System Events: get file names in directory

In article <5m31k6-ojc2.ln1 DeleteThis @macpro.krischik.com>,
Martin Krischik <krischik DeleteThis @me.com> wrote:

> I relay tried and googled it all but I just can't get "System Events" to
> get me the file names of a folder. Here the snippet I got:
>
> tell application "System Events"
> -- set Current_Folder to POSIX file Current_Path
> set Current_Folder to POSIX file "/Users/martin"

As a general rule, you should only include commands that are directly
attributable to an application in the application's "tell" block. So I
advise you to move the Current_Folder assignment out of the tell block.

Also, if you want an alias to the home folder, a far better way to get
it is:

set Current_Folder to the path to the home folder

That way, no matter what the path, your script will always be right.
Again, leave this statement outside of the tell block.

> set Backup_Files to get the name of every item of Current_Folder --
> whose name starts with ("martin")
> end tell

Try this instead:

tell application "System Events"
set Backup_Files to the name of every item in Current_Folder
end tell

Note that using the keyword "item" means the resulting list will contain
files *and* folders. To get a list of only files, replace "items" with
"files" above.

> Current_Path is of course a valid posix path. It seems to be some data
> type problem. And the error messages are not at all helpful:
>
> System Events got an error: Canšt make every item of file "Macintosh
> HD:Users:martin" into type reference.
>
> Is there any full features documentation of System Events?

More than the dictionary you can read in Script Editor? Not sure.

I've always used the "list folder" command from Standard Additions.
Lately it's apparently been deprecated, but it still works. What I like
about the Standard Additions method is you don't need a tell block at
all:

set Backup_Files to list folder the path to the home folder

--
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JR

In article <michelle-D00C8D.05151528072009.RemoveThis@nothing.attdns.com>,
Michelle Steiner <michelle.RemoveThis@michelle.org> wrote:

> In article <5m31k6-ojc2.ln1.RemoveThis@macpro.krischik.com>,
> Martin Krischik <krischik.RemoveThis@me.com> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for any help.
>
> This works for me:
>
> set current_folder to (path to desktop as text) & "aaaa" as alias
> tell application "System Events"
> set Backup_Files to name of files of current_folder whose name starts
> with "picture"
> end tell

Note that this will only return *files* and not *folders*. If you want
both, replace "files" with "items".

It wasn't clear from Martin's initial post which he really wanted,
because he stated he wanted "file names of a folder", but used the
keyword "items" in his script, which would have returned files *and*
folders.

--
Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me.
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM
filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting
messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google
Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts.

JR

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Jolly Roger schrieb:
> In article <5m31k6-ojc2.ln1 RemoveThis @macpro.krischik.com>,
> Martin Krischik <krischik RemoveThis @me.com> wrote:
>
>> I relay tried and googled it all but I just can't get "System Events" to
>> get me the file names of a folder. Here the snippet I got:
>>
>> tell application "System Events"
>> -- set Current_Folder to POSIX file Current_Path
>> set Current_Folder to POSIX file "/Users/martin"
>
> As a general rule, you should only include commands that are directly
> attributable to an application in the application's "tell" block. So I
> advise you to move the Current_Folder assignment out of the tell block.

Ok,
> Also, if you want an alias to the home folder, a far better way to get
> it is:
>
> set Current_Folder to the path to the home folder

The line commented out is the one I really want the other one is just
there to simplyfy the test until it works out

>> set Backup_Files to get the name of every item of Current_Folder --
>> whose name starts with ("martin")
>> end tell
>
> Try this instead:
>
> tell application "System Events"
> set Backup_Files to the name of every item in Current_Folder
> end tell

Sans "get". I see...

> Note that using the keyword "item" means the resulting list will contain
> files *and* folders. To get a list of only files, replace "items" with
> "files" above.

Thanks - I will use files then!

>> Current_Path is of course a valid posix path. It seems to be some data
>> type problem. And the error messages are not at all helpful:
>>
>> System Events got an error: Canšt make every item of file "Macintosh
>> HD:Users:martin" into type reference.
>>
>> Is there any full features documentation of System Events?
>
> More than the dictionary you can read in Script Editor? Not sure.

The dictionary does not tell you the exact syntax. I begin to wonder if
AppleScript is a read only language .

> I've always used the "list folder" command from Standard Additions.
> Lately it's apparently been deprecated, but it still works.

I saw that as well. And since it was depreciated did not us it.

Thank

Martin
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In article <s914k6-lf91.ln1.RemoveThis@macpro.krischik.com>,
Martin Krischik <krischik.RemoveThis@me.com> wrote:

> > Also, if you want an alias to the home folder, a far better way to get
> > it is:
> >
> > set Current_Folder to the path to the home folder
>
> The line commented out is the one I really want the other one is just
> there to simplyfy the test until it works out

Ok, but I still recommend you use "path to home folder" because it will
always find the home folder regardless of the path.

--
Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me.
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM
filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting
messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google
Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts.

JR