Applescript - how to achieve the queue functionality - queue

I'm writing a script to batch convert videos into h.265 format which uses repeat with to go through all videos. It works great for 3 or 4 files at the same time, but my old mac restarts when the number of videos reaches to ~50.
repeat with videofile in video_list
set filePath to POSIX path of videofile
set filePath to esc_space(filePath)
set [folderPath, filename] to split_path_name(filePath)
tell application "Terminal"
activate
do script with command "ffmpeg -hide_banner -i " & filePath & " -vcodec libx265 -tag:v hvc1 " & folderPath & filename & "_hevc.mp4; mv " & filePath & " ~/.Trash"
end tell
end repeat
Therefore, I want to use applescript to achieve the "Queue" functionality: converting limited number of videos in terminal windows (let's say 10) and monitoring if any windows finished executing, activate some remaining tasks if number of active windows is less than 10.
I did some searches and found system event can tell if apps are running, but I'm not sure how to monitoring multiple windows, especially new windows would be activated when some tasks finished.
Any suggestions is appreciated.
(shell script is also welcome if it's convenient)

After some attempts I successfully did it on my own, hope my answer would help someone who happens to have similar questions.
Since the list in AppleScript cannot be modified (correct me if I'm wrong), I have to use index to loop through my videos instead of getting the 1st item and then remove it from list:
set next_video_index to 1
The following infinite repeat loop is for monitoring the number of active terminal windows, which is counted by System Events. It is not the best solution, because System Events counts all windows including those manually opened by the user.
repeat while true
tell application "System Events"
tell application "Terminal"
set window_count to (count of windows)
end tell
end tell
if statement helps to start new converting task when the number of terminal windows doesn't reach the maximum (set to 5 in my code) and not all videos are converted.
It should be noted that ; exit at the end of terminal script, it ensures the finished task window is not messing up the window counts, but you need to change terminal preference first, see this link:
OSX - How to auto Close Terminal window after the "exit" command executed.
set task_not_finished to (next_video_index ≤ length of video_list)
if (window_count < 5) and task_not_finished then
set filePath to POSIX path of item next_video_index in video_list
set filePath to esc_space(filePath)
set [folderPath, filename] to split_path_name(filePath)
set next_video_index to next_video_index + 1
tell application "Terminal"
activate
do script with command "ffmpeg -hide_banner -i " & filePath & " -vcodec libx265 -tag:v hvc1 " & folderPath & filename & "_hevc.mp4; mv " & filePath & " ~/.Trash; exit"
end tell
end if
When the last video is converting, it's time to end the repeat loop.
if not task_not_finished then exit repeat
delay 1
end repeat

Related

Why isn't a variable being set unless the script is run within Script Debugger's step debugger?

I have the following AppleScript that works fine when I step through each line one at a time using Script Debugger, but reports that the _doc variable has a missing value when it gets the the save as line.
use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use scripting additions
tell application "Finder"
set _folder to choose folder
set _files to files of _folder
repeat with _file in _files
if creator type of _file is "MSWD" then
tell application "Microsoft Word"
open _file
set _doc to document of window 1
save as _doc file format format text
close _doc
end tell
end if
end repeat
end tell
I've tried pausing for as long as 5 seconds using delay 5 with no change in the behavior. Why might this be happening and what can I do about it?
The answer to "why might this be happening" seems to be "it probably is a timing problem" and "because there are a number of problems when automating Word from both AppleScript and VBA on Mac that Microsoft has not yet fixed". I don't think there's much you can do about it except report to Microsoft via the Smiley mechanism or via word.uservoice.com. On uservoice, best to add your vote than existing request if there is one. But there is no reason at all to believe that Microsoft will even acknowledge or fix quite serious automation problems at the moment.
I had not come across the problem where you couldn't even set _doc to document of window 1 successfully. I was always able to use
set _doc to open _file
Here, I found a "delay 5" was enough to solve the problem you report, but there has also long been a problem where the "_doc" variable becomes invalid after a save as. I had a solution to that that iterates through the windows, so have put together this script which
a. should reduce the delay as much as possible
b. works on simple test data here but could do with improvement, especially on error checking
use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use scripting additions
tell application "Finder"
set _folder to choose folder
set _files to files of _folder
repeat with _file in _files
if creator type of _file is "MSWD" then
tell application "Microsoft Word"
--activate
set doc_count to (count of documents)
open _file
-- You have to set the maximum no. of repeats
-- high enough for your system
set repeats to 50
repeat until (count of documents) > doc_count or repeats = 0
set repeats to repeats - 1
end repeat
if (count of documents) > doc_count then
set _doc to (document (doc_count + 1))
set _windows to the windows
repeat with _window in _windows
if the full name of the document of _window is the full name of _doc then
set _windowIndex to the entry_index of _window
exit repeat
end if
end repeat
-- you need to create a new file name for each file.
-- this is a temporary kludge
set _textfilename to (posix full name of _doc) & ".txt"
save as _doc file name _textfilename file format format text
-- _doc now invalid, we need to "reconnect"
set _windows to the windows
repeat with _window in _windows
if the entry_index of _window is _windowIndex then
set _doc to the document of _window
exit repeat
end if
end repeat
close _doc saving no
else
-- you can make this more informative, and you might still need to
-- try to close something.
display dialog "Could not open document: " & POSIX path of _file
end if
end tell
end if
end repeat
end tell
Incidentally, when I tested on a single document using open recent file instead, there was never any problem getting a reference to the document. But that's useless for the kind of thing you're trying to do.

