display dialog "Your text here" with icon stop buttons {"OK"} default button {"OK"} giving up after 5
'giving up after 5' will automatically close the script after the indicated interval of time has elapsed.
About Me
Where the diagnosis of my madness, named Macintosh, all began...
A 1988 graduate of The Ohio State University, I had very limited experience in programming (I had some experience using MacPascal, TurboPascal (similar) and C – if anyone remembers those languages), scripting was in its infancy, and scarcely anyone (with exception to the most extreme geek) knew anything about web pages or HTML.
By early 1990, I was delving into HyperCard and HyperTalk and instantly fell in love with the interface, scripting etc (at the time there was no AppleScript support – don’t believe there was such a thing as AppleScript).
Around 1994 or so, I started learning HTML and created some pretty snazzy looking pages. Unfortunately, at the time, there were only limited resources on the web for learning cgi and JavaScript, so while they may have looked nice, there were limits to what I could do with them so that the user could have some interaction with them and, with limited financial means, I couldn’t afford the expensive manuals that i would need to learn on my own. In addition, web hosting was very expensive.
By the time of HyperCard’s demise around 2000-’01, AppleScript was fully supported by HyperCard – so sad to see it was not supported in OSX.
Since late ‘06, I have been exploring FileMaker Pro and, while it is worlds away from the HyperCard I so loved, it does support AppleScript, which made the transition a little less painful, since I was able to use some of my original scripts from HyperCard and OS9 (with some adaptation) in my initial FileMaker Pro databases.
Today, when I am not writing AppleScripts, looking for neat YouTube videos to augment what some may consider very dry subject matter (AppleScript,JavaScript,HTML,CSS,FileMaker, HyperTalk – did I leave anything out?), or lamenting the demise of HyperCard and getting half a notion of starting up a group of followers, I am right here blogging…..
If you are more of a techy kind of person and are comfortable with using Terminal, here is a script you can use to easily create multiple folders:
First, for a single folder, type in: mkdir "Folder 1"
--or whatever you want to name your folder, this creates a new directory, which, in effect is a new folder.
To place multiple items in the 'Documents' folder:cd/Users/Administrator/Documents
mkdir "Folder 1" "Folder 2" "Folder 3"To quickly create multiple folders, create a text file with the desired folder names (as many as you want) and name it something like 'folderList.txt'. Next type this in Terminal:cat folderList.txt |xargs mkdirOr you could create folders with the same prefix by entering:mkdir "Invoices " {"Corporate", "Individual", "Pro-Bono"}
Digg This!!
An AppleScript to Verify a Date
Run this in the Script Editor:
set dateRecord to (current date)
set defaultDate to (date string of dateRecord)
try
set apptDate to text returned of (display dialog "Enter appointment date:" default answer defaultDate buttons {"Set"} default button {"Set"})
set datetext to apptDate as text
date apptDate --if an invalid date is entered, the next dialog is aborted and it triggers the error alert below.
display dialog datetext & " is a valid date." with icon note buttons {"OK"} default button {"OK"}
on error
set alertText to "An error has occurred!"
set messageText to quote & datetext & quote & " is an invalid date."
display alert alertText message messageText as warning buttons {"OK"} default button "OK" giving up after 15
return
end try
Concept Drawing for iMac prior to Production
Fun HTML
Use this to add interest to your pages, but be careful, if you overdo it, it can make your page look gaudy, if not ridiculous!
Here's is the code as it appears above:
<p align="center" style="padding: 5px; background-color: #FFCE9C; border: dotted 5px #FFCE9C;"><marquee width=20% behavior=scroll direction=left loop=infinite> Latest Headlines... </marquee><blink>Read All About It</blink>/p>
Copy and paste this into the Script Editor and try it out:
set defaultVolume to "3"
set volumeLevel to text returned of ¬
(display dialog ¬
"Set the system volume to (7 is the highest):"¬
default answer defaultVolume with icon note¬
buttons {"OK"} default button "OK") as integer
set volumeValues to {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7} ¬
as list
if volumeLevel is not in volumeValues then ¬
set volumeLevel to defaultVolume
tell application "Finder"
try
set volume volumeLevel
beep 2
on error errDlog
display dialog errDlog with icon stop ¬
buttons {"Abort"} default button ¬
"Abort" giving up after 15
end try
end tell
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Heres an AppleScript for backing up a selected group of HyperCard files. this was used in one of my HyperCard stacks, but could be adapted for use in OSX programs with little or no modification:
send "suiteBkp(true)" to bg btn "BackupSuite"
--Use this line to call the handler below (true displays a notification dialog when the process is complete, you must have a button named bg btn "BackupSuite"):
on suiteBkp(theBoolean)
copy line 1 of field "selectedFolder" to theHFFolderPath --You'll need a hidden field named "selectedFolder" that a script (prior to the call) will place the path to the desired folder in.
