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wckdtall
wckdtall
Inspiring
November 27, 2023
Question

InDesign scripting - OSAscript Activate finder

  • November 27, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 437 views

I'm trying to activate finder with osascript, this command works directly in terminal, but will not work when called through doScript.

Works in terminal:

osascript -e 'tell application \"finder\" to activate


Causes error being called through InDesign

app.doScript("osascript -e 'tell application \"finder\" to activate", ScriptLanguage.applescriptLanguage);

 
Here is the error:

Eval Error (#-2740): "A unknown token can’t go after this identifier." in '/Users/PATH TO SCRIPT/script.jsx' [6:undefined] in host 'indesign-19.064 (main)'.


This alternative seems to work:

app.doScript('do shell script "open -a finder"', ScriptLanguage.applescriptLanguage)


Right before this, I run a function that opens a finder window, then I launch an alert through indesign so it steals focus, and I want to activate finder as the last step. Is there a way with OSA script? Just wondering if it's possible in case I needed to run additional steps.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    m1b
    Community Expert
    m1bCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 27, 2023

    One approach to "activating the Finder" is to call the "execute" method of a Folder object, so:

    var scriptFolder = $.fileName.parent; // this is the Folder containing the active script file
// activate the Finder by "revealing" the folder
scriptFolder.execute();


    I find this really handy after exporting files, for example.

    - Mark 

    leo.r
    Community Expert
    leo.rCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 27, 2023
    app.doScript("osascript -e 'tell application \"finder\" to activate", ScriptLanguage.applescriptLanguage);

     

    It doesn't work because it's not AppleScript - it's shell script.

     

    You just need to leave the AppleScript portion: 'tell app \"Finder"\ to activate'

     

    Anyway, you mentioned that your last shell script does work. So I assume you do have a solution?

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