Apple Automator with AppleScript Bible [Paperback]

Thomas Myer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 047052586X | ISBN-13: 978-0470525869 | Publication Date: November 16, 2009 | Edition: 1

One-stop reference helps you get the most out of AppleScript and Automator

One of the handiest ways to streamline your workload is to automate some of your most routine computer tasks. Mac users are lucky in that they have AppleScript and Automator automation tools built right in. This comprehensive guide shows you how to tap both these useful Mac features for Mac OS X and regularly perform such tasks as extracting unread e-mails from your Mail, scheduling workflows, and manually recording actions to create new automated routines.

• Brings you up to speed on Apple's built-in automation tools for Mac OS X, including a more thorough look at Automator than in many books, and shows you how you can automate many of your most repetitive or error-prone tasks
• Explains how to automate aspects of some of your favorite Mac features, such as iCal, Mail, iPhoto, iTunes, and iDVD
• Covers how to manipulate files and folders; work with PDFs, emails, and Web pages; schedule workflows; set up watch folders; create and use variables; manually record actions; and create AppleScripts that further automate functions

The instruction in this detailed guide will help you increase your productivity using Automator and AppleScript.

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

If you use a Mac, you'll be amazed at what you can automate

Save time when using your Mac with Apple's powerful AppleScript and Automator automation tools, which come standard with Mac OS X. This comprehensive guide shows you how to tap both these handy features to streamline your workflows. Learn how to launch your e-mail every day at a set time, or extract data for analysis on a regular schedule, or dozens of other useful ways to automate routine computer tasks, avoid errors, and save yourself time.

• Explore the most current Automator tricks for Snow Leopard

• Learn essential Automator concepts, such as actions, workflows, plugins, and Apple events

• Create a droplet and simple scripts while mastering AppleScript's syntax, variables, objects, and properties

• Automate routines you do all the time, such as opening iTunes® to a random track or making slideshows

• Manipulate files and e-mails, convert PDFs to images, find Calendar items, and discover other functions to automate

Companion Web Site

Visit www.wiley.com/go/applescriptbible for the author's code samples from the book.

About the Author

Thomas Myer is a consultant, technical author, and speaker. He owns Triple Dog Dare Media and specializes in many aspects of Linux- and Mac-based development, including Web content management systems, blogs, wikis, dashboard widgets, iPhone applications, UNIX systems programming, and Applescripting. He is the author of five books, including Professional CodeIgniter and Mac OS X UNIX Toolbox.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (November 16, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047052586X
• ISBN-13: 978-0470525869
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in the Republic of Panama to an American father and Panamanian mother. My mother's side of the family is ginormous--she had 7 brothers and sisters, and each of them had at least 3 or 4 kids (good Catholics!) so it turns out that there is a plenitude of cousinage.

I went to school in what was known as the Panama Canal Zone, graduating from Balboa High School shortly before the bombs fell on Noriega in 1989. I attend Panama Canal College before transferring to UT San Antonio, where I earned a bachelor's in English and met my lovely wife Hope.

After graduating from UTSA in 1992, I attended SUNY-Binghamton in upstate, frozen tundra New York to get my Master's degree (part Medieval English Lit, part Linguistics, part Comparative Lit). Then we returned to San Antonio where I started my career as an editor for The Psychological Corporation, a division of Harcourt Brace.

In 1996 I got my big break in hi-tech, joining a little startup called WheelGroup Corporation, where I was part-time Webmaster and full-time technical writer for a UNIX-based intrusion detection product line. What an education! Wow.

We were acquired by Cisco Systems in 1998, which meant a move to Austin TX. The first thing we noticed was how different Austin was from the rest of Texas--like light and day. I don't think Austin has ever voted majority Republican for president in the last 30 or 40 years (okay, maybe Reagan).

I had been involved with XML before Cisco, but within days of becoming a Ciscoite, I got roped into various XML-related projects and undertakings. I learned a lot about XML document analysis and the pure politics of markup languages.

In 1999 I moved on to Vignette Corporation, where I was a technical writer and information architect. There we worked on various portals and CMS engagements. That lasted until 2001, when I left to go out on my own full time.

I've been running Triple Dog Dare Media ever since. In 2004 I was approached by SitePoint to write a basic XML book, and that eventually became No Nonsense XML Web Development with PHP.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, February 10, 2010

By 

D. Enders (Apple User Group, Anchorage Ak) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Apple Automator with AppleScript Bible (Paperback)

PRO: Excellent tutorial and reference for both Automator & AppleScript
CON: I found the figures hard to read and not all were scaled the same
Moose Rating: 5

Review posted at :[...]

