Click Here To Read Part One of “Learn To Speak AppleScript”

To recap the end of Part One, your goal will be to build a script that will save your emails as text files. The actual programming will be covered in Part Three and, when we get there, I’ll try to stay more “conceptual”.

My goal will be to give you a feel for how an AppleScript does its job — but still include enough real-life code to keep it interesting for more experienced scripters (or for people who came here from a search engine looking for a bit of code to get their scripts up and running!)

But, if you are a beginner, don’t let those computer code snippets intimidate you! They are included primarily so that you can see what a real-life Script looks like and not with any expectation that you master the intricacies of the AppleScript language.

After all, this is really an exercise in teaching you the fundamentals of thinking and speaking AppleScript. In other words, this is going to be more like an English class in literature where we talk about books and what they mean — and not a grammar lesson.

In fact, that metaphor is actually a pretty good way to get started!

The First Step Is Between Your Ears

As I mentioned in Part One, AppleScript is an “English-like” programming language.

What we are going to do in this lesson is to state our goals as clearly as we can — and do so in plain, everyday language. Once we’ve done that, we’ll set about writing an AppleScript that matches up with that description.

Rule #1:
First, we say it in English…. then we say it in “English-like”.

Writing a good AppleScript is like…. (wait for it) …. writing a good anything!

Most things that are well-written have probably started from a place of being well-thought-out, right? That’s not to say that you won’t discover some fun, unexpected stuff along the way — but actions begin with intentions. My experience is this: The clearer you are about your intentions when you start, the more you’ll make the right choices along the way.¹

And the more likely you’ll end up with a working thing at the end of your journey.

The Goal of the Script (In Plain English)

First, we need to state our overall goal as clearly as we can. For this first sample script, that goal is:

“I want a script that will save emails as text files.”

The Basic Elements We’ll Need In the Script:

Now that we know what we want to do, we’ll flesh out the details more fully:

1. I use the Apple Mail application to read my emails.
2. I want to be able to save emails as text files.
3. I want to be able to save more than one email at a time.
4. I want to be able to control where the text files are saved to.
5. I want the new text files to have distinctive names so that I can tell them apart more easily.
6. I want the script to come up with those names so that I don’t have to do it for each file.

“I Four Years Old!”

You’ll notice how explicit I was in calling out each part of what I wanted to do.

This way of thinking in terms of “baby steps” towards your overall goal is probably the most important thing you can take from this lesson.

Here’s why — AppleScript is great, but teaching it to do what you want it to do can be like trying to teach a child. You really need to try and see things through the eyes of a kid (or, in this case, a computer that knows only what you tell it) in order to know how to communicate.

Rule #2:
AppleScript is like an energetic child. It’s eager to please — but in need of clear, constant direction.

It reminds me a bit of that old Bill Cosby comedy routine about a kid named Jeffery:

If you have any hope of getting off the plane with your sanity intact, you’re going to have to learn how to translate your adult language into something a kid can understand. That is to say, it’s something you’re absolutely going to be able to do — it’s just going to take a brief transition while you take a deep breath and mentally switch gears from your language and into theirs.

Sometimes, Kids Just Don’t Understand

I’ll make one more point using the “Talking To Kids Metaphor” as we end Part Two…

Every kid is different.
Some are barely able to tie their shoes.
Some come up to you and, unprompted, freak you out by asking if you’re an existentialist.

In the world of AppleScript, each of the applications on your Mac — programs like Apple Mail, Firefox, Evernote, iCal, etc. — are like kids at different grade levels. And, although you can sometimes guess, you’ll never really know which type of kid it is until you start talking to them and figure out their vocabulary level.

And this is the point where, thankfully, reality departs from the metaphor: In the computer world, you can actually see which words an application knows ahead of time — sparing you painful, Jeffery-like conversations. When it comes to speaking AppleScript, each program keeps a list of the vocabulary it knows in an AppleScript Dictionary. (Easy to remember, right?)

Ready To Talk?

In Part Three, we’ll open up that dictionary and start having an AppleScript conversation with a fairly “well-spoken” kid on the Application playground — Apple Mail!

1. I’d like to welcome everyone to the Veritrope.com “Den of Zen”…

What Exactly is AppleScript?

