Write an AppleScript to create a web link on the desktop

applescriptsafari

I'm helping a visually impaired friend learn how to use her Mac. She's using the built-in screen magnifier, which is working great. She likes to access websites (mainly TV streaming services) via links on her desktop, which I'm able to create by hand. However the standard method for creating these (dragging a URL from the location bar in Safari to the desktop) isn't ideal for a visually impaired user.

I was thinking, therefore, that maybe I could write an AppleScript which could create the weblink on the desktop. I'd envisage this script being run from Safari when the user hits a specific keystroke. I've got no experience of writing AppleScript, however. Is it the best approach for what I'm trying to do? How should I go about getting started?

Best Answer

This script will do what you asked. It grabs the URL and the Name of the current Safari tab and creates a weblink file on the desktop. It uses the page's name to name the file. If you want help parsing a better option for the file name, just ask.

try -- will just silently quit if front window is not valid
tell application "Safari"
    set theURL to URL of current tab of window 1
    set theName to name of current tab of window 1
end tell

tell application "Finder"
    make new internet location file at desktop to ¬
        theURL with properties {name:theName}
end tell
end try

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MacOS – Automatically Mount a Network Drive and Copy a File to a Network Folder (AppleScript)

Copying of files in Applescript is best done either through System Events or Finder, using the duplicate … to command, i.e.

tell application "System Events" to duplicate sourceFile to targetFolder

where both sourceFile and targetFolder need to be the correct object type for the application used – meaning disk item or finder item (both objects can be created from AppleScript alias objects, or textual path values with a bit of type coercion – I’d add the details, but you have not stated how the paths to both are stored / acquired in your script).

A few notes on your code:

There is no need to use globals when you have defined them as properties already. AppleScript properties are script scoped and persist across execution – they are only reset when the script is recompiled. If you assign those that need user setting missing value when declaring, you can even check if they are already set and skip re-prompting the user (there would be an even more comfortable and secure solution if Apple hadn’t deprecated Keychain Access Scripting).
There is no need for the repeated assignments and recursive call in your connectToServer() handler. The following code
```
set timeOutCounter to 0
repeat while (list disks) does not contain serverName and timeOutCounter is less than timeOutInterval
    -- mount drive
    delay someInterval -- recommended, so you don’t hectically loop
    set timeOutCounter to timeOutCounter + someInterval -- time out loop 
end repeat
```
will try to connect in the interval defined by someInterval, until the mount is available or timeOutIntervalis reached (assuming these values are declared. As properties, best – see above).
You might also want to offer your user a more comfortable way of selecting the target folder than typing a folder name from memory. Check out Standard Additions’s AppleScript dictionary for the choose folder command.
Finally, but that is mainly a matter of taste and coding style, I’d rather move the display dialog command into its own handler and call that, if needed repeatedly, from the script body, than use a C style mainLoop handler. I’ve found that, generally speaking, AppleScript runs out of Stack space easily when recursing and can get very confused about variable assignments, so it is a good idea to avoid recursive constructs where they are not necessary.

I’ve deleted some Keychain certificates and now Internet browsing is almost impossible

Unfortunately, based on your comments, it looks like your only option is to start afresh.
* Backup everything first (use Time Machine or just clone it using SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner)
* Do a fresh install of OS X Leopard. You can do it from an external SuperDrive or using another Mac that has a SuperDrive, with this one put in Target Disk Mode
* Run Software Update to bring the system up-to-date
* Use Migration Assistant (under the Applications->Utilities folder) to bring over your applications and data from the backup

Also see Reinstalling Mac OS X without a DVD Drive - Target Disk Mode

Best Answer

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MacOS – Automatically Mount a Network Drive and Copy a File to a Network Folder (AppleScript)

I’ve deleted some Keychain certificates and now Internet browsing is almost impossible

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