AppleScript: Exploring the power of Folder Actions, part I

on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items

repeat with file_ in added_items
tell application "Finder"
set file_ to POSIX path of file_
--do shell script "touch -c " & quoted form of file_
display dialog file_
end tell
end repeat

end adding folder items to


I copied and pasted above code in "Script Editor". But Will I have to save it as script or "run only app". I saved both the forms of it.
After than I right clicked a folder and selected "Attach Folder action" and selected script. Then I dragged a file. But it didn't popup any dialog for me.
Also I repeated the same with run only app. It also didn't display any dialog.
why?

I am a lazy designer and store all of my files on my desktop. At the end of the week, I run Hazel w/ my desktop folder actions and move screenshots to a folder and change their name to screenshot-yyyy-mm-dd-hh-mm-ss.png and move all my istock images to my stock photography folder. etc...
It is a great way to keep organized. Theoretically you could do the same thing w/ folder actions.

I wrote a similar article about file sharing and notifications just one day before yours. Weird.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/establish-file-sharing-notifications-between-networked-macs/

Can same folder action be configured for all the child (nested) folders as well. I mean for example, I want to add files to iTunes when I copy those files to a particular folder or its existing or new child folder/s... can I achieve this using applescript/folder actions??

yay, i like learning new things. thanksssss!

The problem with those folder actions (and with Hazel afaik) is, there is no way to include (i.e. extend the action to) sub folders. So if you create a sub folder in your desktop folder and a file is being added there, you won't get any alert box. Or am I missing something?

I use folder actions for two thinks :

- Adding Google Analytics code to the websites created with iWeb once uploaded to mac web server. I use an automator script for that purpose (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/addgoogleanalyticsaction.html)

- Downloading Linux distributions remotely using dropbox : First I download the .torrent file with my laptop at work. Once downloaded, the .torrent is detected by a folder action then moved to a special folder in my dropbox. When synced to my mac at home, another folder action detects the .torrent file and moves it to another folder whatched by Transmission. The download starts and I can burn the Linux DVDs once back home. (And Yes, I like chain reactions ;-)

auto add mp3 to itunes when dropped into a folder. Use the 2nd script its sweet.

http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/folderaction01.php

Great!! This is giving me tons of innovative ideas! BTW, where do I get the script to upload the dropped files to FTP ??

I didn't know about this use of applescript and I've been a Mac user for a couple years. Thanks for the tip!