Hello,
Semi-newbie here. I am scripting alot more, but perhaps not better, or cleaner. Anyway, I’ve written the following script in order to concatenate a particular set of pdfs into complete documents. In order for the script to work, two docs have to exist on the desktop, so I put these into properties.
property FileTypeList : {"PDF "}
property CORE_Pdf : (path to desktop as string) & "AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs:AMC-005_CORE.pdf"
property CORE_Span_PDF : (path to desktop as string) & "AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs:AMC-005_CORE_SPAN.pdf"
property myCompletedFolder : (path to desktop as string) & "Completed_AMC_PDFs:"
set theseItems to (choose file)
set theseItems to theseItems as list
--on open theseItems WILL TURN THIS INTO A DROPLET LATER
tell application "Finder"
set CORE_is_there to CORE_Pdf as alias
set CORE_Span_is_there to CORE_Span_PDF as alias
if not (exists CORE_is_there or CORE_Span_is_there) then
display dialog "You need to have made a PDF of the English CORE document AND the Spanish CORE document. If you have used the droplet called \"Americhoice_Lo_Res_PDFs.app\", they should be in a folder called \"AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs\" on your desktop. If not there, create a folder called \"AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs\" on your desktop and place BOTH CORE pdfs in it. This application will now quit." buttons {"OK"}
else
repeat with thisitem in theseItems
--tell application "Finder"
if not (exists folder myCompletedFolder) then
make new folder at desktop with properties {name:"Completed_AMC_PDFs"}
end if
set thisItemInfo to info for thisitem
try
set thisFiletype to the file type of thisItemInfo
on error
set thisFiletype to ""
end try
if thisFiletype is not in the FileTypeList then
display dialog "You must drop an AMC pdf on me in order to continue."
else
my processItems(thisitem)
end if
end repeat
end if
end tell
--end open
on processItems(thisitem)
tell application "Finder"
set originalName to name of thisitem
set newName to characters 1 thru -4 of originalName & "_combined.pdf"
set final_file to myCompletedFolder & newName
end tell
tell application "Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional"
activate
close documents
open thisitem
open CORE_Pdf
open CORE_Span_PDF
set masterDoc to document 1
set file2Insert to document 2
set spanfile2Insert to document 3
insert pages masterDoc after 1 from file2Insert starting with 1 number of pages 2
insert pages masterDoc after 5 from spanfile2Insert starting with 2 number of pages 1
insert pages masterDoc after 6 from spanfile2Insert starting with 1 number of pages 1
end tell
tell application "Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional"
save document 1 to file final_file
delay 2
close documents without saving
end tell
end processItems
I am testing this script by not having the CORE documents in the right folder. But instead displaying the dialog box, the script returns an error: “File mac042:Users:andrewlenner:Desktop:AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs:AMC-005_CORE.pdf wasn’t found.” I guess that the script is looking for that file (since it is a property) before parsing the “if not exists” line. So I think I should capture the error, so that I can display the dialog box to the user, and not the error message.
So where in the script would I put the try statement, if possible?
Thanks for responding. What I was trying to do was to “break” the app by not having the CORE_pdfs files where they should be. So when the app runs, and the file isn’t ther,e the script could capture the error and run a dialog to tell the user (not me) to go get the file and put it where it belongs.
But I don’t know when the error is occurring. Does AS look for the needed before processing commands? If so, how can I capture the error message? Where should I put the try statement, if a try statement is needed?
P.S. I’m trying to convince my bosses (who hate technology) that Applescript is a good thing, so they will buy me Script Debugger and let me work on scripts during work hours. I’ve got one “VP” on board but I need to convince several more. This script (above) would be really meaningful, if I can get it to work right.