Cannot press any key to continue with command pause

I wrote a script to remote execute test.cmd file by PsExec.exe.
PsExec.exe \\IP -u administrator -p password "C:\\Users\Administrator\Desktop\test.cmd"
Although I can run the script successfully, I cannot press any key to continue the process when it runs into command pause.
Press any key to continue . . . aaaaaa
The only way to keep going is press Enter.
Besides, if there are many lines of Pause or set /p which waits users to input, once user press Enter, it will affect couple lines of Pause or set /p. It really confuses me.
Best is that you use different logic in accordance with your limitations.
Try exchanging the Pause with a different suitable solution.
Other suggestion would be that you share your code, inputs and expectations (output is already given - the script doesn’t continue). Then someone can review the code and suggest for further steps.
Alternatively, it is also possible that you can fix it by using Console.ReadKey()

Applescript: "set user interaction level to never interact" not working in illustrator

I'm trying to set it so that there's no user interaction when I open up my illustrator file using applescript, but the standard:
tell application id "com.adobe.Illustrator"
activate
set user interaction level to never interact
open theFile without dialogs
doesn't work for this plugin I have installed that checks for white overprints.
If it were up to me I'd just uninstall the plugin but it's for a work pc.
I also tried clicking the button automatically (with help from Tim Joe) by using:
try
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Finder"
click button "OK" of window "Adobe Illustrator"
end tell
end tell
end try
and I've tried
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Adobe Illustrator"
keystroke return
end tell
end tell
Does anyone know a way of solving this?
below is the full code as it currently stands:
set saveLocation to ((path to desktop) as string) --place to save the files
set theFile to choose file with prompt "Choose the Illustrator file to get outlines on"
set outputFolder to choose folder with prompt "Select the output folder"
tell application "Finder" to set fileName to name of theFile
set fullPath to (saveLocation & fileName) --file path of new .ai
set fileName to (text 1 thru ((length of fileName) - 3) of fileName) --remove .ai from fileName
set olPath to text 1 thru ((length of fullPath) - 3) of fullPath & "_OL.ai" --path of outlined file
tell application id "com.adobe.Illustrator"
activate
ignoring application responses
open theFile without dialogs
end ignoring
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Adobe Illustrator"
repeat 60 times -- wait up to 60 seconds for WOPD window to appear
try
tell window "White Overprint Detector"
keystroke return
exit repeat
end tell
on error
delay 1
end try
end repeat
end tell
end tell
save current document in file fullPath as Illustrator with options {class:Illustrator save options, compatibility:Illustrator 15, font subset threshold:0.0, embed linked files:true, save multiple artboards:false} --save file to desktop
convert to paths (every text frame of current document) --convert text to paths
save current document in file olPath as Illustrator with options {class:Illustrator save options, compatibility:Illustrator 15, font subset threshold:0.0, embed linked files:true, save multiple artboards:false} --save another copy to desktop with name + _OL.ai
end tell
tell application "Finder"
set newFolder to make new folder at saveLocation with properties {name:fileName}
move fullPath to newFolder --create new folder and move both new files into it
move olPath to newFolder
set newFolderPath to (newFolder) as string
set newFolderPath to text 1 thru -2 of newFolderPath --remove the trailing ":"
tell current application --zip up the new folder
set qpp to quoted form of POSIX path of newFolderPath
do shell script "cd $(dirname " & qpp & ")
zip -r \"$(basename " & qpp & ").zip\" \"$(basename " & qpp & ")\""
end tell
set zipFile to newFolderPath & ".zip"
move zipFile to outputFolder --move .zip to output
delete newFolder --delete folder on desktop left from zipping
end tell
--prepare a notification email
set presetText to "Hello,
Files Uploaded:
" & fileName & ".zip
To access our FTP Server:
http://217.207.130.162:8080/WebInterface/login.html
To access our FTP server, log onto our website below:
Username:
Password:
Thanks,
Joe"
tell application "Mail" --open up prepared email
activate
set theMEssage to make new outgoing message with properties {visible:true, subject:fileName, content:presetText}
end tell
--open file containing usernames and passwords for the FTP
do shell script "open /Users/produser/Desktop/FTP_Users"
I tracked down and installed White Overprint Detector I could see what you mean. I had to use an older version as I only have CS3, and I saw the dialog it produces when you open a document. The following worked for me to get it to dismiss:
tell application "Adobe Illustrator" to activate
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Adobe Illustrator"
repeat 60 times -- wait up to 60 seconds for WOPD window to appear
try
tell window "White Overprint Detector"
keystroke return
exit repeat
end tell
on error
delay 1
end try
end repeat
end tell
end tell
Since my original post seemed too objective to understand I will revise.
With in the tell block for illustrator look for your line that opens the file. Some commands allow with and without properties. Try applying the "without dialogs" property to look something like this.
tell application id "com.adobe.Illustrator"
open file (VariableOfFilePath) without dialogs
end tell
Update:
Two work arounds I can think of. 1) Try telling system events to tell AI to open without dialogs
tell application "system events"
tell application id "com.adobe.Illustrator"
open file (VariableOfFilePath) without dialogs
end tell
end tell
Other is just add in a bit that will just okay the prompt.
try
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Finder"
click button "Continue" of window "Adobe Illustrator"
end tell
end tell
end try
Can try just having it accept the default button.
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Finder"
keystroke return
end tell
end tell

