Automator / OSX 11.2.3 - execute set of operations on the URLs from the list

Hello, Community!

1st of all - I'm not an advanced programmer - just trying to use AppleScript to automate repeatable task.

I'm trying to create script / workflow, to browse on the list of URLs.

Idea is to execute short list of the same operations on every URL from the list, which I'm processing by "Get Specified Text" -> "Extract URLs fro m Text" and then I wanted to execute my actions in a loop.

Mostly - it's simple shortcut to make a screenshot of website, using keybind (to launch FireShot with predefined settings in Chrome), saving it as PDF (just "Save as PDF" button to be clicked) , closure of plugin dialog and closure of the page.

Sounds trivial - but because I'm not able to set properly focus on dedicated FireShot tab, using apple script - I'm not able to proceed.

I have recorded macro - and extracted the code but it is still not able to activate this tab and find a "Save as PDF button".

Path to element is strictly related to title - what could be part of the issue:

"click UI Element \"Save\" of sheet 1 of window \"FireShot Capture 095 - blahblah - BlahBlah - www.blabla.com - Google Chrome\" of application process \"Chrome\""

Even if recorded macro it works well - can I build a loop to execute recorded macro using URLs from my list as arguments ?

Any help would be priceless.

Posted on May 17, 2021 3:24 AM

Top-ranking reply

Camelot

Level 9

58,551 points

Posted on May 17, 2021 3:06 PM

First and foremost, Automator has very poor looping abilities.

While you can get a list of URLs from various commands, executing a set of actions against each of the URLs in turn is a PITA (at least in my experience).

However, it sounds like you have the basics working, and that you're stuck on:

> Path to element is strictly related to title - what could be part of the issue:

> "click UI Element \"Save\" of sheet 1 of window \"FireShot Capture 095 - blahblah - BlahBlah - www.blabla.com - Google Chrome\" of application process \"Chrome\""

in 99% of cases, you can refer to any window in a number of ways - the default you're seeing here is by name, but you can also use relative references such as window ID (typically window 1 is the frontmost).

Therefore I'd start by trying:

Path to element is strictly related to title - what could be part of the issue:

"click UI Element \"Save\" of sheet 1 of window 1 of application process \"Chrome\""

this should just save the front window, then it becomes an issue of managing the front window more than anything else.

hth

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Automator / OSX 11.2.3 - execute set of operations on the URLs from the list

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