Ignore a folder if it doesn't exist

One way would be to set the folder location in a try statement, and make an alternate setting if there is an error:

tellapplication"Finder"

try

settheHotFoldertofolder"Hal 9000:Users:matthew:Pictures:HotFolder2Do"

onerrorerrmess-- folder doesn't exist

logerrmess-- just log the error

-- set alternate hot folder, etc

endtry

endtell

Try this:

tell application "Finder"

set theHotFolder to folder "Hal 9000:Users:matthew:Pictures:HotFolder2Do"

set theStrings to {¬

"2_do_BHS", ¬

"2_do_Bu", ¬

"2_do_Da", ¬

"2_do_Di", ¬

"2_do_Do", ¬

"2_do_In", ¬

"2_do_Fr", ¬

"2_do_No", ¬

"2_do_Ma", ¬

"2_do_Pr", ¬

"2_do_To", ¬

"2_do_Wa", ¬

"2_do_Se"}

set allTheDestinationFolders to {}

repeat with thisString in theStrings

set theFolders to (folders of desktop whose name starts with thisString)

if theFolders is not {} then

copy (first item of theFolders) to the end of allTheDestinationFolders

end if

end repeat

set allTheFilesToMove to {¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"BH" or name starts with ¬

"SM" or name starts with ¬

"AL", ¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"BU", ¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"ES", ¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"DV", ¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"DJ" or name starts with ¬

"RA", ¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"GT" or name starts with ¬

"CC", ¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"FR", ¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"TM17" or name starts with ¬

"NN", ¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"MA" or name starts with ¬

"MF" or name starts with ¬

"FI" or name starts with ¬

"MC" or name starts with ¬

"MH" or name starts with ¬

"MB", ¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"PR", ¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"TM15" or name starts with ¬

"TM11", ¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"WA", ¬

files of theHotFolder whose name starts with ¬

"SE"}

end tell

Hi,

Since these two variables (allTheDestinationFolders and allTheFilesToMove) must contain the same number of elements (numbers of folder and numbers of list of files), the script should not add the list of files if the folder doesn't exists, otherwise some files may go in the wrong folder when moving or saving later in the script.

Here is the script:

------------------------

set namesStartFolder to {"BHS", "Bu", "Da", "Di", "Do", "In", "Fr", "No", "Ma", "Pr", "To", "Wa", "Se"}
set namesStartFile to {{"BH", "SM", "AL"}, {"BU"}, {"ES"}, {"DV"}, {"DJ", "RA"}, {"GT", "CC"}, {"FR"}, {"TM17", "NN"}, {"MA", "MF", "FI", "MC", "MH", "MB"}, {"PR"}, {"TM15", "TM11"}, {"WA"}, {"SE"}}

set {allTheDestinationFolders, allTheFilesToMove} to {{}, {}}
tell application "Finder"
      set theHotFolder to folder "Hal 9000:Users:matthew:Pictures:HotFolder2Do"
      set tc to (count namesStartFolder)
      repeat with i from 1 to tc
            set dirs to (folders of desktop whose name starts with "2_do_" & item i of namesStartFolder)
            if dirs is not {} then -- folder exists
                  set end of allTheDestinationFolders to item 1 of dirs -- the first folder 
                  set end of allTheFilesToMove to my filterFiles(theHotFolder, list i of namesStartFile)
            end if
      end repeat
      --> rest of your script ******



on filterFiles(f, L)
      set t to "files of folder \"" & f & "\" whose name starts with \"" & item 1 of L & "\""
      set tc to count L
      if tc > 1 then repeat with i from 2 to tc -- multi filter --> or name ...
            set t to t & " or name starts with \"" & item i of L & "\""
      end repeat
      run script "tell application \"Finder\" to " & t -- return filtered files
end filterFiles

Message was edited : correction --> count namesStartFolder instead of count namesStartList

I'm glad one of us figured out what the rest of the script was going to do - now, can you tell me where I left my keys? 😉

red_menace wrote:

now, can you tell me where I left my keys? 😉

God how I wish there were an app for that...

Just glue your keys to your iPhone and then use Find my Phone/keys

😁 👿

Hi,

red_menace wrote:

I'm glad one of us figured out what the rest of the script was going to do - now, can you tell me where I left my keys? 😉

This is because I know the script since I helped to do it, but I could be wrong, if he uses this part of the script to create another script.

I'm fifty percent chance that it is correct, otherwise MattJayC will use one of the other scripts available.

I hope I can post a script according to what I think, if I thought wrong, I wasted my time and some say I'm a fool 😁, but that doesn't bother me.

I doesn't prevent someone to post better scripts than mine.

No problem - after your solution I was just thinking "hey, that's pretty good - why didn't I see that?".

For things like this, I like to keep things organized into lists or records, grouping the different things together so that I don't get lost (which, like my keys, happens a lot these days).

