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Re: Drag and drop droplets in workflows
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Re: Drag and drop droplets in workflows


  • Subject: Re: Drag and drop droplets in workflows
  • From: Brandon Hicks <email@hidden>
  • Date: Thu, 14 May 2009 10:50:15 -0600

Hi,

I think my problem is the application I'm trying to do my audio conversions.

What I want to happen is this:
I paste an audiobook in a folder.
The mac waits for it to be pasted, whether from a CD, external drive
or network share.
Once the file is complete, it launches an audio encoder to convert the
bitrate to either something I set in a command line parameter or
something I set every time the conversion happens.
It then deletes the original file, and pastes the converted file in
some other folder for moving to my phone, or wherever I want to put
it.

Right now, my workflow waits for the file to be complete, then it does
open the application, Drop A Few My Way. But every time this
application opens, it says "This is a droplet. Drop audio files on
this droplet's icon to convert them." And there's an OK button. I've
tried just setting this application as a folder action, and I've tried
chaining it in a workflow after the wait for files to finish action I
found online. Either way, I get that same dialog.

I think I'm going to have to find some other way of converting my
audio because this droplet just won't work.

On 5/14/09, Brandon Hicks <email@hidden> wrote:
> On 5/14/09, Ben Waldie <email@hidden> wrote:
>> Brandon,
>>
>> I'm not entirely clear on what you're trying to do, but here are some
>> pointers...
>>
>> 1) In Automator, you can save a workflow as a folder action plug-in
>> (select "Save as Plug-in" from the "File" menu).  Once saved, it will
>> run whenever items are dropped into the attached folder.  The dropped
>> items will be passed as input to the first action in the workflow.
>> I've had some issues with folder actions in Leopard, and have written
>> an article that provides some steps to help resolve them.  You can
>> find it here...
>> <http://www.automatedworkflows.com/tips/users/peachpit/peachpit.html
>>  >
>>
>> 2) If you save a workflow as an application, it automatically becomes
>> drag-and-droppable.  Any files dropped onto the workflow will be
>> passed to the first action in the workflow as input.
>>
>> 3) Are you trying to have your workflow drop files onto another
>> application?  If so, then you can do this using the "Open Finder
>> Items" action.  Just set it to open the files using the specified app.
>>
>> In cases 1 and 2 above, since files will be passed into the workflow
>> as input you don't need to include a "Get Selected Finder Items"
>> action as the first action in the workflow.
>>
>> Hope this helps.
>>
>> -Ben
>>
>> P.S. If you're new to Automator, and you have not done so already, you
>> may want to check out my book... "Automator for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard:
>> Visual QuickStart Guide" (Peachpit Press)
>> <http://www.automatedworkflows.com/books/automator_vqs.html
>>  >, as well as my video podcast series "Mac Automation Made Simple"
>> <http://www.automatedworkflows.com/tips/podcast.html
>>  > (and available in iTunes).
>>
>> Ben Waldie
>> President
>> Automated Workflows, LLC
>> 610.935.0652
>> =============================================
>>    AppleScript * Automator * Workflow Automation
>>    Products, Training, Custom Development Services
>>    <http://www.automatedworkflows.com>
>>    <http://twitter.com/applescriptguru>
>> =============================================
>>
>>
>> On May 14, 2009, at 11:36 AM, Brandon Hicks wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> Unless I did something wrong, putting the droplet just as a folder
>>> action didn't even attempt to launch it when I pasted a file into the
>>> folder.
>>>
>>> The main reason I wanted to launch the droplet through a workflow was
>>> because I'd be copying audio files into the folder from the network,
>>> so I wanted to use the wait for files to copy automator action, then
>>> have that somehow fake drag and drop the copied files onto the
>>> converter droplet.
>>>
>>> On 5/14/09, Robert Croy <email@hidden> wrote:
>>>> Why not make it into a Folder Action?
>>>>
>>>> On May 14, 2009, at 9:54 AM, Brandon Hicks wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm trying to set up an audio converter that will activate when new
>>>>> files are placed in a certain folder and will leave the files in a
>>>>> separate folder, not in iTunes.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have everything set up, but I can't figure out how to pass the
>>>>> files
>>>>> to the droplet I'm using for audio conversion, Drop A Few My Way.
>>>>> I've
>>>>> tried get Finder items and get Folder contents, but both ways I get
>>>>> the message telling me to drag and drop audio files on its icon. Is
>>>>> there another Automator action somewhere that will work for this?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks
>>>>> Brandon
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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  • Follow-Ups:
    • Re: Drag and drop droplets in workflows
      • From: Ben Waldie <email@hidden>
References: 
 >Drag and drop droplets in workflows (From: Brandon Hicks <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Drag and drop droplets in workflows (From: Robert Croy <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Drag and drop droplets in workflows (From: Brandon Hicks <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Drag and drop droplets in workflows (From: Ben Waldie <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Drag and drop droplets in workflows (From: Brandon Hicks <email@hidden>)

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