MacOS – How to validate data in Automator

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I'm making an app in Automator to quickly delete my iMovie Library (to save space). However, I want my app to check if the iMovie Library has already been deleted and show a dialog saying so. I know how to make the dialog, but I can't figure out how to do it. How do I do this? I'm using macOS 10.11.

My workflow:

Ask for confirmation
Get specified Finder items (the validation would go after this)
Move Finder items to trash
Run AppleScript (to show a dialog saying "Done")

Best Answer

You can use a Run AppleScript action to perform validation. Between actions 2 and 3 in your workflow, add a Run AppleScript action with the following:

on run {input, parameters}
    if input is {} then
        display notification "File already deleted"
        tell me to quit
    end if
    return input
end run

This checks if the input is empty (because the file can't be found), and if so, runs your desired code — you can customise display notification as you please, such as showing an alert. The use of tell me to quit if the input is empty will stop the workflow at this point.

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Saving output from PDFs merged using Automator

When working with Automator workflows, it’s always good to check hat an action takes as its input and what it returns as output. Usually, this is indicated in the action’s description (accessible either in the bottom left below the action browser, or by clicking on “description” in the action’s bottom row. The actual output when running the action can also be checked (by clicking “result” in the bottom row of the action).

In your case, checking will show the “Combine PDF Pages” returns a PDF Document file. This file can be processed by any Automator action that can handle files in general (for file operations) or PDF files (for further editing). A look in the “Finder” category of Automator will show you likely candidates:

Move Finder Items will move the file to a target folder of your choice. You can set a fixed one, or tick “Show this action when running the workflow” in “options” (bottom row again) to select each time you run the workflow. This action, again, returns a PDF Document, which
Rename Finder Items will rename a file. As the action returns a PDF Document, you can daisy chain rename actions with different settings, for instance to give it a selectable base name (choose “rename single item” and tick the show option), add a date stamp (add another actions et to append the date) and a time stamp (same procedure, now with the time).

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You can do whole workflow in AppleScript:

on adding folder items to theFolder after receiving theItems
    repeat with anItem in theItems
        -- your code goes here  
    end repeat
end adding folder items to

Best Answer

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