# the file matrix is a record of {destination folder name, {list of file prefixes to move}}

setfileMatrixto {¬

{folderName:"2_do_BHS", prefixes:{"BH", "SM", "AL"}}, ¬

{folderName:"2_do_Bu", prefixes:{"BU"}}, ¬

{folderName:"2_do_Da", prefixes:{"ES"}}, ¬

{folderName:"2_do_Di", prefixes:{"DV"}}, ¬

{folderName:"2_do_Do", prefixes:{"DJ", "RA"}}, ¬

{folderName:"2_do_In", prefixes:{"GT", "CC"}}, ¬

{folderName:"2_do_Fr", prefixes:{"FR"}}, ¬

{folderName:"2_do_No", prefixes:{"TM17", "NN"}}, ¬

{folderName:"2_do_Ma", prefixes:{"MA", "MF", "FI", "MC", "MH", "MB"}}, ¬

{folderName:"2_do_Pr", prefixes:{"PR"}}, ¬

{folderName:"2_do_To", prefixes:{"TM15", "TM11"}}, ¬

{folderName:"2_do_Wa", prefixes:{"WA"}}, ¬

{folderName:"2_do_Se", prefixes:{"SE"}}}

tellapplication"Finder"

settheHotFoldertofolder"Hal 9000:Users:matthew:Pictures:HotFolder2Do"

repeatwithmatrixIteminfileMatrix-- look for folder

setdestinationFolderto (foldersofdesktopwhosenamestarts withfolderNameofmatrixItem)

ifdestinationFolderisnot {} then-- found one

setdestinationFoldertofirstitemofdestinationFolder-- only one destination

repeatwithaPrefixinprefixesofmatrixItem-- look for files

settheFilesto (filesoftheHotFolderwhosenamestarts withaPrefix)

iftheFilesisnot {} thenmovetheFilestodestinationFolder

endrepeat

endif

endrepeat

endtell

red_menace wrote:

now, can you tell me where I left my keys? 😉

God how I wish there were an app for that...

property rightWhereILeftThem : {"my pockets", "the drawer", "the couch"}
try
    repeat
        display dialog "Are they in " & some item of rightWhereILeftThem & "?" buttons {"Cancel", "NO"} default button 2
    end repeat
on error number -128
    display alert "WHO MOVED MY KEYS !" buttons {"*#~@#!!"} default button 1
end try

This is a good example of keeping things organized by using a handler - in this case checking for duplicate names and adding a suffix if needed. The handler can also be tweaked without things getting lost in the main script.

The change I've made is to add an error statement when trying to move a file, using a handler to add a suffix if there is an error. This is done as the script processes the folder contents, rather than building a master list.

# the file matrix is a record of {destination folder name, {list of file prefixes to move}} set fileMatrix to {¬      {folderName:"2_do_BHS", prefixes:{"BH", "SM", "AL"}}, ¬      {folderName:"2_do_Bu", prefixes:{"BU"}}, ¬      {folderName:"2_do_Da", prefixes:{"ES"}}, ¬      {folderName:"2_do_Di", prefixes:{"DV"}}, ¬      {folderName:"2_do_Do", prefixes:{"DJ", "RA"}}, ¬      {folderName:"2_do_In", prefixes:{"GT", "CC"}}, ¬      {folderName:"2_do_Fr", prefixes:{"FR"}}, ¬      {folderName:"2_do_No", prefixes:{"TM17", "NN"}}, ¬      {folderName:"2_do_Ma", prefixes:{"MA", "MF", "FI", "MC", "MH", "MB"}}, ¬      {folderName:"2_do_Pr", prefixes:{"PR"}}, ¬      {folderName:"2_do_To", prefixes:{"TM15", "TM11"}}, ¬      {folderName:"2_do_Wa", prefixes:{"WA"}}, ¬      {folderName:"2_do_Se", prefixes:{"SE"}}} tell application "Finder"      set theHotFolder to folder "Hal 9000:Users:matthew:Pictures:HotFolder2Do"            repeat with matrixItem in fileMatrix -- look for folder           set destinationFolder to (folders of desktop whose name starts with folderName of matrixItem)           if destinationFolder is not {} then -- found one                set destinationFolder to first item of destinationFolder -- only one destination                                repeat with aPrefix in prefixes of matrixItem -- look for files                     set theFiles to (files of theHotFolder whose name starts with aPrefix) as alias list                                          if theFiles is not {} then repeat with aFile in theFiles -- move files                          try                               move aFile to destinationFolder                          on error errmess number errnum -- oops (should probably check for a specific error number)                               log "Error " & errnum & " moving file: " & errmess                               set newName to my getUniqueName(aFile, destinationFolder)                               set name of aFile to "this is a unique name" -- or whatever                               move aFile to destinationFolder                               set name of aFile to newName                          end try                     end repeat                end repeat           end if      end repeat end tell to getUniqueName(someFile, someFolder)      (*      check if someFile exists in someFolder, creating a new unique file name (if needed) by adding a suffix           parameters -          someFile [mixed]: a source file path                               someFolder [mixed]: a folder to check           returns [list]:          a unique file name and extension      *)      set {counter, suffixes, divider} to {0, "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz", "_"}      set someFile to someFile as text -- System Events will use both Finder and POSIX text            tell application "System Events" to tell disk item someFile to set {theName, theExtension} to {name, name extension}      if theExtension is not "" then set theExtension to "." & theExtension      set theName to text 1 thru -((length of theExtension) + 1) of theName -- just the name part            set newName to theName & theExtension      tell application "System Events" to tell (get name of files of folder (someFolder as text))           repeat while it contains newName                set counter to counter + 1 -- hopefully there aren't more than 26 duplicates (numbers are easier)                set newName to theName & divider & (item counter of suffixes) & theExtension           end repeat      end tell            return newName end getUniqueName