Logging Hours Worked

Hi Aaron,

Mutatis mutandis, the following script should do what you are asking for. I’ve used TextEdit instead of Avid Media Composer, and the folder “My folder” instead of your Avid project folder.

You might want to run the script from the AppleScript Editor window, using a new Numbers document as a spreadsheet.

set theFolder to POSIX file "/Users/pierre/Desktop/My folder" as alias

set theSpreadSheet to POSIX file "/Users/pierre/Desktop/My spreadsheet.numbers" as alias

-- Dialog asking to "Check In" or "Check Out"

display dialog "Some message." buttons {"Cancel", "Check In", "Check Out"} cancel button 1 with icon 1 with title "Some title"

set theButton to button returned of result

tell application "Numbers ’09"

-- open the spreadsheet (a Numbers document):

launch

if not (exists (document 1 whose path is theSpreadSheet)) then

opentheSpreadSheet

end if

-- fill in the appropriate cell:

tell front document

tell table 1 of sheet 1

set theCell to cell 1 of column "B" whose (name is not "B1") and (value = 0)

if theButton is "Check In" then

set checkIn to true

set value of theCell to (current date) as text -- check-in date & time

else

set checkIn to false

set theRow to address of row of theCell

set theCell to cell (theRow - 1) of column "C"

set value of theCell to (current date) as text -- check-out date & time

end if

end tell

end tell

save

end tell

if checkIn then

tell application "TextEdit" to activate-- launch the application to begin work

else

tell application "TextEdit" to quit -- quit the application

-- Create a copy (zip archive) of your Avid project folder.

tell application "Finder"

activate

select theFolder

end tell

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Finder" to click menu item "Compress" of menu 1 of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1

end if

To learn AppleScript, have a look at Starting out with AppleScript.

Hope it can help.

I get this error.

error "System Events got an error: Can’t get menu item \"Compress\" of menu 1 of menu bar item \"File\" of menu bar 1 of process \"Finder\"." number -1728 from menu item "Compress" of menu 1 of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1 of process "Finder"

That may depend on your version of OS X. Can you tell me wich menu item of which menu, in your version of OS X, allows you to make a zip archive from the OS X Finder. Please give me the exact name of that menu item. Is that name in German or in English?

Message was edited by: Pierre L.

To compress a file I would do I go to Edit -> Compress.

Then you should replace

tellapplication "System Events" totellprocess "Finder" toclickmenu item "Compress" ofmenu 1 ofmenu bar item "File" ofmenu bar 1

with

tellapplication "System Events" totellprocess "Finder" toclickmenu item "Compress" ofmenu 1 ofmenu bar item "Edit" ofmenu bar 1

Does it work ?

To compress a file I would do I go to Edit -> Compress.

I do not get to choose my save location when I select this.

By default, the zip archive is created in the same folder as the original file or folder. However, you could move it to another folder.

For example, adding the following line of code at the beginning of the script:

set theDestinationFolder to POSIX file "/Users/pierre/Desktop/My archives" as alias

and then changing the end of the script as follows:

if checkIn then

tell application "TextEdit" to activate-- launch the application to begin work

else

tell application "TextEdit" to quit -- quit the application

-- Create a copy (zip archive) of your Avid project folder in the folder of your choice.

tell application "Finder"

activate

select theFolder

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Finder" to click menu item "Compress" of menu 1 of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1

delay 1 -- adjust if necessary

movefile (name of theFolder & ".zip") tofoldertheDestinationFolder with replacing

endtell

end if

I can save the archive to the destination folder “My archives” (with replacing).

Message was edited by: Pierre L. (one-second delay added)

Let's begin with the easiest:

set theButton to button returned of result

cannot work because result is the result of the previous line, not the same result as the first one.

Try this instead:

set theResult to display dialog "What will it be?" default answer "Project Name or Notes" buttons {"Cancel", "Check In", "Check Out"} cancel button 1 with icon 1 with title "Some title"

set theAnswer to text returned of theResult

set theButton to button returned of theResult

is

I made a mistake the menu tab is in fact "File", and not "Edit"

But both do not work. The error looks the same.

Try replacing

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Finder" to click menu item "Compress" of menu 1 of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1

with

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Finder" to click (menu item 1 of menu 1 of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1 whose name begins with "Compress")

If that still doesn't work, then try adding a short delay just before the above line of code, for instance: delay 0.25

Message was edited by: Pierre L.

I had edited my post in order to add a one-second delay before the line

movefile (name of theFolder & ".zip") tofoldertheDestinationFolder with replacing

Have you added that delay too?

i also tried delay 10, but not luck...

My bad. I think I know where I made a mistake… I'll let you know as soon as I find a fix.

Change the last part of the script as follows:

if checkIn then

tell application "TextEdit" to activate-- launch the application to begin work

else

tell application "TextEdit" to quit-- quit the application

-- Create a copy (zip archive) of your Avid project folder

tell application "Finder"

activate

selecttheFolder

tell application "System Events" to tell process "Finder" to click (menu item 1 of menu 1 of menu bar item "File" of menu bar 1 whose name begins with "Compress")

end tell

-- Move the archive to the folder of your choice:

set theFolderPath to POSIX path of theFolder

set theArchive to POSIX file (text 1 through -2 of theFolderPath & ".zip")

tell application "Finder"

repeat until theArchive exists

end repeat

movetheArchivetofoldertheDestinationFolder with replacing

end tell

end if