Posts tagged ‘applescript’
Unsolicited TextExpander advice
May 3rd, 2013 at 12:21 am by Dr. Drang
This afternoon, Merlin Mann tweeted a link to a set of his TextExpander snippets: As requested, here’s a few of the random TextExpander 4 snippets I mentioned in Back to Work #116:i-0.us/18vNRnM— Merlin Mann (@hotdogsladies) Thu May 2 2013 2:41 PM CDT I will not comment on how foolish I think it is for Merlin…
Deleting Safari cookies via AppleScript
March 18th, 2013 at 10:20 pm by Dr. Drang
Generally speaking, I don’t mind it when websites set cookies in my browser. They provide a degree of continuity that the otherwise stateless web wouldn’t have, and that’s convenient for many types of website. But sometimes cookies either get in the way or are an unnecessary intrusion. It’s relatively easy in Safari to delete the…
Invoice email generator redux
March 7th, 2013 at 10:46 pm by Dr. Drang
Here’s the reason I wanted to develop the Python applescript library I posted yesterday: a command-line script for automatically generating invoicing emails. The email includes The name and address of the client. A subject line that identifies the project and the invoice number. A body that includes the invoice number, the amount, and the due…
Combining Python and AppleScript
March 6th, 2013 at 10:34 pm by Dr. Drang
You may remember this post from last June, in which I had to rewrite a script that printed out the current iTunes track. The original script was written in Python and used Hamish Sanderson’s appscript library; the replacement was written in AppleScript. I had to do the rewrite because an update to iTunes had broken…
Capitalize script for BBEdit
March 4th, 2013 at 11:07 pm by Dr. Drang
I think most of us have a few typos that we just can’t shake. No matter how hard we try, our fingers just keep making the same mistakes over and over. The great classic is “teh,” a typo so common its ironic use is a talisman of internet hipsterism. I don’t type “teh” very often,…
One-step watermarking service
February 28th, 2013 at 11:16 am by Dr. Drang
I wanted a one-step command that would put a big “DRAFTS” watermark on every page of a PDF document. Ideally, the command would work this way: I select the PDF to be watermarked in the Finder. I right-click and choose “Draft” from the Services submenu. I end up with a new watermarked file in the…
Scanners live in vain
January 29th, 2013 at 9:04 pm by Dr. Drang
I’ve been using the scanner at work a lot recently and decided I was spending too much time clicking and dragging. I wrote a little script to cut down on the nonsense. What we have isn’t a dedicated scanner; it’s one of those multifunction copier/printer/scanners from Brother. We’re a small place, and don’t need much…
Automatic W-9s again
January 22nd, 2013 at 8:35 pm by Dr. Drang
Last year I wrote an AppleScript that used PDFpenPro1 to automate the creation of W-9 forms for my business. These are the forms that clients often request to make themselves feel comfortable about paying you without withholding taxes. Yesterday was the first time I tried to use the script after switching to a new 27″…
TextExpander, POSIX paths, and forgetfulness
January 12th, 2013 at 11:23 pm by Dr. Drang
It’s not uncommon for me to be working in the Terminal and want to insert the directory path of the topmost Finder window into a command. Maybe I want to cd into it; maybe I want to copy a file to it from the directory I’m currently working in. Whatever the reason, it comes up…
Google lucky links in BBEdit
January 7th, 2013 at 7:40 pm by Dr. Drang
Last summer, I wrote a couple of scripts for creating Markdown reference-style links in BBEdit. One of them was for new links, the other was for reusing a link that’s already in the file. What I didn’t do, for reasons that aren’t clear to me, was write scripts for adding links from selected text via…