AppleScript is an English-like language used to write programs that control applications on your computer. The “English-like” part is important — it means that you don’t need to have a computer science degree to use it.

Simply put, it’s programming for regular people who want to get things done faster.

The programs that you write in AppleScript are called “scripts” (you saw that coming, right?). Much like the script for a movie, an AppleScript is really just a list of instructions for your computer to follow. It’s kind of like saying to your Mac, “Okay — when I say this, you need to do X, Y, and Z.” Honestly, that’s all that scripting means… giving your Mac a To-Do list.

Best of all, it’s free! Apple generously includes several tools that you’ll need to get started with automating tasks on your Mac — including the AppleScript Editor, which is used to write and save new AppleScripts for your computer to follow.

What is AppleScript Good For?

If you’ve ever known the soul-sucking drudgery of having to perform the same tasks over-and-over again on your computer, then AppleScript is for you! AppleScript automates repetitive tasks for you. So, instead of wasting time doing everything by hand, your computer does it for you…

(This is, after all, what they are supposed to do in the first place. )

Need to change the names of 100 files? You can either spend the next hour clicking and typing yourself into carpal-tunnel-induced dementia¹ — or spend 2 minutes to write a script, click a button, and it’s done!

Most programs on the Mac have at least some level of support for AppleScript and, if you look around Veritrope.com, you’ll see AppleScripts that I’ve written to work with (and to connect together) many popular Mac applications. There are literally thousands of AppleScripts available to automate your system (most of them free!).

And, if by some chance you can’t find a script that someone else has written to automate a particular task, it really is easy enough to write one for yourself.

How do I learn AppleScript?

People often write me asking “How did you learn AppleScript?”

The simple answer is that I started reading AppleScripts written by people who knew what they were doing. The more that I read, the more I understood what was possible — and also some of the things you needed to make a working script.

In other words — Before I could really speak AppleScript, I started to learn how to **THINK** AppleScript. It’s really not any different than if you were dropped into a place where you didn’t know the language. You’d probably understand what the people around you were getting at — long before you learned enough of the language to make yourself understood.

How To Learn The Language

The quasi-official macosxautomation.com site is probably the best place to get started. It has lots of introductory tutorials and code examples for the beginning AppleScripter — but also some great introductions to other utilities that really set the Mac apart (like Automator and Services).

People like Ben Waldie (a guru of AppleScript and Mac Automation) — as well as any number of people who post on the MacScripter forum — also really helped me get going. I was truly inspired by their projects… and also by the community that they maintained to help new people like me get started.

As I started to really get more into it, I also found some great books about AppleScript (Especially Sal Soghoian’s “AppleScript 1-2-3″)

Learning How To Think

All of the resources that I just mentioned are the places to learn the actual ins-and-outs of programming in AppleScript… Honestly, you really can’t do much better than all of these great, talented teachers! Read what they have to say — and they’ll whip your scripting vocabulary and programming grammar into shape before you know it!

What I’d like to do here is a little different: I want to try and teach you how to think in AppleScript so that, while you’re learning from these great resources, you’ll have an existing framework for understanding what they’re trying to teach you. That way when it comes time to write your own scripts, you’ll hopefully have a stronger sense of what your looking for and, what’s more, the types of scripts you’ll need to put together to make it all work.

In Part Two of this series, we’re going to start to build our first sample script: An AppleScript that will save your emails as text files!

1. This is not a real condition…I hope!

• Rescan Your Services.
  Rod Knowlton made an excellent contribution in the comment thread below — Using the PBS tool to force a rescan of Snow Leopard’s Services. This seems to be working well for most people, so I wanted to add it to the top of the list.

  To use it, open up Terminal and type or paste the following:

  /System/Library/CoreServices/pbs
• Reboot.
  I just finished talking with someone on Twitter who was trying to fix this problem and, after all of the troubleshooting steps we brainstormed, it was a reboot that got him back in business. Seriously — do this first.

