Apple AppleScript Finder Guide - Manual (Page 16)

C H A P T E R 1
Introduction to Finder Scripting
4
What Is Finder Scripting?
tell application "Finder" of machine "Macintosh IIci"
repeat with i in every disk in desktop
if folder "Back Me Up" of i exists then
set folderName to name of i & " " & ¬
day of (current date) & " " & time of (current date)
set newFolder to make folder at ¬
disk "Storage" with properties {name:folderName}
duplicate (items of folder "Back Me Up" of i) to newFolder
end if
end repeat
end tell
The Repeat statement in this script applies the statements it contains to every
disk on the desktop of the computer named Macintosh IIci. The If statement
within the Repeat statement checks each disk for the presence of a folder called
Back Me Up. If the folder exists on a disk, the second line of the If statement
sets the variable folderName to a string that consists of the disk’s name,
the day of the month, and the time in seconds since the beginning of that day,
thus ensuring that any other backup folders created from the same disk at a
different time will have slightly different names. The rest of the If statement
creates a new folder with the name assigned to folderName on a storage disk
and asks the Finder to duplicate the items in the Back Me Up folder to the
new folder.
As you can see, scripts that control the Finder use familiar terms like folder,
disk
, and desktop as well as standard AppleScript terms like of, repeat,
and tell. Chapter 2, “Finder Objects,” describes all the terms the Finder
defines for objects, and Chapter 3, “Finder Commands,” describes the terms
it defines for commands. You can use these chapters as references when you
need detailed information about specific objects or commands. However, the
easiest way to learn how to use the scripting terminology defined by the Finder
is to record your actions in the Finder and examine the resulting script.
The next section describes how to use record and edit scripts that control the
Finder. When you see how the Finder uses its own terminology in recorded
scripts, you can begin writing your own scripts from scratch.