Applescript: filenames from folder to append to csv

Your request is pretty simple. Your example is not.

For example:

I want to transfer all the pdf-filenames in the folder to append to a csv file, so I get:

test.csv

UIT4,201304001,23,categoryA

UIT5,201305002,25,categoryB

UIT2,201306001,22,categoryA

What does 'UIT4,201304001,23,categoryA' represent? is that an entire file name? or is that some additional data wrapped around the file name? If there's additional data there, what does that data represent? Where does it come from?

If I assume for now that it *is* the file name, what was it about Pierre's script that you thought was relevant? Nothing there seems related to writing a set of filenames to a text file.

Before we get to that part, let's talk about the file itself. Is this a pre-existing file with pre-existing data that teyou are appending data to the end of, or is it a blank slate that gets cleared each time the data is imported into Numbers? That's kind of important to know.

Given that there are so many unanswered questions it's impossible to answer your question directly. However, here's an example that meets the original brief - it may, of course, need some changes as the requirements are fleshed out:

set theFolder to (choose folder)

tell application "Finder"

set csvFile to open for access (file ((path todesktopastext) & "my.csv")) with write permission

set eofcsvFileto 0 -- remove this line to append data

set theFiles to every file of theFolder whose name extension is "pdf"

repeat with eachFile in theFiles

set fn to name of eachFile

write (fn & return) as text to csvFile

end repeat

close accesscsvFile

end tell

Or perhaps you could write the replacement for "_" into ";" in the Applescript itself.

That's pretty easy using AppleScript - that way you could leave the file names intact and just change them before writing the data to the file. There are several ways of doing this and, unless you really want, I won't delve deep into the process of using text item delimiters, but an example script is below.

- the script lets me choose a folder in a dialog box, is it also possible to direct it to a pre-specified folder?

Of course. The first line is the one that triggers the Choose Folder dialog:

set theFolder to (choose folder)

You can just change this to any folder on disk by providing its path:

set theFolder to "Macintosh HD:Users:username:Desktop:My folder"

and making sure you tell the Finder that this represents a folder path:

set theFiles to every file of folder theFolder whose name extension is "pdf"

(note the addition of the 'folder' keyword.

- is it possible to let the script create a new CSV-file named OUT4_[current date].csv?

Yes, but....

The third line in the script creates the output file.

set csvFile to open for access (file ((path todesktopastext) & "my.csv")) with write permission

You can call it whatever you like - replace 'my.csv' with the desired file name. Just be careful in putting formatted dates into filenames since characters like the '/' in '11/24/2013' will be confusing since the / is used as a directory delimiter ('11/24/2013' would normally indicate the file called '2013' inside the '24' folder that is inside the '11' folder). Date formatting in AppleScript can be tricky, but its certainly do-able. How do you want it formatted?

Revised script that incorporates replacing underscores with commas:

set theFolder to "Macintosh HD:Users:you:Desktop:Some folder"

tell application "Finder"

set csvFile to open for access (file ((path todesktopastext) & "my.csv")) with write permission

set eofcsvFileto 0 -- remove this line to append data

set theFiles to every file of folder theFolder whose name extension is "pdf"

repeat with eachFile in theFiles

set fn to name of eachFile

set csvData to my replaceChars(fn, "_", ",")

write (csvData & return) astexttocsvFile

end repeat

close accesscsvFile

end tell

on replaceChars(inputFileName, oldChar, newChar)

set {tid, my text item delimiters} to {my text item delimiters, oldChar}

set newfilename to text items of inputFileName

set my text item delimiters to newChar

set newfilename to newfilename as text

set my text item delimiters to tid

return newfilename

end replaceChars

That's pretty easy.

Use the 'choose file name' command to display the file dialog where the user ca. Specify the file name and location. Once you have that you can pass it to the 'open for access' command:

set myFile to (choose file name with prompt "Where should the data be save?"

open for access myFile with write permission

...