1 May 2003

Using the Script Menu

I had some time to kill at the airport. As there was no free WiLan :-( I decided to check out Safari's Scripting abilities. There was plenty of time to kill, so the result were two wonderful AppleScripts, one for the Finder, to open the current folder window in a new terminal session and one for Safari, which adds the one feature I still dearly miss from iCab: Stack Windows.

But before you look at the new scripts I will tell you a trick I found on Mac OS X Hints:

• If you haven't done it yet, go to /Applications/AppleScript/ and double-click on the Script Menu.menu package you see there. This will add a script icon to your menu bar.
• When you click on it, it will present you with tons of sample scripts that live in /Library/Scripts/. We want to get rid of these, so rename that folder to Scripts (deactivated) or Sample Scripts or something similar. You could also delete this folder, but some of these scripts are are actually useful, so keep them for later.
• In your home folder, create ~/Library/Scripts/ and in that a folder named Applications.
• Now if you click on the Script Menu it will show a folder named Applications and the standard 'Open Scripts Folder' entries. The last one will bring you directly to the folder you just created.
• In the Applications folder, create another folder named Mail. From the original Sample Scripts find the one in Mail Scripts named 'Check my IMAP Quota' and copy it into your Mail subfolder.
• Open Mail and click on the Script Menu. The contents of the Mail subfolder are now appended to the Script Menu under 'Mail Scripts'. Neat context sensitive Script Menu!
• Now create a folder named Safari and another one named Finder and put the following great Scripts in:
• Safari - Stack Windows
• Finder - Open Folder in new Terminal Window
• go to the AppleScript homepage and download more interesting Scripts and move those you like to your new Script folder hierarchy

Mac - posted on 5/1/03; 9:40:45 AM - Armin Briegel

An Airport Service I am missing

I really think Airports should have easily accessible power outlets to recharge your iBook which had to work a lot at the client you visited. And free Wi-Lan. I'm serious.

World - posted on 5/1/03; 9:18:26 AM - Armin Briegel