Applescript 'whose extension is' DWG/STEP

Question

I need a script to read every .dwg/.step in a selected folder and its subfolders then proceed to a sequence of clicks to save the files on the same folder then close it.

Here is what I have, Applescripts doesn't recognize the .dwg/.step extension instruction.

set MyFolder to (choose folder)

tell application "Finder"
set MyFiles to every file of entire contents of MyFolder whose name extension is ("DWG" or "STEP")
return MyFiles -- this doesn't return anything

repeat with aFile in MyFiles
    tell application "Rhinoceros"
        open aFile
        activate
        delay 1
    end tell
    tell application "System Events" -- the instruction is given 'manually'
        click at {150, 1}
        delay 1
        click at {150, 180}
        delay 1
        click at {680, 335}
        delay 1
        click at {600, 495}
        delay 1
        click at {900, 510}
    end tell

    delay 1

end repeat
end tell

I'm a beginner with applescript but this application would save tons of hours of work! Thanks in advance for your help :)

@CJK, It was a temporary issue with my system and is now fixed. FWIW I created some dummy.dwg and dummy.step files with `touch` and Finder would not return the name extension property because the extensions were not registered with launch services. Once registered Finder worked. System Events worked either way. — user3439894, Nov 17 '18 at 01:31

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited Mar 27 '19 at 03:12

Your main problem is the use of the or operator inside parenthesis which is being performed on two string values. This doesn't make sense to AppleScript, nor should it. The correct expression would be:

...whose name extension is "DWG" or name extension is "STEP"

although Finder does let you combine these predicates into a list upon which it can operate collectively:

...whose name extension is in {"DWG", "STEP"}

Also, move your final end tell to the just after declaring your MyFiles variable—there's no need (and it's actively obstructive) to enclose the System Events operations inside the Finder block.

Thus your Finder command should end up looking something like:

tell application "Finder" to set MyFiles to (every file of the entire contents of ¬
    (choose folder) whose name extension is in {"DWG", "STEP"}) as alias list

I've coerced it to an alias list at the end there because it'll speed up the processing time, for some inexplicable reason.

The last part of your script is something I can't provide too much insight into without knowing more about this application "Rhinoceros". I did a quick Google, but couldn't find anything.

But if it's able to understand the open command, that implies it's scriptable and it probably has a save command that goes along with it.

NEVER try and accomplish things by clicking at coordinates—it'll break with the slightest pin drop. If the program isn't scriptable, it'll probably throw an error with the open command, in which case your best bet is to script its application process and access the menu save command.

But I think you're going to have a tough time implementing this successfully, whichever way you go.

HOWEVER, if all you want is, as you stated, to save those files inside a single folder, then you needn't try and use Rhinoceros at all. Instead, use Finder to duplicate (or move) the files to a new location:

tell app "Finder" to duplicate MyFiles to MyFolder

or

tell app "Finder" to move MyFiles to MyFolder

This can all be condensed into a single line, so your entire script (if this is what you indeed want the outcome to be) would simply become:

set myfolder to (choose folder)

tell application "Finder" to move (every file of the entire contents of myfolder ¬
    whose name extension is in {"DWG", "STEP"}) as alias list to myfolder

Indeed, Applescript doesn't recognize Rhinoceros at all (no librairy), it can open the app via finder but can't make it open a document, I always have an error message. (-tell application "Finder" -open application "Rhinoceros" -end tell) I need to open every document in Rhinoceros to export them to another format (didnt mention it before). I am thinking of using a Python script to do that, as the applescript is not the best solution. I still have a problem recognizing the DWG format. — Ibo C, Nov 20 '18 at 08:01

Applescript 'whose extension is' DWG/STEP

1 Answers1