MacOS – How to create an OSX Application to wrap a call to a shell script

applescriptautomatorbashcommand linemacos

My goal is to include in a zip file what amounts to a shortcut, instead of telling my customer(s) to open up Terminal and run a shell script.

My deployable essentially looks like this:

$ unzip Deliverable.zip 
$ cd Deliverable; ls
app.jar run.sh

Script in run.sh:

#!/bin/sh
java -jar app.jar

There's a lot more in the directory; suffice to say I need to run the script from the directory Deliverable since I need to access paths relative to it. However, I can't guarantee where a customer is going to open Deliverable.zip (could be home directory, could be right in the Downloads directory, etc.)

I found this that describes how to create a new workflow in Automator, then save it as an application to launch a shell script. I tried to do that to wrap run.sh but it says it can't find run.sh.

Somebody suggested I use applescript and also sent me a link to how to use applescript to switch into the current directory; there's an applescript "action" in automator; so I made a new workflow with that, and saved it as an application. This is what that looks like:

The code:

on run {input, parameters}
    tell application "Finder"
        set current_path to container of (path to me) as alias
    end tell

    do shell script "java -jar app.jar" 

    return input
end run

And this is the error I get when I run it:

C'mon, this should be pretty simple. What I am doing wrong here?

Best Answer

Rename your .sh file to .command and you can cd to the directory that the .command file is located in with the following at the beginning of the file:

cd "$(dirname $BASH_SOURCE)"

Related Solutions

Automator choose finder folder and run shell script

You can simply pass the selected folder to the shell script by selecting "as argument" from the "pass input:" dropdown-menu and then adding "$@" at the point in your script where you want the folder path to be used.

To use drag&drop, just remove the "ask for finder items" action and let the "run shell script" receive the input from "application can receive files and folders as input".

Automator to execute shell script with an input text file, copy it to specific directory

EDIT: Workflow now works with one bug: running the workflow twice results in two copies of the control file being copied

Make a new Automator SERVICE. At the beginning, for "receives selected as input" choose "documents". Add the process "set value of variable" and make a new "destination path" variable (default variable name is "destination path"). Add the process "open finder items" to the beginning to open the control file. Add the process "run applescript" to the workflow the code is the following:

on run {input, parameters}

set LineNumber to (the line in which the path is specified in the control file)
tell application "TextEdit"
    set theVariable to paragraph LineNumber of document 1
    set thePath to POSIX path of theVariable
    set thePath to text 1 thru -2 of thePath
end tell

return thePath
end run

I don't know why this couldn't have been in the same block, but you need to add a separate AppleScript process. The code is as follows:

on run {input, parameters}

tell application "Finder"
    set theFolder to POSIX path of input & "/DEBIAN"
    try
        make new folder in folder input with properties {name:"DEBIAN"}
    end try
end tell

return theFolder
end run

Add the process "set value of variable" and make a new destination path variable (default name is "destination path 1").
Add the "get value of variable" process and get the value of the variable with the path of the input file ("destination path"). Click on "options" on this process and check "ignore this action's input".
After this, Automator has a process called "copy finder items" and this can be used to copy the input (the output of "get value of variable", which is the input file). This worked for me, hope it works for you as well. Good luck :)

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