Help me create an automator workflow

[tobefirst ⚽️]

Perhaps this belongs in the Programming forum, or somewhere else. If the mods feel it so, please, by all means, move it!

I'm wondering if the following is possible with Automator, or how I would go about creating this otherwise. I'm looking for an app or script that will help me add Spotlight comments to help with a recently implemented system of job tracking at work.

Here's what I'd like it to look like:

1. Get selected finder items
2. Prompt with question: "What is the job number for this project?"
3. Copy answer to Spotlight Comments for selected items

I can do the first part without a problem. I can even create a dialogue box asking me for the tracking number (using a Text Edit action), but I can't figure out what to do from there. If I use the Spotlight Comments action, it only allows for me to put something in ahead of time, rather than asking for something new each time. Ideally, I'd like to have an icon on my desktop where I could drop all my files onto, and have them updated that way.

If it matters, the job tracking numbers look like this: 3-0001, 3-0002, etc.

Thanks for any and all ideas.

 

[blodwyn]

Perhaps this belongs in the Programming forum, or somewhere else. If the mods feel it so, please, by all means, move it!

I'm wondering if the following is possible with Automator, or how I would go about creating this otherwise. I'm looking for an app or script that will help me add Spotlight comments to help with a recently implemented system of job tracking at work.

Here's what I'd like it to look like:

1. Get selected finder items
2. Prompt with question: "What is the job number for this project?"
3. Copy answer to Spotlight Comments for selected items

I can do the first part without a problem. I can even create a dialogue box asking me for the tracking number (using a Text Edit action), but I can't figure out what to do from there. If I use the Spotlight Comments action, it only allows for me to put something in ahead of time, rather than asking for something new each time. Ideally, I'd like to have an icon on my desktop where I could drop all my files onto, and have them updated that way.

If it matters, the job tracking numbers look like this: 3-0001, 3-0002, etc.

Thanks for any and all ideas.

I think you can dispense with your dialogue box, and just add an 'Add Spotlight Comment' action, with the 'Show action when run' checkbox checked.

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

Ha! You're a genius! Thank you SO much! This is going to make everything hella easy!

 

[spellflower]

Okay, here's another Automator question from a total Automator beginner who can't seem to make sense of the instructions:

How can I use Automator to get a web page of thumbnails, click on each thumbnail to enlarge the pic, download the pic to a specific folder on my external harddrive, and then repeat with the next thumbnail? It seems like this is the kind of task that Automator would be perfect for, but unlike most things I want to do in OSX, I can't figure this out.