Firing up Terminal from an Automator Workflow

automatorterminal

I quite often use the python -m SimpleHTTPServer command in the Terminal to fire up a webserver for testing apps. Having just learned the basics of the Automator, I figured this would be a great use for it – having added the following as a service I can now right-click on a folder and have a webserver launch pointing at that folder.

cd $1
python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8000

The only problem I have, is the lack of output from the workflow. Doing it manually I have a Terminal window displaying the requests coming in and enabling me to Ctrl+C to end the webserver.

The Automator workflow is silent and I have to open Activity Monitor and quit Python to close it. Is there a way to have it run the script in a Terminal window?

Best Answer

Figured out how to do it myself based upon adapting the following article.

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20050827164648766

Added a line in to run the python command:

on run {input, parameters}
  tell application "Terminal"
    activate
    if (the (count of the window) = 0) or ¬
     (the busy of window 1  = true) then
      tell application "System Events"
        keystroke "n" using command down
      end tell
    end if
    do script "cd \"" & (POSIX path of ¬
     (input as string)) & "\"" in window 1
    do script "python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8000" in window 1
  end tell
  return input
end run
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