make and name a new workbook
make new workbook
set theBook to the active workbook
set theSheet to the active sheet of the theBook
-- set theBookName to the name of theBook
-- set theSheetName to name of theSheet
-- Move the workbook to the centre and forefront of the screen
tell application "Moom"
open
arrange windows according to snapshot named "Align Microsoft Excel"
end tell
-- Set the magniifcation / zoom percentage
set zoom of theSheet to 75
-- Set the column widths in the new workbook for readability
set column width of the first column of theSheet to 3
set column width of the second column of theSheet to 5
set column width of the third column of theSheet to 7
set column width of the fourth column of theSheet to 200
set column width of the fifth column of theSheet to 3
-- Set and format the column heading and titles
set myRangeCells to range ("B2:D2") of theSheet
set weight of (get border of myRangeCells which border edge top) to border weight thick
set borderWeightLog to get weight of (get border of myRangeCells which border edge top)
set insertedTextTop to "Length and Pathname of Files Whose Pathnames Exceed " & maxCount & " Characters" as string
set insertedTextBottom to "Selected Folder: " & FolderTarget as string
set myRangeTop to range ("B3:B3") of theSheet
set myRangeBottom to range ("B4:B4") of theSheet
set value of myRangeTop to insertedTextTop
set value of myRangeBottom to insertedTextBottom
set myRangeCells to range ("B7:D7") of theSheet
set weight of (get border of myRangeCells which border edge top) to border weight thin
set borderWeightLog to get weight of (get border of myRangeCells which border edge top)
set myRangeCells to range ("B3:B3")
set font size of font object of myRangeCells to 16
set font style of font object of myRangeCells to "Bold"
set fontStyleLog to (get font style of font object of myRangeCells)
set myRangeCells to range ("B4:B4")
set font style of font object of myRangeCells to "Bold"
-- set fontStyleLog to (get font style of font object of myRangeCells)
-- log fontStyleLog
set insertedTextTop to "Path"
set InsertedTextBottom1 to "Count"
set InsertedtextBottom2 to "Length"
set InsertedTextBottom3 to "Pathname"
set myRangeTop to range ("C8:C8") of theSheet
set myRangeBottom1 to range ("B9:B9") of theSheet
set myRangeBottom2 to range ("C9:C9") of theSheet
set myRangeBottom3 to range ("D9:D9") of theSheet
set value of myRangeTop to insertedTextTop
set value of myRangeBottom1 to InsertedTextBottom1
set value of myRangeBottom2 to InsertedtextBottom2
set value of myRangeBottom3 to InsertedTextBottom3
set myRangeCells to range ("B8:D9") of theSheet
set horizontal alignment of myRangeCells to horizontal align center
set myRangeCells to range ("B11:C100000") of theSheet
set horizontal alignment of myRangeCells to horizontal align center
set myRangeCells to range ("B8:D9")
-- set font size of font object of myRangeCells to 16
set font style of font object of myRangeCells to "Bold"
set myRangeCells to range ("B9:D9") of theSheet
set weight of (get border of myRangeCells which border edge bottom) to border weight thin
set borderWeightLog to get weight of (get border of myRangeCells which border edge bottom)
-- Import fileList
repeat with i from 1 to count of fileList
set value of cell ("B" & (10 + i) as string) to i
set value of cell ("C" & (10 + i) as string) to item 1 of item i of fileList
set value of cell ("D" & (10 + i) as string) to item 2 of item i of fileList
end repeat
-- Set the name of the spreadsheet to be saved
set userName to do shell script "whoami"
set fileNameSaved to "Macintosh HD:Users:" & userName & ":Desktop:" & currentDateYYYYMMDD & "_files over " & maxCount & " charcters.xls"
-- Save the workbook / spreadsheet
tell theBook
save workbook as theBook filename fileNameSaved overwrite yes
end tell
-- Test, and depending on the test result, close the spreadsheet
display dialog "Do you want to close the Excel spreadsheet which lists the files whose pathnames are over " & maxCount & " characters?" buttons {"Yes", "No"} default button 2 giving up after 5
set spreadsheetClose to button returned of result
if ((spreadsheetClose = "Yes") is true) then quit
end tell
I wrote almost done above because I am running into two problems that I cannot solve:
The code to set the magnification / zoom of the spreadsheet is commented out because it is not working…I cannot figure out why this is not working given this is – at least to me – the syntax suggested by the Excel dictionary and posted elsewhere on the net…help with this would be greatly appreciated.
The code which converts the POSIX file format to the HFS file format is not working…help with this would be greatly appreciated.
Once again I want to thank everybody for taking the time to help an teach me.
