macOS AppleScript help needed

[akadmon]

Can anyone point me to an script that closes an application at a certain time and saves the active file? I'm in the process of digitizing my hi 8 video library and I often find myself wishing I could tell iMovie to quit 2 hours after starting the conversion (i.e. at the end of the tape) so that I don't have to be babysitting the whole process. Without this iMovie will continue filling up the hard drive space even after the tape ends, unless I manually stop the import. I'm sure this is a very simple thing to do in AppleScript, but I have no clue how to do this, since I've never used AS. I would appreciate some help here.

 

[numero]

Give this a try. Start your tape and then launch this script.

iMovie HD isn't scriptable, but you can get some stuff done by calling it to the front and issuing key commands. Since your project already has a name and location, all you have to do it get it to save. You may need more than a 5 second delay between the save and the quit. I didn't actually try this with a capture session active. You may also want to capture for slightly more than 2 hours.

Let me know how this works out.

-numero

-- 60 seconds * 60 minutes * 2 hours
delay 60 * 60 * 2

tell application "iMovie HD"
	activate
end tell

tell application "System Events"
	keystroke "s" using command down
	delay 5
	keystroke "q" using command down
end tell

 

[akadmon]

Give this a try. Start your tape and then launch this script.

iMovie HD isn't scriptable, but you can get some stuff done by calling it to the front and issuing key commands. Since your project already has a name and location, all you have to do it get it to save. You may need more than a 5 second delay between the save and the quit. I didn't actually try this with a capture session active. You may also want to capture for slightly more than 2 hours.

Let me know how this works out.

OK, thanks. I'll try this when I get home.

 

[HiRez]

What is it with Apple having such poor AppleScript support in their own applications? It doesn't set a very good example. Aren't they embarrassed by the richness of AppleScript dictionaries of, for example, Adobe apps? Even many inexpensive shareware apps put Apple's own apps to shame in terms of AppleScript support. Especially the pro apps, where people really need to use batch processing and automation.

 

[akadmon]

OK, thanks. I'll try this when I get home.

I tried it and it works, but I had to modify it a little, since issuing the +s commad brings up a Do you want to save changes to... dialog, which requires a yes answer in order to allow iMovie to quit. Here is the modified script

-- 60 seconds * 60 minutes * 2 hours
delay 60 * 60 * 2

tell application "iMovie HD"
	activate
end tell

tell application "System Events"
	keystroke "s" using command down
	delay 5
	keystroke "q" using command down
	delay 5
	keystroke "enter"
end tell

Thanks a bunch!