Creating an Automator app

automator

I would like to have a clickable app that will open a terminal window, run the script:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES

and then close the terminal app. (and another to turn off the show all, same script with No at end). Automator seems to have a lot of potential, with not enough documentation that's easily found.

Best Answer

not enough documentation

Umm...Welcome to Automator - Apple Support

This is also a great link

There is so many different ways of doing what you want.

Option A: Shell Script (Does in background)

Option B: Open Terminal Window

A

Option 1: Pure AppleScript (Using /Applications/Utilities/Script Editor.app)

do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES"

Option 2: Pure Automator

Option 3: Automator + AppleScript

B

Option 1: Pure AppleScript

tell application "Terminal"
    activate
    do script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES"
end tell

Option 2: Automator + AppleScript

(A3 with the in B1)

For the toggle hears the AppleScript Code to be used in any option of your choosing:

set a to (do shell script "defaults read com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles")
if a is "YES" then
    do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO"
else
    do shell script "defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES"
end if

Export Options

Script Editor:

File>Export

File Format: Application

Automator:

Choose Application when creating a new document

Related Solutions

Converting Automator Action in applescript to bash script

I'm not sure I understand correctly - if in the third line of Your script You're checking whether ftp service is running You can use following script:

#!/bin/bash                                                                                                                   

launchctl list | grep ftpd

if [ $? != 0 ]; then
    IPADDR=$(ifconfig -a | perl -nle'/(\d+\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+)/ && print $1' | grep -v 127.0.0.1)
    launchctl load "/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist"
    osascript -e "tell application \"Finder\" to display alert \"FTP Launched and ready for file-transfer\" & character id 8233 & character id 8233 & character id 8233 & \"Address: ftp://\" & \"$IPADDR\" & \":21\" & character id 8233 & \"User Name: \" & \"$USER\""
else
    launchctl unload -w "/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/ftp.plist"
    osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to display alert "FTP session closed"'
fi

Run this a sudo. Explanation:

To check if job is running use launchctl list.
To get ip address quickly use my perl script (You may want to grep it differently in order to get rid of additional IP addresses.
The only problem now is that Finder app is not brought to front but this can be solved if needed.

Script/Workflow: Select item, print, save as PDF, name sequentially, down arrow to next item

I downloaded Keyboard Maestro and was able to get what I needed by writing a macro. I have a new favorite program. I kind of wish I had tried it sooner.