A brief update on the above items using the same numbering.
This problem is solved…I changed the syntax to read “set zoom of the active window to 75” which worked though in looking at Excel’s dictionary I cannot figure out why I needed to change “theSheet” to “active window”.
This problem is still open…I do think that I have a solution but I need t code it…am looking for something easy and elegant rather my brute force approach which is to i) replace “/User” with “Macintosh HD” and ii) replace every “/” with “:”…anything out there?
In the event that anyone is following this thread I have now solved both of the previously listed problems…the solution to the first problem is noted in the immediately preceding post…the solution to the second problem was fairly simple in that I had to coerce the POSIX pathname into a string before converting back to HFS format.
The final script – inclusive of a good amount of Excel code to produce a nicely formatted spreadsheet – is as follows:
-- Provide the user with a dialog box that outlines the next two steps
display dialog "This script creates an Excel file that lists the file pathname's length and the file pathname of every file whose pathname is greater than a user specified maxCount in a user specified folder (which can be a drive).
The next step two steps, in order, are i) specifying the maxCount (for which a dialog box exists) and ii) specifying the folder (for which a Finder Choose a Folder window exists)." buttons {"Okay"} default button 1 with icon note
tell application "Finder"
-- Define the list of files whose pathnames exceed maxCount characters
set fileList to {}
-- Define / set maxCount characters
display dialog "What is the maxCount of characters to test each filename's lenght against?
When entering a value make sure to adjust the value for the file formath [i.e. HFS vs POSIX] and the volume location / type [i.e. a Window's volume will have pathnames that start with \"C:\" in place of \"\\Volumes\" meaning that a value of 256 should be entered when wanting to test for a pathname length of 250 (i.e. 250 - 2 + 8)]." default answer "225" buttons {"Cancel", "Return"} default button 2 with icon note
set maxCount to text returned of result
-- Pick the disk / directory / folder (and sub-folders) whose files' pathnames will be compared / tested against maxCount
set FolderTarget to POSIX path of (choose folder with prompt "Choose the disk / directory / folder whose file lengths' will be compared against maxCount" default location (path to home folder))
set FolderTarget to characters 1 through -2 of FolderTarget as text -- remove the second "/" between the folder chosen and any nested folders
-- Set fileList to those filenames whose lengths are greater than maxCount
script o
property filePaths : ""
property folderPaths : ""
end script
set o's filePaths to paragraphs of (do shell script "/usr/bin/find " & quoted form of FolderTarget & " -type f ! -type l ! -name '.*'")
set o's folderPaths to paragraphs of (do shell script "/usr/bin/find " & quoted form of FolderTarget & " -type d")
display dialog "Are the file pathname lengths being tested in HFS or POSIX file format?" buttons {"HFS", "POSIX"} default button 2 with icon note
set fileFormat to button returned of result
if fileFormat = "POSIX" then
repeat with aPath in o's filePaths
if (length of aPath) > maxCount then set end of fileList to contents of aPath -- as alias
end repeat
else
repeat with aPath in o's filePaths
set HFSPath to POSIX file (aPath as string) as string
if (length of HFSPath) > maxCount then set end of fileList to HFSPath -- as alias
end repeat
end if
-- Set fileList to include the count/index, the file pathname's length and the file's pathname
repeat with i from 1 to count of fileList
set item i of fileList to {count of item i of fileList, item i of fileList}
end repeat
-- Sort fileList based on the files' pathname lengths from highest to lowest to highest
set callSortLocation to "Macintosh HD:Users:JoelC:Documents:Apple:Scripts:Utilities:20141125_script to sort a list of items_specific_complete.scpt" as alias -- Set callSort to load a compiled sorting script
set callSort to (load script callSortLocation)
tell callSort -- Tell callSort to sort fileList
set fileList to simple_sort(fileList)
end tell
log "Total files are " & (count of o's filePaths)
log "Total folders are " & (count of o's folderPaths)
log "Total files and folders to compare to finder are " & ((count of o's filePaths) + (count of o's folderPaths) + 1) -- The 1 is for the parent folder
log "The fileList follows"
-- return fileList
end tell
tell application "Microsoft Excel"
open
-- Get current date in YYYYMMDD format
set currentDate to current date
set currentDateYear to year of currentDate
set currentDateMonth to month of currentDate as integer
if ((day of currentDate < 10) is true) then
set currentDateDay to "0" & day of currentDate
else
set currentDateDay to day of currentDate
end if
