AppleScript to skip Automator workflow step - when no files are provided

I'm not aware of a way to do this with a workflow saved as an application, but Automator is scriptable, so you can manipulate a workflow document. For an example, build the follwing workflow:

1. Ask for Text (just to get some input)
2. Run AppleScript:
   

   on run {input, parameters}         set currentAction to index of current action of front workflow -- the most recent completed action   if input is {} then -- if no input then disable the following action     tell Automator action index (currentAction + 2) of front workflow to set enabled to false   else -- enable it     tell Automator action index (currentAction + 2) of front workflow to set enabled to true   end if         return input end run

3. Ask for Confirmation (just to show a dialog when enabled - this action will be enabled/disabled based on the text input)
4. Loop

You can also use action names, but I think it is less confusing to use indexes, since names can be edited and an action can be used more than once.

Great stuff! This works perfectly when running it inside Automator, but when saving the action as a Service (or inside Hazel) it fails on the AppleScript part.

Probably something with the way one refers to the workflow - like the “of front workflow” part. I wonder if it's possible to refer to the current workflow in another way - maybe by service location?

Anyone knows how one can fix this?

I believe those use the Automator Runner application to run the workflow - it doesn't have the same scripting dictionary.

Hi Leorw, Red_Menace, does this still work for you after recent OS X upgrades?

I was able to get Red_Menace's Test Workflow running smoothly (Ask for text, Applescript, Confirmation, Loop) but cannot get this working in my main script. Does anyone know if Automator / Applescripts has changed since this was written?

I'm trying to auto-sort any time a file is added to the Downloads folder (and move it into one of six sub-folders). I've seen many ways of doing it but none seem to work after the Filter process turns up with an empty input. This thread has seemed the most promising. I feel I'm close but just can't get there...

Can anyone give some advice on how they'd structure this workflow (is it any different to Leroy's? Would you use a variable?)?

ps I've been at this about 6 hours and have seen so many inconsistencies I actually wonder if Automator isn't just buggy. Is there another program anyone would use? Is it possible to do this all in Applescript?

The test workflow still works for me, so without seeing exactly what you are doing my guess would be that there is an issue with the name or index of the action you are trying to disable.

Automator is definitely goofy, but it isn't really designed for conditional execution of actions. AppleScript is more flexible and would be capable of performing your workflow, since it has access to the same resources that an Automator action uses.

Hi menace,

I'vet got somewhat of the same problem as leorw above and have been trying for hours to solve it but to no avail. This seems to be the most promising solution I've found so far but I cannot seem to get your script to run properly.

When I copy it into the AppleScript editor, I get the Syntax Error "Expected end of line, etc. but found identifier" and then the word "action" in your code is highlighted.

on run {input, parameters}

set currentAction to index of current action of front workflow -- the most recent completed action

Any idea why?

I am trying to sort a folder of phone calls received by their area code into separate folders for each area code.

For example, I will have a folder of 100 phone calls, sent to me as .eml files. They all come in this format "Onebox Voicemail (Callback- xxx-555-5555)" with the xxx being different area codes. My work flow works fine for the current batch of calls, but as soon as there are no results for one of the area codes, the workflow stops working. I just want to add a condition for the workflow to skip the Move Finder Items if there are no files to move.

Basically my workflow consists of

1. Get Specified Finder Items

2. Get Folder Contents

3. Filter Finder Items

4. Move Finder Items

5. Repeat

Any light you could shed on this would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

The script is designed to run in a Run AppleScript action. It won't work correctly if you are doing something like putting it into the regular Script Editor, since the script is meant to work within the context of an Automator workflow (the command is from the Automator scripting dictionary, and outside of Automator would need to be within a tell application Automator statement).

Ahhh gotcha, makes sense. Im a little new to all this as you can tell haha.

Thanks a lot, it seems to be working now. However I have run into another issue, and I'm wondering if you'd be able to help me here as well.

All of these email messages come with voicemail attachments, and once the .eml files are sorted into their respective folders, I would like the attachments to then be downloaded and saved in the same place

I figured it would be as easy as making a new workflow as a folder action and then using the "Get Attachments from Mail Messages" command, but that only seems to work on messages that are still in my mail inbox. If I do the command on the folder containing the .eml files, it says "The action "Get Attachments from Mail Messages" was not supplied with the required data.

Any insight? Thanks again.

Hmm and seems I spoke too soon. The skip script works for the first instance it needs to skip a "Move Finder Items" action, but as soon as it needs to skip a second action, it does not seem to work, giving me the familiar "Move Finder Items was not provided with required data."

Any ideas?

Thanks

It sounds like the action is not getting re-enabled for the next loop through your workflow. Automator is not really designed for (and therefore doesn't have) conditional actions, so for any kind of complexity you will probably be better off using a regular AppleScript.

Hmm ok, gonna keep working on these AppleScript tutorials then. Thanks for all your help so far.

One more question. Do you know of a script that will automatically download attachments from an .eml file? This is the part that I seem to be hung up on the most.

I'd like to be able to run a script on a folder, have it go through all the .eml files and create a new folder, with the same name as the file for each one. Then move each .eml file into its respective folder and then download the attachment there as well.

Would this be a complex script? If it's not too much to ask, do you think you could attempt to mock up a script, or point me in the right direction as to how to do this?

Thanks again

Alright so I've decided to just try and sort them into separate mailboxes as the emails come in with a rule. (I'm trying to figure this out for my father and he wanted it done the other way, I feel this way will be easier.)

I've managed to get them to sort into their own mailboxes nicely, but the second part of the rule to download attachments doesn't seem to want to work properly. I found a script to start with online and modified it but it doesn't want to download attachments. No error messages or anything, just nothing happens. Could you take a look at my script, and let me know if you see anything amiss? I apologize for any crappy formatting, couldn't get it to paste nicely from the script editor.

Thanks.

using terms from application "Mail"

on perform mail action with messagestheMessagesfor ruletheRule

-- The folder to save the attachments in (must already exist)

-- Save in a sub-folder based on the name of the rule in Mail

set subFolder to subject of eachMessage

tell application "Finder"

set attachmentsFolder to ((path to desktop as text) & "Radio Stations:" & "Area Code 352 Gainsville HANK 101.7") as text

if not (existsfoldersubFolder of folderattachmentsFolder) then

makenewfolderatattachmentsFolderwith properties {name:subFolder}

end if

end tell

tell application "Mail"

(*repeat with eachMessage in theMessages

set {year:y, month:m, day:d, hours:h, minutes:min} to eachMessage's date sent

set timeStamp to ("" & y & "-" & my pad(m as integer) & "-" & my pad(d) & "-" & my pad(h) & "-" & my pad(min))*)

try

-- Save the attachment

repeat with theAttachment in eachMessage'smail attachments

set originalName to name of theAttachment

set savePath to attachmentsFolder & ":" & subFolder & ":" & originalName

try

savetheAttachmentinfile (savePath)

end try

end repeat

display dialogsubFolder

end try

(*end repeat*)

end tell

end perform mail action with messages

end using terms from

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