Saving To Original Folder In Automator

Faelen wrote:
Hi everyone,

I'm working on an automator action in Snow Leopard to convert a bunch of small groups of images that I have to single PDF files with multiple pages. What is want it to do exactly is take an input of several files, turn them into the pages of a PDF, then give that PDF the name of the first file and then save it in the same folder as the first file, or something to that effect. Essentially I need the output to go to the same location as the source and to have the same name as any one of the files. It seems really simple, but I've googled and dug around Automator to no avail; I've managed to get every step except saving the output file where I want it. Does anyone have any idea about how to do this?

this can be done using automator variables and "run applescript" action.

make your workflow like this
1. get selected finder items
2. run applescript
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #ADD8E6;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
on run {input, parameters}

tell application "Finder"
container of item 1 of input
end tell
end run</pre>
this action returns the ambient folder for the first item in among the selected items in finder.
3. set value of variable
make a new variable here (call it "ambient-folder" or something) and assign the output of the previous action to it.
4. get selected finder items. control-click on this action and select 'ignore input' to break the chain of actions.
5.run applescript
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #ADD8E6;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
on run {input, parameters}

tell application "Finder"
set current_ext to (name extension of (item 1 of input)) as text
set fname to text 1 thru -((length of current_ext) + 2) of (name of (item 1 of input) as text)
return fname --return the name of the first item in the list
end tell
end run</pre>
6. set value of variable "new-folder-name"
7. get selected finder items. again, control-click on it and select 'ignore input".

From here do your workflow. in the action where you make a new folder drag the variable "ambient-folder" you used earlier to the "where" field of the "new folder" action so that the new folder will be created in the right place. and drag the variable "new-folder-name" to the folder name field.

sorry, misunderstood you. but that's easy too. keep steps 1-4 same as I made them. change step 5 to the following applescript
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #ADD8E6;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
on run {input, parameters}

tell application "Finder"
set current_ext to (name extension of (item 1 of input)) as text
set fname to text 1 thru -((length of current_ext) + 2) of (name of (item 1 of input) as text)
return fname&".pdf" --return the name of the first item in the list but change the extension to pdf
end tell
end run</pre>
6. set value of variable "new-pdf-name"
7. get selected finder items. again, control-click on it and select 'ignore input".

next do your workflow. on the action 'new pdf from images" drag the variable "ambient-folder" in the "where" field and the variable "new-pdf-name" in the name field.

Faelen wrote:
Almost there! The first applescript runs into a syntax error: Can’t make «class ctnr» of item 1 into type reference.

I don't get any errors when I run it. but try this
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #ADD8E6;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
on run {input, parameters}

tell application "Finder"
container of (item 1 of input) as alias
end tell
end run</pre>

Also, I can't drag the variable to the name field in the Create PDF from images field;

that's bad. then there is no way to do it, period. you'll have to reconsider your workflow requirements.

when I try, it just adds it to the end as a new action, Get Value of variable.

ok, I took a look at your app. first, if you save it as an application and invoke it by dropping some files on it then you should get rid of the very first 'get selected finder items" action. it's redundant and only messes things up. those files are passed to the flow already. i also played with the script and it seems that the action to make new pdfs from images is buggy and won't accept a variable in the "where" field properly. if you change it to point to a fixed folder then everything works. the trick you found for using variables in text fields that don't accept variables is very nifty. it does work too. it's the other part that is broken. I don't see any way around this.

yes, move action ought to work. I should have thought of that. make some fixed folder which should be kept empty. make the new pdf action save files in that folder. then add the action to move finder items at the end of the workflow and put the "ambient folder" variable into the destination field.

you are welcome!