Simple script no longer works on Lion

I have a simple Applescript that takes a number of images in a folder that you select and then mirror images the images using Graphic Converter. This script will run if I place it in a new AS file; however, if I try to run it a second time I get the following error "Can't get window 1 of application "GraphicConverter". Invalid index."
This script always ran on OSX 10.6
I'm running OSX 10.7.4 and Graphic Converter 8.1 (latest version).
Here is the script
tell application "Finder"
activate
set loopFinish1 to 0
set pathName to (choose folder with prompt "Choose Folder Containing Images")
set fileList1 to every file of folder pathName
set loopFinish1 to count of items of fileList1
end tell
tell application "GraphicConverter"
activate
repeat with i from 1 to loopFinish1
set currentFile to item i of fileList1
open currentFile as alias
mirror window 1 in horizontal
close window 1 saving yes
end repeat
end tell
This is driving me crazy!
GraphicConverter has other windows (visible and invisible), it's preferable to use the document to get the right window.
Also, perhaps the image doesn't open, so no window, use a try block.
activate
set pathName to (choose folder with prompt "Choose Folder Containing Images")
tell application "Finder" to set fileList1 to (document files of folder pathName) as alias list
tell application "GraphicConverter"
activate
repeat with tFile in fileList1
set currentDoc to open tFile
set CurrWindow to (first window whose its document is currentDoc)
mirror CurrWindow in horizontal
close currentDoc saving yes
end repeat
end tell

pause shell output

In windows shell it's possible to pause the output just by selecting a text in the shell window (a QuickEdit mode must be enabled). The same is possible in the cygwin shell (again with a QuickEdit mode).
How can I pause the output in emacs shell?
I need to pause it because some tasks are very verbose and it's difficult to search the necessary text in a big buffer.
When I execute M-x comint-stop-subjob I get a message "No SIGTSTP support"
As an example try to pause the following:
find . -type f -name "*.txt" -exec cat {} ';'
Not exactly what you asked for, but clone-buffer will get you close to what you want. After binding it to a convenient key and running your find command, calling clone-buffer will copy the contents of the buffer to a new buffer. The find command in the original buffer keeps running, but the cloned buffer contains only the output of find up to the point that you cloned it.
You can invoke this command multiple times in the original window, giving you a series of stop points to examine. I don't know how to actually pause the original window though.
Note that the newly cloned buffers are fully functional shell buffers.
You can stop the job by pressing C-c C-z. Then just enter fg to make it work again.
I don't know about pausing the output, but you can presumably just narrow the buffer?
C-xnn to narrow-to-region
C-xnn to narrow-to-page
C-xnw to widen to full buffer