Automator Newbie Questions

[jassmin17]

So here's the deal... I've had my MacBookPro for a while now (and a MacMini for a quite a while before that) but I've never really used many of the nifty features that are available. But now that I'm taking soooo very many more pictures I've really got to do some editing and get a better handle on the organization. That's where the Automator comes in (I hope!).

I want to create an individual file for all the master photo files that I have. So then I can put all the various forms of edited files in the same folder as the master file they came from. So lets say that I have a file named photo1234.nef that I want to create a folder for and name the folder photo1234. But I want to do this on a large scale everytime that I download photos, that's something that Automator should be able to help me with right?

But so far I can't even seem to get the sequence right to move files from one place to another in my test runs Let alone figure out how to give the folders the same name as the files in them instead of giving them a specific name by hand when the folder is created!

Help!?!

 

[wrldwzrd89]

A little AppleScripting should be able to do this. I don't recall the exact commands you need, but essentially this is what you need to do:

1. Get the filename of the file to use as the base for the folder name, and store this in a variable
2. Get the path to the location where you want the new folder created, and store this to a variable
3. Create a new folder, using the two variables you created in the previous two steps
4. Move/rename the base file into the folder you just created

Finally, set the trigger for this AppleScript to be when images enter your download folder (you can set this up as a Folder Action).

 

[jassmin17]

Thanks for the reply. But, AppleScripting?!? Oy, this really is going to be more complicated than I intially thought. I had hoped that the little exampe commands already in Automater could be strung together to do what I wanted. But I guess I'm asking to much of it. But, the time I spend figuring this out will definitely be less then the time I spend moving all the files by hand. (Well maybe not, I'd probably never do it otherwise - too lazy!)

Since I have no idea what I'm doing (I had one class in C-programming at uni years ago that I have no idea how I did so well in) any fav websites/tutorials/books on intro to AppleScripting? I'll be googling for it when I get home from work tonight, but personal recommendations are always appreciated.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

My favorite resource for AppleScript help is the official Apple developer site for AppleScript. It contains tutorials and sample code as well as some very helpful links.

Apple Developer Site for AppleScript