Maybe you could try code like follows which creates the paths dynamically during an initialization function? I do not have Adobe Acrobat installed, so maybe the code is messed up But as Steve always says: You get the idea
property FileTypeList : {"PDF "}
property CORE_Pdf : missing value
property CORE_Span_PDF : missing value
property myCompletedFolder : missing value
if not my initscript() then
tell me
activate
display dialog "You need to have made a PDF of the English CORE document AND the Spanish CORE document. If you have used the droplet called \"Americhoice_Lo_Res_PDFs.app\", they should be in a folder called \"AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs\" on your desktop. If not there, create a folder called \"AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs\" on your desktop and place BOTH CORE pdfs in it. This application will now quit." buttons {"OK"}
end tell
end if
set theseItems to (choose file)
set theseItems to theseItems as list
--on open theseItems WILL TURN THIS INTO A DROPLET LATER
tell application "Finder"
set CORE_is_there to CORE_Pdf as alias
set CORE_Span_is_there to CORE_Span_PDF as alias
repeat with thisitem in theseItems
--tell application "Finder"
if not (exists folder myCompletedFolder) then
make new folder at desktop with properties {name:"Completed_AMC_PDFs"}
end if
set thisItemInfo to info for thisitem
try
set thisFiletype to the file type of thisItemInfo
on error
set thisFiletype to ""
end try
if thisFiletype is not in the FileTypeList then
display dialog "You must drop an AMC pdf on me in order to continue."
else
my processItems(thisitem)
end if
end repeat
end tell
--end open
on processItems(thisitem)
tell application "Finder"
set originalName to name of thisitem
set newName to characters 1 thru -4 of originalName & "_combined.pdf"
set final_file to myCompletedFolder & newName
end tell
tell application "Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional"
activate
close documents
open thisitem
open CORE_Pdf
open CORE_Span_PDF
set masterDoc to document 1
set file2Insert to document 2
set spanfile2Insert to document 3
insert pages masterDoc after 1 from file2Insert starting with 1 number of pages 2
insert pages masterDoc after 5 from spanfile2Insert starting with 2 number of pages 1
insert pages masterDoc after 6 from spanfile2Insert starting with 1 number of pages 1
end tell
tell application "Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional"
save document 1 to file final_file
delay 2
close documents without saving
end tell
end processItems
on initscript()
set CORE_Pdf to (path to desktop as string) & "AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs:AMC-005_CORE.pdf"
set CORE_Span_PDF to (path to desktop as string) & "AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs:AMC-005_CORE_SPAN.pdf"
set myCompletedFolder to (path to desktop as string) & "Completed_AMC_PDFs:"
repeat with itempath in {CORE_Pdf, CORE_Span_PDF, myCompletedFolder}
try
set itemalias to itempath as alias
on error
return false
end try
end repeat
return true
end
Thanks to Bruce and Martin!
I put the try statement around the line you quoted, then put “return” to make the script stop running, and it works. However, I am going to try Martin’s suggestion, cause I think a handler will be better in the long run.
on run
choose file with multiple selections allowed without invisibles
open result
end run
on open theseItems
try
set corePDF to ((path to desktop as Unicode text) & "AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs:AMC-005_CORE.pdf") as alias
set coreSpanPDF to ((path to desktop as Unicode text) & "AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs:AMC-005_CORE_SPAN.pdf") as alias
on error
display dialog "You need to have made a PDF of the English CORE document AND the Spanish CORE document. If you have used the droplet called \"Americhoice_Lo_Res_PDFs.app\", they should be in a folder called \"AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs\" on your desktop. If not there, create a folder called \"AMC_Exported_LoRes_PDFs\" on your desktop and place BOTH CORE pdfs in it. This application will now quit." with icon note buttons {"Cancel"} default button 1
end try
set completedFolder to (path to desktop as Unicode text) & "Completed_AMC_PDFs:"
tell application "System Events"
if not (exists folder completedFolder) then
make new folder at desktop with properties {name:"Completed_AMC_PDFs"}
end if
end tell
repeat with thisItem in theseItems
try
tell application "System Events"
set finalFile to completedFolder & text 1 thru 4 of name of thisItem & "_combined.pdf"
name extension of thisItem
end tell
if result is not in {"pdf"} then
error """ & thisItem & "" is not an AMC PDF file." number 1
end if
tell application "Adobe Acrobat 7.0 Professional"
activate
close documents
open thisItem
open CORE_Pdf
open CORE_Span_PDF
set masterDoc to document 1
set file2Insert to document 2
set spanfile2Insert to document 3
insert pages masterDoc after 1 from file2Insert starting with 1 number of pages 2
insert pages masterDoc after 5 from spanfile2Insert starting with 2 number of pages 1
insert pages masterDoc after 6 from spanfile2Insert starting with 1 number of pages 1
save document 1 to file finalFile
delay 2
close documents without saving
end tell
on error errMsg number errNum
display alert "Error " & errNum message errMsg buttons {"Cancel Script", "Skip Item"} default button 2 cancel button 1
end try
end repeat
end open
But as Steve always says: You get the idea 