The dictionary included as part of the Snow Leopard OS defines the informal meaning of the word "Bible" as any authoritative book. I would agree that Wiley has used this term appropriately in titling this book by Thomas Myer. This book tackles both Automator and Applescript and effectively describes how the two can complement each other. I have read many books and articles on AppleScript and I find that it can be quite daunting as the information available doesn't seem to get updated as frequently as books for iLife or iWork for example.

This book is updated to include changes to Automator and AppleScript for the Snow Leopard operating system so it is a current book. I really liked the flow of the book starting with the Qucik Start chapter. This was a really nice feature because this book is a daunting 540 pages. I have a couple of other books about the same size and they just dive in and you can get lost very quickly. The Quick Start chapter allows the reader to see what Automator and AppleScript can do and the differences between the two methods of automating tasks on the Mac. Myer also explained Automation and why you might want it in the following chapter. I liked this and could relate to his explanation of Automation. After all, in our busy lives we need help making our lives easier and less hectic. Repetitive tasks on a computer can be boring and often as result can result in errors. This book inspired many ideas for better cataloguing my photos and playing my iTunes music. One example that is shown is how to rename files and to take it a step further with photos. I am horrible at organizing my files but with the help of Automator, instead of loading them directly into iPhoto, I could run my Automation workflow, this could be run as a workflow, an application or a plug-in, and pre process my files and then more than likely add them to iPhoto. I need to try the last step later to make sure it will work. This way instead of IMG-0235, you could have a filename like 2010-Family_Vacation-0235. And you can do more than one change to a file at a time, like changing the labels for all photos to a specific color, making a pdf contact sheet by making the photos into thumbnails. This really excites me. I feel now I can use my Mac to help be organized and that is the whole point. Another Automation task I thought of is that I have over 30GB of music. I always seem to play the same songs over and over, well with AppleScript, I could create a playlist that I haven't played or haven't played in over 60 days. The possibilities are endless. If when you are reading you are having problems thinking of ways to Automate, chapters 15-19 are full of projects which of course you can modify to your liking. Wiley makes the code examples available online so you don't need to type them all in which is a nice bonus. The author did a very good job of the Appendices of this book, this is just not extra pages stuck at the end of the book to make it bigger. There is great information here for you to further increase your knowledge of Automator and AppleScript. The reader level of this book is from Beginner to Advanced, I would agree with this. For the novice this will be a learning curve but there are many examples to reference. I liked this book and will be using it to re-write the AppleScript that I use to post this review for AAUG. It was my first attempt at a big script and it needs a bit of rework. The author looks at AppleScript Studio in X-Code briefly, it is nice that he covers it even though it could probably be a whole other book in itself. Many books I have read previously do not cover it at all.

In closing, I think this is one of the best Automator and AppleScript books available today.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not Updated For Snow Leopard Operating System, July 23, 2010

By 

Stan Nevin (Wilmette, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Apple Automator with AppleScript Bible (Paperback)

It is possible to save an Automator script in different formats. If you want to work on debugging it, you save it as a Workflow. It's also possible to save it as an Application. But the most useful format under Snow Leopard is the Service format, which makes the script available to you in contextual menus when and where you need it.

The copyright on the book that I bought says 2010. But the index has no entries for the word "Service." There are, however, 11 entries for the word "Plug-in." Plug-ins were the what you used in Leopard (10.5) before Services were revamped to work with Automator in Snow Leopard (10.6).

The book "solves" this problem with the following text, which is repeated after it's many now-useless pronouncements on plug-ins:
NOTE Plugins are for Leopard only. In Snow Leopard, they are known as Services and have a slightly different configuration.

Thanks so much. Now I know what to look for in the book I buy to teach me how to use Automator, which I thought was what this book was going to do.

Thomas Myer is a very good author. I'm guessing this trick was pulled by his editors. If you're still using Leopard, this might be the book for you. If you're using Snow Leopard, wait until somebody goes to the trouble of updating this book.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the book apple should have produced, December 17, 2009

By 

Douglas L. Dean (Oregon) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Apple Automator with AppleScript Bible (Paperback)

Apple should have provided a book like this (at least in e-book format).

Now if some one could just write a more technical book designed for folks who want to extend automator and applescript with custom code to fully handle automating programs like apple's own final cut pro.