Macros (Execute Applescript) working/not working

Questions & Suggestions
1

Hi,

I don’t know if this is the right forum, since this is more Applescript-related, but anyway;

Some of my Macros, based on Applescript involving the Finder, works sometimes but not always.

Here’s a simple example:

tell application "Finder"
    set bounds of front window to {10, 50, 1275, 1000}
end tell

I’m no script expert, basically using snippets and copy/paste with trial and error.

Any clues?

I’m on OS X 10.9, but soon on 10.10

2

What version of Keyboard Maestro are you using?
Ver 7 requires Yosemite (10.10.3)+

KM has lots of great Actions that deal with windows. You might take a look at:
Manipulate a Window Action

3

Hey Haken,

Run it with an error-handler, so you can see if/when the script throws an error.

-Chris

try
  
  tell application "Finder"
    set bounds of front window to {10, 50, 1275, 1000}
  end tell
  
on error e number n
  set e to e & return & return & "Num: " & n
  if n ≠ -128 then
    try
      tell application (path to frontmost application as text) to set ddButton to button returned of ¬
        (display dialog e with title "ERROR!" buttons {"Copy Error Message", "Cancel", "OK"} ¬
          default button "OK" giving up after 30)
      if ddButton = "Copy Error Message" then set the clipboard to e
    end try
  end if
end try
1 Like
4

Thank you, ccstone and JMichaelTX!

I’ve upgraded to 10.10.5 and KM 7.0.3 since my OP.
Tried your error handler, Chris, and got an error; ”10000”.
Weird that it sometimes works, but I’m gonna use the KM actions for windows instead.

First I suspected XtraFinder, since it makes the Window Switcher see dupes of Finder windows.
This might be for another thread, but I only use XtraFinder for a couple of things, like automatically adjusting the width of Columns etc, but if it confuses KM and others I think I have to stop using it.

Back to the subject:
The script below behaved like my window position script - it work from time to time.

tell application "Finder" to select (every file of window 1 whose name extension is "ptx")

When I changed it to the following it seems to work all the time:

try
    tell application "Finder" to set currentDirectory to target of Finder window 1
end try
tell application "Finder" to select (every file of currentDirectory whose name extension is "ptx")
5

Hey Haken,

There’s your problem.

XtraFinder plays a bunch of games with the FInder’s interface and causes problems when using AppleScript to address windows.

I quit using TotalFinder years ago because of similar issues.

-Chris

6

FYI, I’ve been using TotalFinder for over a year now, and have not noticed any issues. I’m running Yosemite (10.10.5). Maybe they have fixed the issue saw earlier.

7

Hey JM,

There were multiple problems, but you’re right they might have been fixed since I last installed TotalFinder (several years now).

Unfortunately it’s not worth my time to find out, especially since El Capitan breaks TotalFinder (unless you turn off System Integrity Protection aka SIP).

-Chris