Applescript or Automator to solve problem?

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Level 1

0 points

Applescript or Automator to solve problem?

I've been a mac user now 2 years and never hopped on the forums until now.

I have a question that i'd love some insight on. I'll sum it up below and then give context to those who care to understand why i'm trying to figure this out.

QUESTION:

I need to automate an applicaiton to start and run on its own every morning, and if possible set it up to do the same routine weekly. I am not sure if apple script or automator is a better solution. Or if they are even able to do this and there is a beter solution.

CONTEXT:

I'm an artist, and i'm finding time being sucked away on various websites and applications (who isn't?). I am trying to content manage myself until things turn to habit. I find it easy to do in the real world with eating food for example. I just don't buy or have any bad food in my house. It took a while to do that, but the results are awesome. Now, software is a much different beast to control because of the great benefits. I found a nifty application I use called "SelfControl" which is awesome! However, I would like to automate its capabilities to start early AM and not give me the slightest chance at cheating the system. In fact, i'd love to automate it's capabilities throughout a week to be on a schedule.

I appreciate any and all advice.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)

Posted on Dec 14, 2011 9:41 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Slydude

Level 2

239 points

Dec 17, 2011 3:52 PM in response to BagelwithanN

Not quite sure that I understand the issue here. Are you wanting this program to launch automatically so that yo do not have to launch it? If so, you can probably accomplish this by adding it to the Login items for your user account.

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,506 points

Dec 17, 2011 3:57 PM in response to BagelwithanN

You can use a program called Lingon (on the App store) to create a LaunchAgent which can be set to do what you want.

You can create the LaunchAgent without using Lingon if you can find a good example script, but Lingon makes it pretty simple.

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Answer 3

Slydude

Level 2

239 points

Dec 17, 2011 4:08 PM in response to Barney-15E

Kudos for that bit of info. I have heard of it before but never really used it. I think it might be time to take a serious look at what it can do.

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Answer 4

BagelwithanN Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 17, 2011 11:12 PM in response to Barney-15E

Lingon is cool, but I'm the applications themselves, once launched actually need to be started. So from what I read on that application, it just launches them but doesn't actually tell them to to start. Still cool and it gives me ideas for other things to automate in my life.

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Answer 5

BagelwithanN Author

Level 1

0 points

Dec 17, 2011 11:15 PM in response to Slydude

Hi Slydude. In answer to your question, no i'm not looking to just launch an application. What I need is for it to launch AND run.

I will say that I found this: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20100801214648362

That seems to solve what i'm looking to do. But I can't actually get the script to work. Not sure why it's not compiling and my scripting skills are very old and decrepid. haha! sometimes I wish I would have balanced my programming skills into my life. They would come in handy for sure right here

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Answer 6

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,506 points

Dec 18, 2011 5:51 AM in response to BagelwithanN

Launch usually means run. What does this program need and can it be "run" from the command line?

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Answer 7

twtwtw

Level 5

4,936 points

Dec 18, 2011 6:59 AM in response to BagelwithanN

If you're talking about SelfControl, then the problem is that the program was written to require a button click to start and a user authorization to take effect. Ther's an applescript to run it listed on the Author's website - see here - but it's kind of a pain to automate (it requires GUI scripting and would need you to set up keychain scripting for the app). Try following the instructions on the second link and see if you can make it fly.

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Answer 8

twtwtw

Level 5

4,936 points

Dec 18, 2011 7:37 AM in response to twtwtw

P.s. I don't know why you don't just set up a second account that has Parentaly Controls turned on, and use Fast User switching to enter it when you want to do some work. that should be more configurable than SC.

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