tell application "Finder"
activate
set todaysDate to (current date)
set bkpYear to (year of todaysDate)
set monthlyBkp to ("Monthly Reports_" & bkpYear) as string
if exists (folder "HyperCard Backup") then
select folder "HyperCard Backup"
delete selection
end if
if exists (folder "HyperCard Backup" of folder theHFFolderPath) then
select folder "HyperCard Backup" of folder theHFFolderPath
delete selection
end if
make new folder at folder theHFFolderPath with properties {name:"HyperCard Backup"}
select {file "Appointments" of folder theHFFolderPath, ¬ file "HyperFile" of folder theHFFolderPath, ¬ file "Outstanding Invoices" of folder theHFFolderPath, ¬ file "Year" of folder theHFFolderPath, ¬ file monthlyBkp of folder theHFFolderPath, ¬
copy selection to folder "HyperCard Backup" of folder theHFFolderPath
select folder "HyperCard Backup" of folder theHFFolderPath
select file "Appointments" of folder ¬ "HyperFile Suite Backup" of folder theHFFolderPath
set name of selection to "Appointments.bkp"
select file "HyperFile" of folder "HyperCard Backup" of ¬ folder theHFFolderPath
set name of selection to "HyperFile.bkp"
select file "Outstanding Invoices" of ¬ folder "HyperFile Suite Backup" of folder theHFFolderPath
set name of selection to "Outstanding Invoices.bkp"
select file "Year" of folder "HyperFile Suite Backup" of ¬ folder theHFFolderPath
set name of selection to "Year.bkp"
set prefMonthlyBkp to (monthlyBkp & ".bkp") as string
select file monthlyBkp of folder "HyperFile Suite Backup" of ¬ folder theHFFolderPath
set name of selection to prefMonthlyBkp
select folder "HyperFile Suite Backup" of folder "The HyperFile Folder"
move selection to desktop
end tell
if theBoolean = "true" then
tell application "HyperCard"
activate
display dialog ¬ "Your backup has been saved to desktop." buttons {"Done"} default button {"Done"} with icon 129 giving up after 10
end tell
end if
end suiteBkp
Here's a simple, but very useful little HyperTalk script for verifying the validity of a date entered by a user, assuming that you have a menu item "flag date..." (or whatever you choose to name it) or it could be altered slightly and placed within a mouseUp statement:
if menuItem = "Flag Date..." then
global tryDate
ask "Enter a date for your new appointment:" with the long date
if it ≠ "" and the result ≠ "Cancel" then
put it into tryDate
else
put "" into tryDate
exit doMenu
end if
if invalidDate() then
answer "The date entered is not valid!"
put "" into tryDate
exit doMenu
end if
--Here you would put the statements to execute if the entered date proves to be valid
put "" into tryDate
end if
function invalidDate
global tryDate
convert tryDate to short date
if the result = "invalid date" then
return true
else
return false
end if
end invalidDate
Mac SE (circa 1987), was a more advanced version of the Mac Plus and had an internal hard drive.
YouTube Video Search Script:
tell application "Finder"
try
set webSearch to text returned of (display dialog "Enter YouTube Video
Search" default answer "" buttons {"Search", "Cancel"} default button 1)
open location "http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=" & webSearch
on error theError
display dialog theError
end try
end tell
By early 1990, I was delving into HyperCard and HyperTalk and instantly fell in love with the interface, scripting etc (at the time there was no AppleScript support – don’t believe there was such a thing as AppleScript).
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