Automator Folder Action Help

automator

I'm just getting started with automator. So far, i've created an application that runs at user login that gathers all the items from trash and from a folder that I use for ARD installs and securely deletes them.

I'd love to make this task run at logout and would like to know how to set that up. Logout hook?

Next, on my OSX server, I have a folder where PDFs are sent to from my iPads. I need to take those PDFs, watermark them, and move them to another folder. I have an automator action that will do this, but i'm having trouble getting it setup to run in the background WITHOUT anyone logged in to the server. I've currently got this configured as an application, but it seems like it should be a folder action, but I can't figure out where to specify the folder action for the folder action automator type. Also, how to get it to run on the server w/o anyone logged in?

Best Answer

Automator requires a graphical user session to run within. Regrettably, Automator can not run without a user session; this is because it is an application rather than a command line process.

Because of this requirement, running an Automator workflow at log-out is difficult. You need to run the workflow and delay the requested log-out until the workflow finishes.

If the tasks could be performed from a shell script, then this would be easier to hook into the log in and out steps.

Related Solutions

Automator folder action questions

Where to the workflow files are copied?

I don't understand this question.

Is this folder action stored in a system so that it's working even after my reboot?

By default, folder actions are stored in the /Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts folder.

Is Automator intended to create distributable stand-alone apps

It's not really designed for this, but I think you can hack it to do what you'd like.

First, to get the relative path to the .app package, you'll want to add a Run AppleScript action before your shell script. The code for the AppleScript should be something like this:

on run {input, parameters}
   set p to POSIX path of (path to me)
   return {p}
end run

That will pass the path to your .app bundle to your shell script action as an argument. Just set the Run Shell Script to pass input as arguments and you should be set to use the path in your shell script however you need to: Script action settings

Once that's done, you can package whatever executables you need in the Contents/Resources folder of the .app bundle. You can get there in the Finder by right/command-clicking the .app and selecting Show Package Contents.

Important Note: Automator rewrites the .app bundle every time you save it, so you'll have to add the executables again every time after you make a change.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Automator folder action questions

Is Automator intended to create distributable stand-alone apps

Related Question