• Repair Your Permissions.
  Yes — it’s our next favorite step of troubleshooting anything on a Mac! If you aren’t sure how to do it, here’s a good guide for beginners using Apple’s own Disk Utility. Utilities like Onyx are also a dead-simple way to do a permission repair on your hard drive!
• Manually Check Your Service List.
  Check both your ~/Library/Services and /System/Library/Services directories for old services. To quickly troubleshoot which Service is causing the hang up, move them out of the directories one by one and check the Services menu again. You’ll know that you’ve found the culprit when “Building…” is replaced by the an actual list of services.
• Reset the LaunchServices database with a Mac Utility.
  At least one user reported fixing the issue by rebuilding the LaunchServices database. Again, utilities like Onyx allow you to do so pretty easily:
  
• Reset the LaunchServices database with a Terminal line command.
  If you’re comfortable with Terminal, you can use the command below to achieve the same thing as a utility like Onyx:
  /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user

Any Other Techniques Work For You? Share Your Fix In The Comments!

The Original Concept

I still think that format would be pretty great (cough, cough… Evernote team… cough), but is there something that we could do NOW?

As was often said in the movie Fargo — Youbetchya! And it’s available for download below!

Updated On February 25, 2010

Features

• Once Installed, this service will allow you to Control-Click (a.k.a., “Right Click”) a highlighted passage of text anywhere that Snow Leopard’s Services are available and search through your notes in Evernote!
  

  

  Installed Services appear at the bottom of your Contextual Menu

• Instead of opening up a new tab or window in your browser, a special preview window will appear after a moment containing your search results. When you’re done, just close the window and you’re back to where you started — with no fuss!

(Pretty cool, eh?)



Easy to use Preview Window superimposes your results over the current window.

The Fine Print

(Otherwise known as “Stuff You Should Know Before Installing”)

• This Is the “Beta 2″ Release, which should fix some “Permissions Errors” that happened with the installer;
• Other errors may arise when you do something that I didn’t think of or test for! Just use the comment thread below to tell me about it
• I am providing the Service for the benefit of the Mac community. While it works wonderfully for me, I cannot take responsibility for any data you might lose (or if your laptop turns into a pumpkin or something…)
• “Community” means “participation”. Please share with the rest of us how you think this service could be improved (and feel free to help someone if they don’t understand something!)

How to Install and Use

1. Download the ZIP file from the link below:



2. When unzipped, click on the installer package called “Search in Evernote Service” and follow the instructions.

Please Donate to Support These Releases!

Found a bug?

Click Here To Submit Your Bug Report!

Interested in what other Services are available for Snow Leopard?

Click here to see the latest list!

Interested in what AppleScripts are available for Evernote?

Click here to see the latest list!

“I was looking for a better way to store bookmarks while I am researching something without storing the entire web page or a pdf of it. Dragging and dropping the icon from the web page URL into a note leads to a webloc file that has to be double-clicked to open, and does not work on the iPhone client. Copying and pasting the URL into a note leads to a nice link that can be single click accessed, or accessed directly in the EN client on the iPhone, which is a nice touch.

I can’t see any advantage to the webloc file. Can the default behavior of the drag and drop be changed on the desktop client so that it acts like a paste of the URL? It would make much more sense than the webloc, unless I am missing something.

If anyone else has ideas about how they store bookmarks while they are researching so that they can be accessed between the EN desktop and iPhone client I would love to hear it.”

How about an AppleScript to do the job?

Features

• This AppleScript creates a note with a list of the URLs of each open tab in the frontmost window of Safari.
• Efficiency was foremost in my mind when creating this script. As such, the script creates the note in the default notebook and without any tagging. If anyone thinks that notebook selection and tagging should be included, please let me know in the comments below and I’ll consider adding it in!

Current Limitations and Open Issues

(Otherwise known as “Places Where You Could Help Out!”)

• Errors that will undoubtedly arise when you do something that I didn’t think of or test for!

How to Install and Use

Just run the script!

Change Log:

• 1.00 (October 28, 2009) INITIAL RELEASE OF SCRIPT

My fellow AppleScript ninjas — Dive in to the code and, if you have any suggestions or problems, please let me know about them in the comment thread below.

And remember:

1. I am providing these scripts for the benefit of the Mac community. While they work wonderfully for me, I cannot take responsibility for any data you might lose (or if your laptop turns into a pumpkin or something…);
2. “Community” means “participation”. Please share with the rest of us *how* you use these scripts in your workflow, how you think they could be improved (and feel free to help someone if they don’t understand something!)

