Monthly Archives: July 2018

Walk down a directory to label (and reveal) zero byte files

_count is not working and I’m not sure why. :/

The walkFolder() function is recursive, so be careful where you choose to run this. Made to help identify corrupt old archives that have been copied (and copied) from Mac to WINDOWS to CDs and back.

on walkFolder(f, _count)
  list folder f
  repeat with i in the result
    set _item to (alias (f & i))
    if folder of (info for _item) then
      walkFolder(f & i & ":", _count)
    else
      if first character of i is not "." then
        if size of (info for _item) is 0 then
          tell application "Finder"
            set label index of _item to 7 -- Gray. Perhaps adding a spotlight comment would be better...
          reveal _item -- Comment this out if you expect a lot of results.
          end tell
          set _count to _count + 1
        end if
      end if
    end if
  end repeat
  return _count
end walkFolder

on run {}
  set _count to 0
  try
    tell application "Finder" to set cwd to folder of window 1 as alias
  on error
    set cwd to path to desktop folder
  end try
  set theFolder to (choose folder "Select a folder to list:" default location cwd) as string
  my walkFolder(theFolder, _count)
  display dialog (_count as text) & " files found to be 0 bytes" giving up after 600
end run

Apologies for formatting errors as I’m editing this post on Safari from OS X 10.5 which doesn’t work well with WordPress’ auto-drafting.

AppleScript Folder Action to auto-trim folder

[UPDATE] This does not work as expected. Doesn’t seem to run as a plain AppleScript and when re-worked into an Automator folder action workflow (word salad anyone?) it might work… It has and it also hasn’t. But, even when it has I have the sneaking suspicion iCloud does not propagate deletes from macOS. Wouldn’t be the only inexplicable behavior from that service.

[UPDATE]This has been moved to a Google Drive folder. I’ve had enough of ghost folders taking up all the space. The principle is however the same, except now it just works. Boom. Roasted.

I have a security camera that FTPs a new folder everyday into a local iCloud folder on my home server. FYI, the real location of your iCloud Drive is within ~/Library/Mobile Documents, which is a package folder.

This storage process has not proved ideal since iCloud doesn’t handle automation very well. It works with Finder windows and Save dialogs, but background processes not so much. The result for me has been constant reminders that my iCloud drive is “full” despite deleting the bulk of folders. Most of the space never comes back and many times folders just “deleted” reappear.

Maybe adding another automated process to this soup is not going to help and may make things worse (will bird even notice when items are removed this way?), but what the hell. This script will delete files oldest first until the number of items it counted when it was called reaches the “keep” count (set to “5” here).

This may be attached to any folder, and items may be sent to the Trash or deleted immediately with rm. but be aware that it does not send files to the Trash. They are removed with rm.

-- http://strawhousepig.net/

-- Number of items to keep.
property keep : 5

-- Number of seconds until the script may run again (incase of runaway process adding to folder).
property cycle : 10

-- plist to store time last run.
property the_dom : "applescript.folderaction.trimfolder"

-- Should items be deleted immediately (set to false) or sent to the Trash (set to true)?
property trashit : true

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
  do_it(this_folder)
end adding folder items to

on run
  set this_folder to choose folder
  do_it(this_folder)
end run

on do_it(this_folder)
set the_key to "epoch"
set the_val to (do shell script "date '+%s'")
  if my read_array(the_dom, the_key, the_val, cycle) is true then return
  do shell script "defaults write " & the_dom & " " & the_key & " " & quoted form of the_val
  tell application "Finder"
    set _items to items of this_folder
    set _items to (sort _items by creation date)
  end tell
  if (count of _items) is greater than keep then
    try
      repeat until (count of _items) is equal to keep
        if trashit is true then
          delete item 1 of _items
        else
          do shell script "rm -R " & quoted form of POSIX path of (item 1 of _items as alias)
        end if
        set _items to rest of _items
      end repeat
    on error theErr number theNum
      if theNum is not -128 then display dialog theErr giving up after 60
    end try
  end if
end do_it

on read_array(the_dom, the_key, the_val, cycle)
  try
    set last_run to (do shell script "defaults read " & the_dom & " " & the_key)
  on error -- Will error if there is nothing to read.
    return false
  end try
  if the_val - last_run is less than cycle then
    return true
  else
    return false
  end if
end read_array

Auto-eject drive Folder Action

This script is meant to auto-eject a drive after the amount of time set in the script. It will prompt you first, so you may cancel at that time.

Why would this be useful? I have a Garmin Edge 130 bicycle computer. I had been using my phone, but every app/service has binding arbitration garbage in their 50 page click contract (aka baloney), even so far as with Strava flat out stating they may delete your account if you opt-out of it. Via real mail, of course. Outrageous. So I went with Garmin, who actually have a much smaller click contract. Like a breath of fresh air.

At any rate, my wife also has a Garmin Forerunner 35 watch and, like my Edge 130, includes a drive which mounts on your desktop when plugged into a computer. I believe this drive is used for manually installing watch faces or “widgets” and data screens. Although Garmin makes software to load those sort of things.

We typically plug these devices into a computer to charge them and when they are unplugged the Finder complains about the drive having not been ejected properly and file damage or something. Who even reads those things? That’s where this script comes in and why the trigger is “GARMIN”.

This script is meant to be attached as a Folder Action on the Volumes folder.

-- http://strawhousepig.net/

-- Name of disks to watch out for.
property triggers : {"GARMIN"}

-- Number of seconds until the script executes its mission unless user cancels.
property TKO : 30

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
  do_it()
end adding folder items to

on run
  do_it()
end run

on do_it()
  tell application "Finder"
    try
      set these_hds to every disk whose name is in triggers
      if these_hds is not {} then
        set now to current date
        display dialog "The following volumes will be ejected in " & (TKO as text) & " seconds." & return & return & these_hds as text with icon 2 giving up after TKO
        set the_res to the result
        if gave up of the_res is true then
          my inspected_detected_and_ejected(these_hds)
        else
          set now_now to current date
          delay TKO - (now_now - now)
          my inspected_detected_and_ejected(these_hds)
        end if
      end if
    on error theErr number theNum
      if theNum is not -128 then display dialog theErr giving up  after TKO -- Error -128 is the cancelled by user error.
    end try
  end tell
end do_it

on inspected_detected_and_ejected(these_hds)
  repeat with this_hd in these_hds
    try
      tell application "Finder" to eject this_hd
    end try
  end repeat
end inspected_detected_and_ejected

Notable is that this script delays the full set time whether the user clicks “OK” or not.