I am suffering over a few fundamental AppleScript items that I just can’t seem to grasp.
¢ open for access
¢ File vs. Alias
And the posts I read still don’t seem to help in this case?
I am trying to collect a list of InDesign links into a text file that resides on the desktop. I would normally be okay with deleting the text file as soon as the script runs. But I can’t do that because sometimes I will need to add subsequent links from other documents to that same text file.
The guts of my script seem to work, but for some reason I am getting this error:
SystemUIServer got an error: File permission error.
on this line of code
set WiP to open for access outputFile with write permission
Can somebody PLEASE tell me what I am doing wrong?
I really appreciate the help.
Thanks,
Jeff
global outputList
on RemoveDuplicates(theList)
set outputList to {}
repeat with i from 1 to length of theList
-- We make testItem a single-item list to ensure
-- that sublists of the inputList are properly
-- looked for in the outputlist.
set thisItem to item i of theList
set testItem to {thisItem}
if (outputList does not contain testItem) then
set end of outputList to thisItem
end if
end repeat
return outputList
end RemoveDuplicates
set theList to {}
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS2"
activate
tell document 1
set theLink to every link
repeat with i from 1 to count of theLink
set oriDelims to text item delimiters of AppleScript --puts the current delimiters into a variable
set theImageName to file path of item i of theLink --extract full name
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to {":"} --uses the colon as the new delimiter
set theImageName to last text item of theImageName
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to oriDelims --resets the old delimiters
set end of theList to theImageName
--display dialog theImageName
end repeat
end tell
end tell
--display dialog theList as string
set secondList to RemoveDuplicates(theList)
--Make a folder if not there
try
set destPath to (path to current user folder as text) & "Desktop:"
set fileName to "Links"
tell application "Finder"
make new file at folder destPath with properties {name:fileName}
end tell
end try
set outputFile to (path to current user folder as text) & "Desktop:Links"
try
set WiP to open for access outputFile with write permission
end try
---then empties the file, just in case.
tell application "SystemUIServer"
set userResponse to display dialog "Do you want to clear the contents of the Links file?" buttons {"Yes", "No"}
if button returned of userResponse is "Yes" then
set WiP to outputFile
try
close access WiP
end try
set WiP to open for access outputFile with write permission
set eof WiP to 0
end if
end tell
--and loops thru all list items and writes each in turn to the file.
repeat with w from 1 to count of outputList
write item w of outputList & return & return to WiP starting at eof
end repeat
close access WiP
.
set secondList to RemoveDuplicates(theList)
set outputFile to ((path to desktop as text) & "Links.txt")
try
set WiP to open for access file outputFile with write permission
---then empties the file, just in case.
set userResponse to display dialog "Do you want to clear the contents of the Links file?" buttons {"Yes", "No"}
if button returned of userResponse is "Yes" then set eof WiP to 0
--and loops thru all list items and writes each in turn to the file.
set {TID, text item delimiters} to {text item delimiters, (return & return)}
set outputList to outputList as text
set text item delimiters to TID
write outputList & return & return to WiP starting at eof
close access WiP
on error
try
close access file outputFile
end try
end try
I would also keep your open for access and close access in the same try block so that you can close access to the file with our on error if you run into an error. I forget the exact problems of not closing access to the file but much like resetting AppleScript’s text item delimiters I believe that it is a good practice to always close access to the file even (or especially?) if the scripts quits due to an error.
Hi Stefan and Jerome,
I owe you a great deal of thanks. And I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I don’t script that often. So every time I get back into it, I forget lots of things. I learned so much from this tiny script, including the importance of text item delimiters. You were more helpful than you may realize.
I am having difficulty with either the text item delimiters or the setting the eof to 0 aspect.
This script is working. But the final text document always yields the first line followed by 4 returns, whereas ever other line of text is followed by two returns (that is preferred) yet one would be better. I know the script is long and cumbersome, but maybe somebody can explain what I am missing? I really do appreciate any gesture of goodwill
I realize I have a handler towards the bottom of the script that shouldn’t really be at that spot. For now it is helping me see things flow a bit.