Was this script helpful to you? Please Donate!

Found a bug in the script?

Click Here To Submit Your Bug Report!

Interested in what other scripts are available for Evernote?

Click here to see the latest list!

Interested in Snow Leopard Services?

Click here to see the latest list!

Have you ever been reading about a book, movie, or an album and wanted to find it quickly on Amazon.com? Now it’s as easy as clicking your mouse with Snow Leopard!

I think that the new Automator Services are among Snow Leopard’s best new features because, with a little elbow grease, users can extend the operating system in some pretty fun ways. For example, I’m always reading about things online that I want to remember to look up or add to my shopping cart on Amazon.

With this service installed, all I have to do is highlight the text that I want to search for and then activate it! I thought I’d share this PREVIEW release to see if it works for you as well!

Features

• Once Installed, this service will allow you to Control-Click (a.k.a., “Right Click”) a highlighted passage of text anywhere that Snow Leopard’s Services are available and search for it immediately on Amazon.com!
  

  

  Installed Services appear at the bottom of your Contextual Menu

• Instead of opening up a new tab or window in your browser, a special preview window will appear containing your search results. When you’re done shopping, just close the window and you’re back to where you started — with no fuss!



Easy to use Preview Window superimposes your results over the current window.

The Fine Print

(Otherwise known as “Stuff You Should Know Before Installing”)

• THIS IS A BETA RELEASE! Errors will undoubtedly arise when you do something that I didn’t think of or test for!
• **UPDATE** This New “Beta 3″ Revision continues to try and fix installer-related issues that occurred on some systems. If you installed an earlier version and the service didn’t work, this revision should fix the issue for you!
• This Service will only work in applications that support it. For example, Safari allows the use of services and Firefox (currently) doesn’t.
• Veritrope.com’s Amazon Affiliate ID is included in the search, which means that I may receive a commission on items you find through the Search Service.
• This service is being provided for the benefit of the Mac community. While it works wonderfully for me, I cannot take responsibility for any data you might lose (or if your laptop turns into a pumpkin or something…)
• “Community” means “participation”. Please share with the rest of us how you think this service could be improved (and feel free to help someone if they don’t understand something!)

How to Install

1. Download the ZIP file from the link below:




2. Once downloaded and unzipped, click on the installer package called “Amazon.com Search Service for Snow Leopard” and follow the instructions.

   

How to Use

1. Open Safari (or any other Services-Aware Application);
2. Highlight the text you want to search for on Amazon.com
3. Move your cursor over the highlighted text and Control-Click (Right-Click) with your mouse
4. When the Contextual Menu appears, look toward the bottom of the list for the available Services
5. Select “Amazon.com Search”. The Preview Window will appear in just a few moments and display your search results!

I hope you enjoy using it! Please leave any suggestions, comments, or “bug reports” in the comments below.

Interested in what other Services are available for Snow Leopard?

Click here to see the latest list!

Want to quickly export your Yojimbo entries into Evernote? Read on!

After releasing the Evernote to Yojimbo AppleScript earlier this month, some readers asked if there was a script to do the reverse — Yojimbo to Evernote exporting.

Brett Kelly had already written a great script that would do a complete transfer of all of your Yojimbo items into Evernote. I asked him if he would mind if I used it as a launching pad for a fuller script — and he graciously told me to go for it!

Features

• This AppleScript exports a copy of all the selected entries in your Yojimbo database (except those in the Trash) and then imports them into an Evernote notebook.
• When the script needs to export a file first, it places it into a temporary folder on your Desktop and then deletes it when completed.
• In addition to facilitating a full export of all your items into Evernote, this script also gives you the option to export items by Collection (i.e., Images, Bookmarks, PDFs).
  
• Any tags inside Yojimbo will be added to your imported notes in Evernote. You’ll also have a chance to add additional tags to the note on the way in, and you can now select which notebook will receive the import (or create a new one!).
  
  
• When the “Source URL” slot wasn’t already being used for a web link, I added clickable URI links that open up your original Yojimbo note.
  
• Automatic Growl detection has also been enabled which will save you a trip to the Script Editor to enable/disable it. As the export completes its transfer of a Collection, Growl users will see a notification window with that collection’s icon and the number of items that were transferred. If you’re transferring everything all at once, you’ll get notifications for each collection so you can track the progress of your export. When the script is complete, it’ll give you the final tally via Growl as well.
  

