Some notes about Applescript in Sequoia

Table of contents

Here you will find notes concerning AppleScript and the Shortcuts application. Only the MacOS context is concerned.

System Events

If applications are not scriptable, you can use the System Events process, provided you are familiar with the interface elements. The example provided will focus on PDF printing, with choice of name and destination folder.

See the folder

Reference to file

Another challenging topic is naming files and folders. It is also challenging to define their paths. Both Applescript and the Finder use the colon (:) as a separator in strings. The 'Posix File' object converts references of files using slash /‘. this script 1

This is very useful when AppleScripts are inserted into the flow of Shortcuts actions. A POSIX file object is displayed as a slash-delimited path preceded by a POSIX file specifier.

In most cases, it is strongly recommended to use this POSIX file object outside of the process Finder to define variables that are then used within the process. this script 2

See also this pdf document ScreenShots of Shortcuts. It explains the names of the folders and their paths.

[UPDATE] from a file path (as string) to a file object

There are several ways to convert a path (string) into a file object. You can use run AppleScript with his POSIX objet. Here's another way, using only actions. This method does not take into account whether or not the slash / appears at the beginning of the file path like “/Users/iUser/Desktop/thefiletosee.rtf” In the get file from at action, Two fields must be filled in. The first is the main folder (the root folder you select), the second is path to file (as string). If no error, the output is the file object. The file is now available for display (open file) or processing by another program. This folder is independent of the computer where the shortcut is used. On your configuration, you will see the name of your root disk.

Here is the rest with more details.

About Get type shortcuts action

Below is the result of a test to discover how shortcuts app (and actions) defines files or folders from anywhere on your disk with Get Type action. Here more details.

Make a new (sub) folder

With Process Finder, to use "Make new folder," it is necessary to test for the existence of the object beforehand, which is why the shell command is more efficient. this script

With ShortCuts and action “run Shell Script”

With “I ❤️ booklets” application (and his action inside Shortcuts), a booklet can be produced in your printer tray by creating a workflow. See the folder

ShortCuts and code explained in PDF documents

The PDF contains explanations about shortcuts including those about the code inside.This AppleScript code is copyable.

See the folder with PDF

About one shortcut (droplet) and making his preferences file (plist) like current app.

See the folder with PDF

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