Keep from sleeping when certain apps are running??

[davidg4781]

Is there a way to prevent my Mac from going to sleep when certain apps are running? Specifically, I'd like it to stay awake if I have Adium on. It will work if iTunes is playing, but once it's stopped, it goes to sleep.

The main reason I'm looking for this is because it leaves me looking like I'm online, but I'm not. Sure, I can close it, but sometimes I get away from my Mac and then leave or something, and it goes to sleep. Silly, sure, but there has to be something out there for this.

 

[jonnylink]

If you are feeling adventurous I think you could do this using launchd. I've had mixed success with things like this. For instance I wrote something that runs a backup script whenever a certain external drive is mounted.

You could have a script that changes the sleep setting when an app is opens and then have it reset the sleep setting when it closes.

 

[tjevans]

I don't think this is really what you're looking for, but you could try Caffeine. It resides in the menubar, and you just click on its icon when you want to disable your mac's sleep function.