Just another WordPress site
Let’s say you’ve got a really cool Automator workflow that saves you tons of time but takes a while to run. Do you really have to sit around, twiddling your thumbs while waiting for it to finish? Wouldn’t it be nicer if you could go get a latte instead and get an alert on your iPhone when the workflow is finished? That’s just one example of the kind of thing possible with the latest version of If This Then That (IFTTT). [Read more on Macworld.com...]
Late last year, Apple generated a wave of negative press after releasing slimmed down Mac versions of the iWork apps—Keynote, Numbers, and Pages. Rewritten from the ground up to focus on ease of use, consistency, and iCloud support, the apps lacked lots of the useful productivity features that Mac users had come to use. One major setback was a significant reduction in AppleScript support, a problem for anyone attempting to automate an iWork-based office workflow.
I’m pleased to say that this week, Apple has delivered! The iWork apps have received a notable set of AppleScript improvements across the board. [Read more on Macworld.com...]
Back in November, I wrote about the growing concern in the Mac community that Apple might be abandoning AppleScript. The occasion was the virtual removal of AppleScript support from the iWork apps (Keynote, Numbers, and Pages). At the time, I stressed that Mac users should remain calm, that this was nothing new, that the level of AppleScript support in any given app had always ebbed and flowed from release to release.
Looks like we’ve just had another ebb and flow.
[Read more on Macworld.com...]
I develop custom automation solutions for lots of clients, but I don’t like reinventing the wheel. If there’s an existing tool that works well and reduces development time, I tend to use it. File Juicer, from Echo One (http://echoone.com), is one such tool, which I’ve used with great success in numerous client projects.
[Read the full article in MacTech magazine's September 2013 issue, available in print and in the MacTech iPad Newsstand app]
The August 2013 issue of MacTech magazine features a MacTech Spotlight interview with Automated Workflows, LLC president, Ben Waldie. In the interview, Ben discusses how he got started with Macs, automation, and more.
[Read the interview in MacTech magazine's August 2013 issue, available in print and in the MacTech iPad Newsstand app]
My earlier article "Building a Basic AppleScriptObjC (Cocoa-AppleScript) Application with Xcode" explained how AppleScriptObjC and Xcode can be used to build robust interface-based applications for the Mac. While that article demonstrated this principle through the creation of a very simple Hello World application, the techniques provided can serve as the basis for building more advanced applications, for real-world scenarios. In this article, we'll build on those techniques to create a functional application that can perform some basic image manipulations, including flipping, rotating, and scaling a chosen image.