Thanks,
Jeff
global outputList
on RemoveDuplicates(theList)
set outputList to {}
repeat with i from 1 to length of theList
-- We make testItem a single-item list to ensure
-- that sublists of the inputList are properly
-- looked for in the outputlist.
set thisItem to item i of theList
set testItem to {thisItem}
if (outputList does not contain testItem) then
set end of outputList to thisItem
end if
end repeat
return outputList
end RemoveDuplicates
on RemoveDuplicates2(theSecondList)
set outputList2 to {}
repeat with i from 1 to length of theSecondList
-- We make testItem a single-item list to ensure
-- that sublists of the inputList are properly
-- looked for in the outputlist.
set thisItem to item i of theSecondList
set testItem to {thisItem}
if (outputList2 does not contain testItem) then
set end of outputList2 to thisItem
end if
end repeat
return outputList2
end RemoveDuplicates2
set theList to {}
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS2"
activate
tell document 1
set theLink to every link
repeat with i from 1 to count of theLink
set oriDelims to text item delimiters of AppleScript --puts the current delimiters into a variable
set theImageName to file path of item i of theLink --extract full name
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to {":"} --uses the colon as the new delimiter
set theImageName to last text item of theImageName
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to oriDelims --resets the old delimiters
set end of theList to theImageName
--display dialog theImageName
end repeat
end tell
end tell
--display dialog theList as string
set secondList to RemoveDuplicates(theList)
set outputFile to ((path to desktop as text) & "Links.txt")
try
set WiP to open for access file outputFile with write permission
---then empties the file, just in case.
--make the dialog box the frontmost application
tell application "SystemUIServer"
set userResponse to display dialog "Do you want to clear the contents of the Links file?" buttons {"Yes", "No"}
end tell
if button returned of userResponse is "Yes" then set eof WiP to 0
if button returned of userResponse is "No" then
tell application "TextEdit"
try
open outputFile
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "TextEdit"
set frontmost to true
keystroke "a" using {command down}
end tell
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "TextEdit"
set frontmost to true
keystroke "c" using {command down}
end tell
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "TextEdit"
set frontmost to true
keystroke "w" using {command down}
end tell
end tell
end try
end tell
end if
--and loops thru all list items and writes each in turn to the file.
set {TID, text item delimiters} to {text item delimiters, (return & return)}
set outputList to outputList as text
set text item delimiters to TID
write outputList & return & return to WiP starting at eof
--write outputList to WiP starting at eof
close access WiP
on error
try
close access file outputFile
end try
end try
set theSecondList to {}
--Change Text Item Delimiters
--set {TID, text item delimiters} to {text item delimiters, (return & return)}
tell application "TextEdit"
open file outputFile
set theLinkNames to every paragraph of document 1
--display dialog theLinkNames as string
repeat with i from 1 to (count of theLinkNames)
set TID to text item delimiters of AppleScript --puts the current delimiters into a variable
set theImageName2 to item i of theLinkNames
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to {":"} --uses the colon as the new delimiter
set theImageName2 to last text item of theImageName2
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to TID --resets the old delimiters
--set end of theList to theImageName
set end of theSecondList to theImageName2
--display dialog theImageName
end repeat
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "TextEdit"
set frontmost to true
keystroke "w" using {command down}
end tell
end tell
(*///////////////////////////////
///////////////////////////////
///////////////////////////////
///////////////////////////////
///////////////////////////////
///////////////////////////////
/////////////////////////////// *)
on RemoveDuplicates3(theList)
set outputList to {}
repeat with i from 1 to length of theList
-- We make testItem a single-item list to ensure
-- that sublists of the inputList are properly
-- looked for in the outputlist.
