File extensions on Mac

[TᴀW]

Hi there,

Using a line like this on a Windows machine:

myFile= File.saveDialog("Save Settings", "Super script extension:

*.sse");

this makes sure that whatever name the user chooses for their file, the

correct .ccpp extension will be added.

From the documentation, it looks like the Mac will ignore the second

string in the brackets.

If this is so, how would you open save dialog on a Mac and make sure the

file gets saved with the correct extension?

Many thanks,

Ariel

[TᴀW]

Ok, a combination of emailing the post and bad editing made it a challenge to understand the question, so here goes again:

I'm trying to open a "Save As" dialog so the user can choose a folder and type a file name, and the script will create a file with a bunch of information.

The extension for this script-created file should be, say, .sse (an extension I've made up).

Now, on Windows, you can use the following line in your script:

myFile = File.saveDialog("Save Settings", "Super script extension:*.sse")

That makes sure that whatever name the user types, the Save As dialog will automatically append the correct .sse extension.

However, from the Adobe Scripting Guide documentation, it looks like the Mac ignores the "Supoer script extension:*.sse" part.

So the question is: (1) On a Mac, how do you make sure that the file name the user creates in the saveDialog will have the correct extension?

Thanks for any help or pointers in the right direction,

Ariel

[Harbs.]

On Mac, you can type in any extension you want, so there's not much in terms of foolproofing the extension...

Harbs

[Jongware]

What about examining the returned name and adjusting it if necessary?

[TᴀW]

Thanks Harbs.

Jongware, I tried doing that, but it seems to me that once the user clicks ok in the save dialog, the file is created, so then changing the name means deleting the file and creating a new one -- obviously fairly easily doable, but it seems a bit roundabout compared to the Windows mechanism.

Unless there's some Javascript way of renaming a file without deleting it? I couldn't find that.

Ariel

Message was edited by: Arïel (came in blank via email)

[Muppet_Mark-phjQ9l]

The file object has a built-in rename function…

[TᴀW]

Hi MuppetMark,

Thanks. I saw that. But as far as I could see, it only works with

aliases (known as shortcuts on Windows). I couldn't get it to rename an

actual file, only an alias (or shortcut) to a file. This is what the OMV

says:

File.rename (newName: string 😞 Boolean

Core JavaScript Classes

Renames the associated file.

Does not resolve aliases, but renames the referenced alias or shortcut

file itself. Returns true if the file was successfully renamed.

newName: Data Type: string

The new file name, with no path information.

Example:

aFile.rename(newName)

Have I misunderstood? I did play around with it yesterday and couldn't

get it to work, but maybe I did something wrong...

Thanks,

Ariel

[absqua]

I had no problem with File.rename() on the Mac. Did you see that the parameter should be

The new file name, with no path information.

To help someone save a file with the right extension, I usually start with a File object in order to pre-polulate the save name and location.

var xmlFile = File("~/Desktop/new file.xml").saveDlg("Save the xml file.");

This will pop up a save dialog with only the name, and not the extension, highlighted. I think that's as foolproof as you're going to get. I did try it with your "sse" extension, and it acted weird. If the system doesn't recognize the extension as belonging to a UTI with an application that owns it, it won't act right. (The UTI stuff is, to me, pretty complicated and mysterious, and I've given up trying to figure it out on more than one occasion.)

Jeff

[TᴀW]

Thanks Jeff, this is very helpful. I was wondering how you choose where

the saveDialog open up at -- and now I know!

Another question: If the user chooses to overwrite an existing file,

it's customary to alert them to confirm that they want to overwrite the

file.

The way I've done that is that once they click Save on the save dialog,

I check if (theFile.exists), in which case I alert them (alert("Do you

want to overwrite").

The problem with doing it like that is that the Save dialog has to close

first, and then the alert message pops up.

This is not so standard. Usually the overwrite alert pops up with the

save dialog in the background, and if the user clicks no, they get

straight back to the filename field in the save dialog.

Is there any way of doing that with ExtendScript?

Thanks,

Ariel

[absqua]

On the Mac the system will handle the overwrite confirmation for you as soon as you click "Save", and the dialog doesn't return until you confirm. Adding your own File.exists check would be redundant. Does Windows not do this?

[TᴀW]

Hi Jeff,

I would have expected Windows to do the same, but it doesn't seem to ...

unless there's some setting I'm missing?

So does that mean that the script has to check whether it's on a mac

first? Otherwise the user might get an "Overwrite file" alert twice...

Incidentally, I'm using File.saveDialog. I get an error if I try to use

File.saveDlg (which is mentioned in the documentation). Mayeb the

overwrite alert behaves differently with saveDlg.

Thanks,

Ariel

[John Hawkinson]

Incidentally, I'm using File.saveDialog. I get an error if I try to use

File.saveDlg (which is mentioned in the documentation). Mayeb the

overwrite alert behaves differently with saveDlg.

I was just bit by this so it's fresh. File.saveDialog() is a class method of the File class. But saveDlg() is a method of any instance of the File class -- you call it on an existing file.

So for instance:

var file1 = File.saveDialog();
var file2 = file1.saveDlg();
var file3 = (new Folder("~/Desktop")).saveDlg();

Helpful?

[John Hawkinson]

Empty post again, Ariel. The email interface apparently does not agree with you. I recommend plain text emails with only ASCII characters...

[TᴀW]

Sorry, this is tedious for you and for me.

