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Automator Utilities

Here are specialized utilities for performing special actions with Automator workflow.

Run Workflow on Volume Mount

This script applet will prompt to execute a chosen Automator workflow when a new volume is mounted. By default, the full POSIX path to the newly mounted volume is passed as input to the workflow.

The script uses AppleScriptObj-C to access the NSUserDefaults and NSFileManager classes of the Foundation frameworks, and both the NSWorkspace and NSNotificationCenter classes of the AppKit framework to respond when a disk is connected to the computer.

To setup the applet for use:

To use the applet, double-click its icon, and then select the workflow file from the forthcoming file chooser dialog. To stop using the applet, bring it to the front, and select “Quit” from the applet’s “File” menu or type Command-Q (⌘Q).

use framework "Foundation" use framework "AppKit" use scripting additions property ignoredVolumes : {"home", "net", "Recovery HD"} global pathToWorkflow on run -- SET VALUE OF PROPERTY TO STORED WORKFLOW PATH my initializeDefaults() -- CHECK STATUS OF STORED WORKFLOW PATH if (pathToWorkflow as text) is "" then my promptForWorkflow() else -- DISPLAY OPENING DIALOG display dialog "Workflow file: " & return & return & (pathToWorkflow as text) buttons {"Quit", "Change", "Start"} default button 3 with title (name of me) set buttonPressed to the button returned of the result if the buttonPressed is "Change" then -- prompt for a new workflow my promptForWorkflow() else if buttonPressed is "Quit" then tell me to quit else -- check to see if workflow file exists if my workflowCheck() is false then display alert "MISSING RESOURCE" message "There is no workflow file at the indicated path:" & ¬ return & return & pathToWorkflow buttons {"Select", "Quit"} default button 2 if button returned of the result is "Quit" then tell me to quit end if -- prompt for a new workflow my promptForWorkflow() end if end if end if -- REGISTER FOR NOTIFICATION my registerToReceiveNotification() end run on initializeDefaults() -- Initialize default if needed, retrieve current value tell current application's NSUserDefaults to set defaults to standardUserDefaults() tell defaults to registerDefaults:{pathToWorkflow:""} -- set the value of the applet property to the stored value tell defaults to set pathToWorkflow to (objectForKey_("pathToWorkflow")) as text end initializeDefaults on workflowCheck() -- check validity of stored path -- create an instance of the Shared Workspace set workspace to current application's NSWorkspace's sharedWorkspace() -- check for existence set fileExistenceStatus to (workspace's isFilePackageAtPath:pathToWorkflow) -- return result return fileExistenceStatus end workflowCheck on promptForWorkflow() -- prompt user to choose a workflow file try activate set workflowsFolderPath to checkForWorkflowsFolder() if workflowsFolderPath is false then set defaultLocation to (path to desktop folder) else set defaultLocation to workflowsFolderPath as POSIX file as alias end if set thisPOSIXPath to POSIX path of ¬ (choose file of type "com.apple.automator-workflow" with prompt ¬ "Select the workflow to be run when a volume is mounted:" default location defaultLocation) tell current application's NSUserDefaults to set defaults to standardUserDefaults() tell defaults to setObject:thisPOSIXPath forKey:"pathToWorkflow" return thisPOSIXPath on error tell me to quit end try end promptForWorkflow on checkForWorkflowsFolder() set aFileManager to current application's class "NSFileManager"'s defaultManager() set aURL to aFileManager's URLsForDirectory:(current application's NSLibraryDirectory) inDomains:(current application's NSUserDomainMask) set workflowsFolderPath to (((item 1 of aURL)'s |path|()) as string) & "/Workflows" if (aFileManager's fileExistsAtPath:workflowsFolderPath isDirectory:true) then return workflowsFolderPath else return false end if end checkForWorkflowsFolder on registerToReceiveNotification() -- create an instance of the Shared Workspace set workspace to current application's NSWorkspace's sharedWorkspace() -- identify the Shared Workspace's notification center set noteCenter to workspace's notificationCenter() -- register notification handlers for dealing with volume mounting noteCenter's addObserver:me selector:"volumeWasMounted:" |name|:"NSWorkspaceDidMountNotification" object:(missing value) end registerToReceiveNotification on volumeWasMounted:notif -- CHECK FOR WORKFLOW FILE if my workflowCheck() is false then my promptForWorkflow() end if -- get the path to the mounted volume set mountedVolumePath to (notif's userInfo()'s NSWorkspaceVolumeURLKey's |path|()) -- get last path item set thisVolumeName to (mountedVolumePath's lastPathComponent()) as text if thisVolumeName is not in ignoredVolumes then -- display alert tell application (POSIX path of (path to frontmost application)) display dialog "The volume “" & thisVolumeName & "” has been mounted on this system." & ¬ return & return & "Do you want to run the associated workflow?" buttons {"No", "Yes"} default button 2 if the button returned of the result is "No" then error number -128 end tell -- RUN WORKFLOW try -- execute the chosen workflow, passing path to volume as workflow input do shell script "automator -i " & (quoted form of (mountedVolumePath as text)) & ¬ space & (quoted form of (pathToWorkflow as text)) on error errorMessage activate display alert "WORKFLOW EXECUTION ERROR" message errorMessage tell me to quit end try end if end volumeWasMounted:

The Automator Workflow

DOWNLOAD the example disk image and Automator workflow

Here is a simple example workflow that opens the mounted volume and customizes the display of the disk’s Finder window.

NOTE: The POSIX path passed as input to the workflow is automatically converted by Automator into a file reference type supported by the first action.

disk-setup-workflow

The resulting Finder window:

disk-folder-after
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

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