set currentDateYYYYMMDD to currentDateYear & currentDateMonth & currentDateDay as string
-- Make and name a new workbook
make new workbook
set theBook to the active workbook
set theSheet to the active sheet of the theBook
-- set theBookName to the name of theBook
-- set theSheetName to name of theSheet
-- Move the workbook to the centre and forefront of the screen
tell application "Moom"
open
arrange windows according to snapshot named "Align Microsoft Excel"
end tell
-- Set the magniifcation / zoom percentage
set zoom of the active window to 75
-- Set the column widths in the new workbook for readability
set column width of the first column of theSheet to 3
set column width of the second column of theSheet to 5
set column width of the third column of theSheet to 7
set column width of the fourth column of theSheet to 250
set column width of the fifth column of theSheet to 3
-- Set and format the column heading and titles
set myRangeCells to range ("B2:D2") of theSheet
set weight of (get border of myRangeCells which border edge top) to border weight thick
set borderWeightLog to get weight of (get border of myRangeCells which border edge top)
set insertedTextTop to "Length and Pathname of Files Whose Pathnames Exceed " & maxCount & " Characters" as string
set insertedTextBottom to "Selected Folder: " & FolderTarget as string
set myRangeTop to range ("B3:B3") of theSheet
set myRangeBottom to range ("B4:B4") of theSheet
set value of myRangeTop to insertedTextTop
set value of myRangeBottom to insertedTextBottom
set myRangeCells to range ("B7:D7") of theSheet
set weight of (get border of myRangeCells which border edge top) to border weight thin
set borderWeightLog to get weight of (get border of myRangeCells which border edge top)
set myRangeCells to range ("B3:B3")
set font size of font object of myRangeCells to 16
set font style of font object of myRangeCells to "Bold"
set fontStyleLog to (get font style of font object of myRangeCells)
set myRangeCells to range ("B4:B4")
set font style of font object of myRangeCells to "Bold"
-- set fontStyleLog to (get font style of font object of myRangeCells)
-- log fontStyleLog
set insertedTextTop to "Path"
set InsertedTextBottom1 to "Count"
set InsertedtextBottom2 to "Length"
set InsertedTextBottom3 to "Pathname"
set myRangeTop to range ("C8:C8") of theSheet
set myRangeBottom1 to range ("B9:B9") of theSheet
set myRangeBottom2 to range ("C9:C9") of theSheet
set myRangeBottom3 to range ("D9:D9") of theSheet
set value of myRangeTop to insertedTextTop
set value of myRangeBottom1 to InsertedTextBottom1
set value of myRangeBottom2 to InsertedtextBottom2
set value of myRangeBottom3 to InsertedTextBottom3
set myRangeCells to range ("B8:D9") of theSheet
set horizontal alignment of myRangeCells to horizontal align center
set myRangeCells to range ("B11:C100000") of theSheet
set horizontal alignment of myRangeCells to horizontal align center
set myRangeCells to range ("B8:D9")
-- set font size of font object of myRangeCells to 16
set font style of font object of myRangeCells to "Bold"
set myRangeCells to range ("B9:D9") of theSheet
set weight of (get border of myRangeCells which border edge bottom) to border weight thin
set borderWeightLog to get weight of (get border of myRangeCells which border edge bottom)
-- Import fileList
repeat with i from 1 to count of fileList
set value of cell ("B" & (10 + i) as string) to i
set value of cell ("C" & (10 + i) as string) to item 1 of item i of fileList
set value of cell ("D" & (10 + i) as string) to item 2 of item i of fileList
end repeat
-- Set the name of the spreadsheet to be saved
set userName to do shell script "whoami"
set fileNameSaved to "Macintosh HD:Users:" & userName & ":Desktop:" & currentDateYYYYMMDD & "_files over " & maxCount & " charcters.xls"
-- Save the workbook / spreadsheet
tell theBook
save workbook as theBook filename fileNameSaved overwrite yes
end tell
-- Test, and depending on the test result, close the spreadsheet
display dialog "Do you want to close the Excel spreadsheet which lists the files whose pathnames are over " & maxCount & " characters?" buttons {"Yes", "No"} default button 2 giving up after 5
set spreadsheetClose to button returned of result
if ((spreadsheetClose = "Yes") is true) then quit
end tell
To anyone who asks why create the script given the large pathname lengths allowed in OS X / Unix the answer is that unfortunately I work in a Windows world which has a pathname length of 255 characters which is rather limiting – at least to me – meaning backups, file transfers, etc. often fail because the pathnames are too long.
To avoid this problem I run this script against my Windows volume which is connected as a network drive to identify those pathnames that I have to shorten before running a backup, file transfer, etc.
Why write this script in Applescript…because I prefer an Apple world over a Windows world!
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With much thanks to all those who helped get this script up and running!