I'm pretty sure the problem of blank email happens because I'm using

Thunderbird. Hitting reply includes the previous message as a quote at

the bottom. The message is included as a table. If I delete the quoted

message (which 99% I do) the table still remains. And that causes a

blank email. And I'm forgetting to delete the blank table (possibly

because it's not visible).

Anyway, what I wanted to say was:

Yes, very helpful. Thank you. (And I think Jeff used it correctly

earlier in the thread, but I ignored it since it wasn't working.)

And it solves the "File Exists Overwrite?" problem. SaveDlg checks if a

file exists and asks the user. SaveDialog doesn't.

Many thanks,

Ariel

[absqua]

I get (on the Mac) an overwrite confirmation from the system whether I'm using saveDlg() from a File instance or File.saveDialog(). It doesn't make sense to me that it would differ; it's the same system dialog in either case, just starting from a different place.

[Trevor:]

Hi Ariel

I wanted to send you an email so I did a search for you on the forum and this is what came up

A bit old and I haven't read the posts that have been replied but If you want to save a file type on a Mac you can use this function I made up for a script I wrote for someone who has a Mac.

Message was edited by: ~ Trevor ~ I removed the code because it was buggy If any got it they shouldn't run it.

[Trevor:]

See above edit

I'll post the code whe (if) I debug it.

[Trevor:]

Ok this is the fixed script

Haven't tested it on a Mac (Sponsers welcome ) but to me it looks like it will work with a file filter in the same way the save dialog works on windows

Please give either positive or otherwise feedback on whether or not it works on a Mac.

Trevor

myNewFile =  SaveDialog ("Name of New (Filtered) Swatch .ase File to Save" // The file save prompt --- Change as desired
                                              ,"Adobe swatch exchange files:*.ase" // The filter --- Change as desired
                                              , true) // OPTIONAL if true give warn on overwrite, defalt is FALSE 
 if (myNewFile)
    {
    myNewFile.open('w');
    myNewFile.close();
    }
function SaveDialog (myFilePromt, /* The file promt" */ Preset /* The desired suffix */, warning /* OPTIONAL if true give warn on overwrite, defalt is FALSE */)
           /* function by Trevor to apply a file filter for a Mac http://forums.adobe.com/message/4036767#4036767  */                  
    {
        var myFile = File.openDialog (myFilePromt, [Preset]);
        if (myFile)
            {
                var myFileName = myFile.name;
                var suffix = Preset.match(/[^.]*$/);
                var regSuffix = eval("/\." + suffix + "$/i");
                var regBaseName = /^[^.]*/;
                if (! regSuffix.test(myFileName)) myFile = File (myFile.path + "/" + myFileName += "." + suffix);        
                if (warning && myFile.exists) if (!confirm ("The file " + myFile.name + " exists, do want to overwrite it? ", false, "Comfirm Save")) SaveDialog (myFilePromt, [Preset], warning);
                return myFile;
            }
      }

[Trevor:]

I noticed that someone placed the above script on their site - Great fame at last!

I also noticed that it was not well written to say the least

But I think this is well written and should work nicely.

But I didn't get many donations for my "buy me a Mac" campaign so I still haven't been able to test it.

So if there's any nice kind blokes out there, && you the reader are one of them && you have a Mac please test the script and let me know if it works.

Thanks in advance,

Trevor

P.s. I actually think this script could well be useful.

// Function by Trevor to apply a file filter to a "SaveDialog" for a Mac http://forums.adobe.com/message/4036767#4036767   
// On Windows the regular saveDialog is shown however if 'warning' is set to true then a confirm prompt is given that the file exists
function SaveDialog (myFilePromt /* The file promt" */ 
                                ,Preset /* The desired suffix */
                                , warning /* OPTIONAL if true warn on overwrite, defalt is FALSE */)
    {
        var   suffix = Preset.match(/[^.]*$/),
                regSuffix = new RegExp("\\." + suffix + "$", "i"),
                myFile = ($.os.match(/Mac/i))  ?  File.openDialog (myFilePromt, function (f) { return (f instanceof Folder) || f.name.match(regSuffix);}) // if Mac
                              : File.saveDialog (myFilePromt, [Preset]); // else
        if (myFile)
            {
                var myFileName = myFile.name;
                if (! regSuffix.test(myFileName)) myFile = File (myFile.path + "/" + myFileName += "." + suffix);
                if (myFile.exists)
                    {
                        if ($.os.match(/Mac/i) && myFile.readonly) {alert (myFile.name + "\rThis file is set to read-only.\rTry again with a different file name."); SaveDialog (myFilePromt, Preset, warning);};
                        else if (warning) if (!confirm ("The file " + myFile.name + " exists, do want to overwrite it? ", false, "Comfirm Save")) SaveDialog (myFilePromt, Preset, warning);
                     }
                return myFile;
            }
      }
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
////                      Sample usage                        ////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
myNewFile =  SaveDialog ("Name of JavaScript .jsx File to Save" // The file save prompt --- Change as desired
                                       ,"JavaScript Files:*.jsx" // The filter --- Change as desired
                                       , true) // OPTIONAL if true give warn on overwrite, default is FALSE 
if (myNewFile) // save file if cancel was not pressed
    {
    myNewFile.open('w');
    myNewFile.write('alert("Thanks Trevor!")'); // change as desired if you insist 😞
    myNewFile.close();
    }  

Made an important fix up

[Trevor:]

Some how one of the lines was majorly messed up, don't know how that happened.

Either way I fixed it up so before you test the script on the email make sure this line is correct and not as originally posted or received by mail

if (! regSuffix.test(myFileName)) myFile = File (myFile.path + "/" + myFileName += "." + suffix);