Yesterday I wrote a short AppleScript application that copied the current path of the Finder window to the clipboard. A rather unassuming, yet handy application. One downside to this application is that if you want the path of a folder selected in Finder, you would have to double-click on the folder to change the Finder path to that folder location, and then you could engage the AppleSscript application to copy the path.

For example, in the figure below clicking the Script Editor icon that we created in yesterday’s post (to the right of the terminal window with green arrow) will copy the path /Applications/ to the clipboard. However, what if you intention was to copy the path of the highlighted folder, that is, /Applications/Utilities/Java/ ?

I’ve reworked the original example to add support for dragging a folder onto the icon and also moved the code for displaying a dialog box when an error occurs into a subroutine. Take a look at updated application below:

Click here to paste the code below into the Script Editor

-- When clicking on the icon
try
  tell application "Finder"
    set currentPath to (POSIX path of (target of front window as alias))
    set the clipboard to currentPath
  end tell
on error
  my finderErrorMsg()
end try

-- When dropping a folder onto the icon
on open {droppedFolder}
  try
    tell application "Finder"
      set the currentPath to (POSIX path of droppedFolder as text)
      set the clipboard to currentPath
    end tell
  on error
    my finderErrorMsg
  end try
end open

-- Error msg when unable to copy a path to the clipboard
on finderErrorMsg()
  display dialog "Unable to copy a path to the clipboard.
                      Make sure Finder is referencing a directory/folder
                      within the file system."
                      buttons {"Ok"} with icon caution with title "Error"
end finderErrorMsg

With the addition of the on open reference (line 12) you can now drag/drop a folder in Finder onto the application icon and its path will be copied to the clipboard. Before you can use the script, you will need to save the AppleScript code as an application and drag the script onto the toolbar (remove any previous version of the program by right clicking and selecting ‘Remove Item’).

As a quick debugging tip, you can add a dialog box as shown below to display the path that was copied into the clipboard:

tell application "Finder"
  set currentPath to (POSIX path of (target of front window as text))
  set the clipboard to currentPath
  display dialog currentPath buttons {"ok"}
end tell
...

Now you can view the clipboard contents (through the dialog box) which makes the debugging process a little easier should you decide to tweak this application.

Another good example of the power of scripting on a Mac.

Technorati Tags: clipboard, finder

I’ve written a short script that I’ve found more useful that I ever anticipated. It is nothing more than an AppleScript application that copies the current path of Finder to the clipboard. Sounds rather unassuming, however, I think you’ll be surprised how handy it is.

The AppleScript code is less than 10 lines that instruct Finder to get the path of the front most Finder window and copy the path to the clipboard.

Click here to paste the code below into the Script Editor

try
  tell application "Finder"
    set currentPath to (POSIX path of (target of front window as alias))
    set the clipboard to currentPath
  end tell
on error
  display dialog "Unable to copy a path to the clipboard.
                      Make sure Finder is referencing a directory/folder
                      within the file system."
                      buttons {"Ok"} with icon caution with title "Error"
end try

From within Script Editor, save the code as an application and then drag/drop the application to the toolbar in Finder. The screenshot below shows the Script Editor icon in Finder (to the right of the terminal window with the green arrow), where it is now one click away.

There is a trivial amount of error handling in this short script. If you try and run this script while Finder is referencing the system (as compared to a directory/folder on the system) you’ll get the following error message.

In the next tip of this series we’ll drill down one level further and I’ll show how to copy the path of a selected folder within the current Finder window, to the clipboard.

Technorati Tags: clipboard, finder

If you are ever in need of a simple (free) clipboard manager, I recommend you check out Jumpcut. This application works quietly in the background, saving each text copy into an internal buffer. When you want to paste information, click the icon on the menu bar and you’ll see a list of recently copied text, choose the one you like and you’re good to go…

Having the ability to copy/paste multiple lines of code, from multiple source files, has come in handy many times.

In the image below you can see the menu bar icon for Jumpcut, along with a list showing my four most recent entries copied into the clipboard.

One other really nice thing about Jumpcut is that it’s open source. If you are looking to learn about Cocoa development, specifically one which pokes around with some interesting system stuff, give Jumpcut a look.

Technorati Tags: clipboard, open source