Current Limitations and Open Issues

(Otherwise known as “Places Where You Could Help Out!”)

• Errors that will undoubtedly arise when you do something that I didn’t think of or test for!

How to Install and Use

Just run the script and follow the menus to select the notes to send to Yojimbo!
If you’re importing a lot of items, I’d recommend that you change a few settings inside Evernote before beginning the import. In the “Clipping” tab of the Preferences menu, uncheck the boxes in the section called “After a clip:”

If the boxes are checked while importing a large number of items, Evernote will fill your screen with open windows and sound like it is repeatedly shooting you with a laser from a 70’s Sci-Fi movie. Trust me — uncheck the boxes first and you’ll be much happier!

Source Code and Download Link on the next page!

“What would be nice, also, is a script to do the contrary: Export a notebook from Evernote to MacJournal, if possible with tags, annotations…”

It was followed by three exclamation points (!!!) so, unless he’s a fan of the band of the same name, the guy would really like a script.

Okay Lem — here you go. (!!!)

Features **UPDATED**

• **NEW** There are now two scripts included in the downloadable ZIP archive: One that attempts to preserve the formatting of the Evernote item by importing it into MacJournal as a Read-Only Web Archive formatted file, and another that will create an Editable RTF file that may not retain as much of the original formatting and/or embedded images. (See “Current Limitations” Below For More…)
• Each script exports a copy of all the selected entries in an Evernote notebook and saves them into MacJournal.
• Automatic Growl detection has also been enabled which will save you a trip to the Script Editor to enable/disable it.

Current Limitations and Open Issues

(Otherwise known as “Places Where You Could Help Out!”)

• Editing Your Notes: I wrote the original script to convert the HTML files that Evernote exports into a slightly different format called a “Web Archive” which bundles in all of the embedded images and information so that the note will look the same inside of MacJournal. The only problem is that MacJournal doesn’t edit that format (yet). Dan Schimpf (the developer behind MacJournal) and I have been trading some emails about it and he is looking into some options to enable Web Archive editing within MacJournal. Until then (or until I can figure out a better way of doing it), you’ll have to use two different scripts depending upon if you want to edit the contents of the note inside of MacJournal right away.
• Errors that will undoubtedly arise when you do something that I didn’t think of or test for!

How to Install and Use

Just run the appropriate script and select the notes that you want to send to MacJournal!

Source code and download link on the next page!

Features

• This script exports a copy of all the selected entries in an Evernote notebook and saves them into Yojimbo.
• Automatic Growl detection has also been enabled which will save you a trip to the Script Editor to enable/disable it.

Current Limitations and Open Issues

(Otherwise known as “Places Where You Could Help Out!”)

• Currently, links to audio clips from Evernote will appear to import into Yojimbo. However, the links are non-functional. I’ll look at what can be done about this in future revisions (and based on popular consensus);
• Errors that will undoubtedly arise when you do something that I didn’t think of or test for!

How to Install and Use

Just run the script and follow the menus to select the notes to send to Yojimbo!

Source Code and Download Link on the next page!

Features

• This script exports a copy of all the entries in a selected MacJournal and saves them into Evernote.
• Automatic Growl detection has also been enabled which will save you a trip to the Script Editor to enable/disable it.

Current Limitations and Open Issues

(Otherwise known as “Places Where You Could Help Out!”)

• If you’re importing a lot of items, I’d recommend that you change a few settings inside Evernote before beginning the import. In the “Clipping” tab of the Preferences menu, uncheck the boxes in the section called “After a clip:”
  
  If the boxes are checked while importing a large number of items, Evernote will fill your screen with open windows and sound like it is repeatedly shooting you with a laser from a 70’s Sci-Fi movie. Trust me — uncheck the boxes first and you’ll be much happier!
• Although MacJournal uses tagging, it isn’t currently possible to read those tags via AppleScript. Therefore, you’ll need to tag your items once they’ve been imported into Evernote.
• Errors that will undoubtedly arise when you do something that I didn’t think of or test for!

How to Install and Use

Just run the script and select the Journal that you want to send to Evernote!

Source code and download link on the next page!