set thisItem to item i of theList
set testItem to {thisItem}
if (outputList does not contain testItem) then
set end of outputList to thisItem
end if
end repeat
return outputList
end RemoveDuplicates3
set theNewFile to ((path to desktop as text) & "Links.txt")
try
set WiP to open for access file theNewFile with write permission
set theList to {}
tell application "TextEdit"
open file theNewFile
set theLinkNames to every paragraph of document 1
--display dialog theLinkNames as string
repeat with i from 1 to (count of theLinkNames)
set TID to text item delimiters of AppleScript --puts the current delimiters into a variable
set theImageName2 to item i of theLinkNames
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to {":"} --uses the colon as the new delimiter
set theImageName2 to last text item of theImageName2
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to TID --resets the old delimiters
--set end of theList to theImageName
set end of theList to theImageName2
--display dialog theImageName
end repeat
close document 1
end tell
set theList to RemoveDuplicates3(theList)
--and loops thru all list items and writes each in turn to the file.
set {TID, text item delimiters} to {text item delimiters, (return & return)}
set outputList to outputList as text
set text item delimiters to TID
set eof WiP to 0
write outputList & return & return to WiP starting at eof
--write outputList to WiP starting at eof
close access WiP
on error
try
close access file theNewFile
end try
end try
sorry, I don’t understand some parts of your script at all
¢ why do you strip the last text item after writing to the file the first time, you actually write just file names into the file, not paths!
¢ why do you put the contents of the text file to the clipboard, if the user presses NO?
¢ why do you use the code of a subroutine 3 times instead of calling the same subroutine with different parameters?
btw, TextEdit is not needed to put the contents of the file to the clipboard, replace
if button returned of userResponse is "No" then
tell application "TextEdit"
try
open outputFile
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "TextEdit"
set frontmost to true
keystroke "a" using {command down}
end tell
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "TextEdit"
set frontmost to true
keystroke "c" using {command down}
end tell
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "TextEdit"
set frontmost to true
keystroke "w" using {command down}
end tell
end tell
end try
end tell
end if
with
if button returned of userResponse is "No" then
set the clipboard to (read file outputFile)
end if
and to gather the file names of the links this is sufficient
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS3"
tell document 1 to set theList to name of every link
end tell
Hello Stefan.
I really messed up and shouldn’t have included that clipboard aspect. I was going about this very wrong.
I tried to use what you gave me to rework this. I also tried to use one handler. (this is not easy for me)
My test dialogs that I threw in their look like correct lists. But when the script writes to the text document, the lines of links (or words) are preceded by random unicode txt characters, usually beginning with txt
Any idea what may be causing this? Other than that I think the below script would work.
on RemoveDuplicates(theList)
set outputList to {}
repeat with i from 1 to length of theList
-- We make testItem a single-item list to ensure
-- that sublists of the inputList are properly
-- looked for in the outputlist.
set thisItem to item i of theList
set testItem to {thisItem}
if (outputList does not contain testItem) then
set end of outputList to thisItem
end if
end repeat
return outputList
end RemoveDuplicates
--This will get a list of links from InDesign
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS2"
activate
tell document 1 to set theList to name of every link as list
end tell
display dialog theList as string
--We must write the list to a text document on the desktop separated by returns
set outputFile to ((path to desktop as text) & "Links.txt")
try
set WiP to open for access file outputFile with write permission
---then empties the file, just in case.
--make the dialog box the frontmost application
tell application "SystemUIServer"
set userResponse to display dialog "Do you want to clear the contents of the Links file?" buttons {"Yes", "No"}
end tell
--In case a list was on the document and we didn't need it, we would clear the text document.
if button returned of userResponse is "Yes" then set eof WiP to 0
--Otherwise we would want to add the new list to the existing list already on the document.
set TID to text item delimiters of AppleScript --puts the current delimiters into a variable
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to {(return & return)} --uses the colon as the new delimiter
set theList to theList as text
--set delimiters back to old
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to TID
write theList to WiP starting at eof
close access WiP
on error
try
close access file outputFile
end try
end try
--Now we need to get the paragraphs of the document
set theParagraphList to {}
tell application "TextEdit"
open file outputFile
set eachParagraph to every paragraph of document 1
repeat with i from 1 to (count of eachParagraph)
set eachParagraphName to item i of eachParagraph
set eachParagraphName to last text item of eachParagraphName
set end of theParagraphList to eachParagraphName
end repeat
end tell
display dialog theParagraphList as string
--sets theParagraphs list to theList so the initial handler can get rid of the duplicates
set theList to theParagraphList
set secondList to RemoveDuplicates(theList)
--This will write the new non-duplicate paragraph list to the text doucument.
