Automating (scripting) in Mountain Lion - advice ?

Question

Level 1

41 points

Automating (scripting) in Mountain Lion - advice ?

Hi,

A number of years ago I had some programming routine work on Mac, but it has been a while now (for the elderly amongst us ... I extensively programmed in Pascal and in HyperCard ...)

Now I would like to do some scripting to automate some tasks in Mountain Lion. Example of the task is to have my MacMini check on a regular basis for the presence of shared drives (USB drives) connected to my TimeCapsule, and if these are not mounted to go and look for them and mount them (reason for this task is that my MacMini serves as media server to a.o. my AppleTV, and every now and then the drives are unmounted (reason is not clear to me).

Does anyone have some good reference material on how to program AppleScript ? (I assume this would be the tool to use ?)

Thanks in advance

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7.4), Mid 2010

Posted on Jul 30, 2012 8:55 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

necronym

Level 4

1,434 points

Jul 30, 2012 8:58 AM in response to pplanch

If you look in your Application folder there is an App called Automator (it's a funky little Robot). Launch the App and have a look and see if you can program Automator to do what you need

Reply

Answer 2

pplanch Author

Level 1

41 points

Jul 30, 2012 9:02 AM in response to necronym

Thanks, that helps a little. Do you also know where I could find references with instruction sets, syntax, object library information etc. so I know what the possibilities are ?

Reply

Answer 3

necronym

Level 4

1,434 points

Jul 30, 2012 9:12 AM in response to pplanch

You shouldn't need syntax etc, Automator is a step by step task manager. This is what Apple say about it:

Or see the Mac 101 help page here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2488

Hope this helps

Reply

Answer 4

pplanch Author

Level 1

41 points

Jul 30, 2012 9:18 AM in response to necronym

Necronym, thanks again. Not sure though Automator is the right tool for this type of thing, since it would suggest that the app I would create would require someone to actually do something to trigger the action.

AppleScript requires actual programming, but I suspect it would allow me to build in if-then-else steps ("what if the drive I am trying to open is not mounted ?"). On first glance I have not found such possibility in Automator.

Also, the routine I would like to program would need to run on a scheduled basis, not sure how to do that ...

The link provides some useful intro material, but is missing a link to a reference "manual" which is what I am looking for.

Reply

Answer 5

necronym

Level 4

1,434 points

Jul 30, 2012 9:47 AM in response to pplanch

Do you think the drives are unmounting as a result of the Mac Mini going into sleep/ standbye?

If so this might help: http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080329201951648

Reply

Answer 6

necronym

Level 4

1,434 points

Jul 30, 2012 9:52 AM in response to necronym

I'm not sure if this is still available but it's an Automator workflow for Mounting / Unmounting drives

http:/http://mac.softpedia.com/get/System-Utilities/Mount-Unmount-Drives.shtml

Reply