It it not really ready to be used by anyone (you’ll have to modify some paths, filenames, etc) but I just wanted to get this up and maybe I’ll fix it up later for more general purpose use.

This took me forever to make because I didn’t understand the QuickTime AppleScript Dictionary.

on open folderNames
	repeat with i from 1 to length of folderNames
		tell application "QuickTime Player"
			set compath to (POSIX path of item i of folderNames)
			(*tell application "Script Editor"
				display dialog compath
			end tell*)
			set documentObj to open image sequence (compath & "frame0.jpg") frames per second 30
			(**)
			set a to compath
			set e to (offset of "/" in a)
			set a to ((items (e + 1) thru ((((length of a)))) of a as text))
			set e to ""
			repeat while not e = ((length of a) + 1)
				set e to (offset of "/" in a)
				if e = ((length of a)) then
					exit repeat
				end if
				set a to ((items (e + 1) thru ((length of a)) of a as text))
			end repeat
			(**)
			set ending to a
			(* ending means folder name *)
			set basepath to (items (0 + 1) thru ((offset of (ending as text) in compath) - 1)) of compath as text
			set foldername to (items 1 thru ((length of ending) - 1)) of ending as text
			#tell application "Script Editor"
			#	display dialog foldername & ".mov"
			#end tell
			set (name of documentObj) to (foldername & ".mov")
			save self contained documentObj in (basepath & foldername & ".mov")
			#tell application "Script Editor"
			#	display dialog basepath & foldername & ".mov"
			# end tell
			close
		end tell
	end repeat
	display dialog "All Movies Saved - Quitting..."
	tell application "QuickTime Player"
		quit
	end tell
end open

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This is where this script comes in useful. This 3 line script will continually hide your application and if someone tries to open your application, they see a flicker as the application tries to show up but this script hides it so fast that you can’t see any of the content. Just replace the application name in the script with whatever you are trying to hide, run this script, then hide the script window.

After you have gotten back from your bathroom break, press Command + Alt/Option + ESC and Force Quit the script.

repeat
       tell application "System Events" to set visible of process "Firefox" to false
end repeat

Control Statements

These statements determine the “how” and “when” of other statements/commands. Some common ones are if and repeat statements.

if myAge is greater than 10 then
     myName
endif

If the variable myAge is greater than 10, then AppleScript will print the value of myName in the “Result” box near the bottom of Script Editor. If something ends with end if.

repeat
     say "Hello"
end repeat

Notice that repeat also ends with an end repeat. Because no other information was given, this code snippet will repeat forever, and say “Hello” every time it repeats.

If you actually make a mistake like that in making an application, the best way to quit out would be to Quit but your computer may freeze up. In that case, press COMMAND + ALT + ESC (Command + Alt/Option + ESC). Then Force Quit your app.

A simple statement is simply a one-line statement and a compound statement is a multi-line statement that may contain other statements.

Simple Statement

tell application "Finder" to activate

This code tells Finder to become focused on, or if Finder is closed, to open up Finder. Applications have special names so Quicktime cannot just be referred to as “Quicktime”. It is actually “QuickTime Player” and it is easy to find out any applications name – just run the script with the wrong name and a dialog box will pop up asking you which application you meant to call.

AppleScript is Object Oriented

Object oriented is very popular now and seems to have replaced functional programming. If you do not know about object oriented programming, I would recommend you search it on Google and learn a little big more about it. It is definitely worth taking the time off and learning about. Google it!

Everything you work with in AppleScript is an object. The top-level object is the script object…I do not really understand either, so let’s work through some example code.

Pseudocode:

function calculateMean(a,b) {
      return (a + b)/2
}

Now when you call calculateMean(1,5) you should get back 3 (because 1+5 = 6, divided by 2 is 3). calculateMean() would be considered a function in functional programming and, essentially, a method in object-oriented programming. In AppleScript, calculateMean() is referred to as a handler. The variables a and b are parameters.

Legit AppleScript Code:
property myName : "Ed"

run testName
sayName("Joe")


sayName is the handler. When you are defining a handler, the parameter you put in is just a variable that represents whatever you may put in there. So that parameter variable could have been any other variable name – it doesn’t matter. The ("Hi " & nameVariable) part is called string concatenation. It basically just adds/joins the strings together.

script testName seems to be a script inside a script (we call this nested script object(s) – and if inside a larger if statement is a nested if statement), that does not run unless we run it (as we did with the code, run testName). Notice the script testName ends with end script and not end testName.

And lastly, sayName("some string") is how to run a handler.

You can break out of a repeat loop by using the command exit repeat coupled with an if ... then statement.

Example code of repeating a display dialog until some text is answered:

repeat
    display dialog "Enter name:" default answer ""
    set theName to text returned of result
    if not theName = "" then exit repeat
end repeat


Using Repeat Loops in AppleScript

Wondering what options are available for commands, such as display dialog? Check out Apple’s documentation.

And I’ll admit Day 1′s post was boring but basics are essential. Sorry about that.

Identifier

Identifier is basically a name for classes, variables, etc. It must begin with a letter and must be made from the following characters:
        ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789_

Not case-sensitive so if myName is used first and then Myname is used, then while the script is compiling, Myname will be changed to myName.

Exception: Place vertical bars (| – the button above the enter key) around the identifier to contain any characters. Every other time you use/call the identifier, include the vertical bars.

Comments

Block comment is a multi-line comment.
Start: {*
End: *)
{* A very
long comment spread out
over many lines
*)


End-of-line comment is a one-line/single-line comment.
2 hyphens at the start: -- single line comment
or
Pound symbol (starting in version 2.0): # unix/python/perl -type comments

Continuation Character

¬ This character can be entered by typing Option + L or Option-Return in Script Editor. What it does is extend the statement onto a new line (because it is too long or for making code more readable).

Lists

Lists are a collection of values (or identifiers). Lists, in AppleScript can contain all different types of variables including other lists.
{1, 5.5, "Hello", {1,2,3}}

Variables

Same naming convention as identifier’s naming convention. Variables are initialized in 2 ways:
set variable to value
or
copy value to variable
These are known as assignment statements. Variables can also take on values of any class. This means that a value can start off as an integer but become a boolean by simply assigning a boolean value (true or false) to the variable.

Apparently, there is an important (?) difference between variables and properties… I don’t understand but please try and let me know how it went.

Records

A record in AppleScript is like a dictionary in Python. They include labels and values.
set dict to {names: "Ed", prices: {100,25}}
To call “Ed”, refer to it as names of dict

Expressions

4 + 7   # sum of which is 11. This is an expression. When the script is run, AppleScript will convert the expression into values (known as evaluation).

Ed

OK, actually, I lied. The first thing you should do is see if you can get resources from the company that made the language/program:

• AppleScript Main Page
• Introductory Guide
• Manuals

Dictionary

AppleScript-ing is done in Script Editor (just search for it in Spotlight or QuickSilver) and is located in /Applications/AppleScript (go figure). So, AppleScript is very English-like and to know which words actually work, we need to open up a dictionary of whatever app we are trying use in our AppleScript.

Need-to-know Terms

To open an application’s dictionary, just drag the application onto the Script Editor dock icon.

Drag&Drop for Opening Dictionary

Or if you are civilized have Quicksilver:

Being civilized.

And the dictionary looks like this:

If you browse through QuickTime Player Suite you’ll see various entries, I am mainly seeing verbs and nouns which translate to commands and classes (don’t know what classes and objects? that’s OK, they’re coming up).

And it is good to know that script files extensions are “.scpt”

Now let’s start delving into some code!

Setting a Property

set property of object to value.
The words in italics will need to be replaced with specific names/variables/values.