try
set WiP to open for access file outputFile with write permission
set eof WiP to 0
write secondList to WiP starting at eof
close access WiP
on error
try
close access file outputFile
end try
end try
Sorry, Jeff, I’m lost.
The TextEdit part is confusing because if no text item delimiters are specified,
so the default value {“”} will result only a list of carriage returns
Hi Stefan,
Your last response helped me more than you may realize. Setting the text delimiters helped. Yet I still need to do some serious learning.
I was also forgetting to set my list to “text” before writing it to the text document. That seemed to get rid of the extra text characters. I also realized I could and a return to my list by simply writing this:
write theList & return to WiP starting at eof
It’s those little things that I pull my hair out with.
This script is working very well. I still have the top line of my text file’s list followed by a few extra returns. But I can write a script to replace those 4 returns with 2 return.
Many thanks again for all of your help.
-Jeff
on RemoveDuplicates(theList)
set outputList to {}
repeat with i from 1 to length of theList
set TID to text item delimiters of AppleScript --puts the current delimiters into a variable
-- We make testItem a single-item list to ensure
-- that sublists of the inputList are properly
-- looked for in the outputlist.
set thisItem to item i of theList
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to {(return)} --uses the return as the new delimiter
set testItem to {thisItem}
if (outputList does not contain testItem) then
set end of outputList to thisItem
end if
end repeat
return outputList
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to TID --resets the old delimiters
end RemoveDuplicates
--This will get a list of links from InDesign
tell application "Adobe InDesign CS2"
activate
tell document 1 to set theList to name of every link as list
end tell
display dialog theList as string
--We must write the list to a text document on the desktop separated by returns
set outputFile to ((path to desktop as text) & "Links.txt")
try
set WiP to open for access file outputFile with write permission
---then empties the file, just in case.
--make the dialog box the frontmost application
tell application "SystemUIServer"
set userResponse to display dialog "Do you want to clear the contents of the Links file?" buttons {"Yes", "No"}
end tell
--In case a list was on the document and we didn't need it, we would clear the text document.
if button returned of userResponse is "Yes" then set eof WiP to 0
--Otherwise we would want to add the new list to the existing list already on the document.
set TID to text item delimiters of AppleScript --puts the current delimiters into a variable
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to {(return & return)} --uses the return as the new delimiter
set theList to theList as text
--set delimiters back to old
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to TID
write theList & return to WiP starting at eof
close access WiP
on error
try
close access file outputFile
end try
end try
--Now we need to get the paragraphs of the document
try
set theParagraphList to {}
tell application "TextEdit"
open file outputFile
set eachParagraph to every paragraph of document 1
repeat with i from 1 to (count of eachParagraph)
set TID to text item delimiters of AppleScript --puts the current delimiters into a variable
set eachParagraphName to item i of eachParagraph
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to {":"} --uses the colon as the new delimiter
set eachParagraphName to last text item of eachParagraphName
set text item delimiters of AppleScript to TID --resets the old delimiters
set end of theParagraphList to eachParagraphName
end repeat
close document 1
end tell
display dialog theParagraphList as string
--sets theParagraphs list to theList so the initial handler can get rid of the duplicates
set theList to theParagraphList
set secondList to RemoveDuplicates(theList)
end try
--This will write the new non-duplicate paragraph list to the text doucument.
try
set WiP to open for access file outputFile with write permission
set {TID, text item delimiters} to {text item delimiters, (return & return)}
set secondList to secondList as text
set text item delimiters to TID
set eof WiP to 0
write secondList to WiP starting at eof
close access WiP
on error
try
close access file outputFile
end try
end try
