applescript: avoid sound when using Finder to move files - audio

I am trying to process a number of files in Applescript. This includes moving
each file to a work directory for processing
When my script executes
tell application "Finder"
move file to workdir
end tell
It always causes a sound (just like moving a file using the finder GUI dos)
How can I prevent this? The script will likely run for many hours and constant dinging from this script would be disturbing. I cannot turn sound off completely as other things may need to alert me

Since you explicitly stated "I cannot turn sound off completely as other things may need to alert me" in your OP, I'd suggest you use the move command from System Events's Disk-Folder-File Suite, as it does not make any sound using this method.
move v : Move disk item(s) to a new location.
move disk item : The disk item(s) to be moved.
to location specifier : The new location for the disk item(s).
→ disk item
Example:
set thisItem to "/path/to/disk item"
set thisFolder to "/path/to/folder"
tell application "System Events"
move disk item thisItem to thisFolder
end tell

You can disable the sound through a system file named "Volume Mount.aif". A non-destructive way to do this is to move the file to another location. Root permissions are needed to move the file.
To execute this command you will also need to disable system integrity protection:
https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/Security/Conceptual/System_Integrity_Protection_Guide/ConfiguringSystemIntegrityProtection/ConfiguringSystemIntegrityProtection.html
You can move it by typing the following command into terminal:
sudo mv /System/Library/Components/CoreAudio.component/Contents/SharedSupport/SystemSounds/system/Volume\ Mount.aif ~/Desktop/
To move it back:
sudo mv ~/Desktop/Volume\ Mount.aif /System/Library/Components/CoreAudio.component/Contents/SharedSupport/SystemSounds/system/
A restart is required for the sound to work again.

Related

How to move lots of dotfiles staying at /home without breaking programs?

With more and more programs installed on my computer, I am tired of seeing lots of dotfiles while I have to access them often. For some reason I won't hide dotfiles when browsing files. Is there a way to move them to a better place I want them to stay (e.g. ~/.config/$PROGCONF) without affecting programs while running?
Symlinks still leave file symbols, which is far from my expectation. I expect that operations like listdirs() won't show the files while opening them uses a redirection.
"For some reason it won't hide dotfiles when browsing files.":
That depends on the file manager you use. nautilus hides it by default and most file managers have an option to "show/hide hidden files". The ls command by default omits out hidden files (files starting with a dot). It lists all files with the option -a.
"Is there a way to move them to a better place":
Programs which have support for "XDG user directories" can store their config files in `~/.config/$PROGRAM_NAME/. If the program doesn't support that and expects the config file to be present in the home directory, there is little you can do (Maybe you can give us a list of what programs' config files you want to move). The process differs for each program.
Let me give an example with vim. Its config file is ~/.vimrc. Lets say you move the file to ~/.config/vim/.vimrc. You can make vim read the file by launching vim using the following command.
vim -u ~/.config/vim/.vimrc
You can modify the .desktop entry or create a new shell script to launch vim using the above command and put it inside /usr/local/bin/ or create shell functions / aliases. You can read more about changing vim's config file location in this SO question.
This arch wiki article has application specific information.
"without affecting programs while running":
It depends on a few factors namely the file system used, the program we are dealing with and so on.
Generally, deleting / moving files only unlinks the file name from an inode and programs read / write files using inodes. Read more here. And most programs read the config file at the start, load the values into memory. They rarely read the config files again. So, if you move your config file while the program is running (assuming the program supports config in both places), you won't see a difference until the program is restarted.
"I expect that operations like listdirs() won't show the files"
I am assuming you are talking about os.listdir() in python. If files are present, os.listdir() will list them, there is little you can change about that. But you can write custom functions to omit out the hidden files from being listed.
This SO question can help with that.

Pure Data freezes when trying to record

Working with Pure Data, trying to record audio output from a patch I've made, and am 1) unable to create a file within pure data to write to and 2) attempting to use the writesf~ object causes the program to freeze after about two to three seconds. I suspect the two things are related- perhaps the program is attempting to write data somewhere, somehow, but it's going in the wrong place or some such and causing the program to freeze?
I've uninstalled the latest Pure Data release (0.51-1) and installed an earlier stable release (0.5-2) and even tried an alternative called "purr data (latest release)" all with the exact same result on my windows 10 acer laptop: no file created, and program freezes after a few seconds.
I'm testing with this patch:
I first click on the message that reads "open rec.wav" then the start then the stop, and if I take longer than three or so seconds to click on "stop" the program freezes, otherwise nothing at all happens.
I have performed system wide search for the audio file, including the folder that the patch is in, all to no avail.
Any trouble shooting hints will be carefully attempted.
Are you sure you have write-permissions on the target directory?
If your example you use rec.wav which has no explicit target directory (and is just using the "current", so it's hard to tell from outside what this directory would be).
#max-n's answer suggests to use /tmp/foo.wav which is an illegal directory on Windows. Due to a known bug, using an illegal (or otherwise non-writable) path will lock up Pd.
If your "current" directory happens to be your system root (aka C:\), you might well lack the permissions to write there.
You could check by starting the Pd from the cmdline and see whether the terminal spits out any weird errors:
⊞ Win+R
type cmd and hit Enter
in the opening terminal type the full path to your Pd-executable, e.g.:
C:\Program Files\Pd\bin\pd + Enter
(ideally leave out the extension (that is: use .../pd rather than .../pd.exe)
If the problem is indeed a permission problem, you can simply work around it by specifying the full path of the output file (and make sure that it is in a writable directory).
The easiest way to do this is by using a file-selector to choose the output file:
[bang(
|
[savepanel]
|
[open $1(
|
[writesf~]
There might be a reason why the helpfile uses a [delay 1000] to schedule a stop message in a predefined time.

Check if file was created and deleted?

I need to test a program that creates temporary file. When run finishes it deletes the file. How can I check it file has be created and deleted.
I am thinking about sending some signals to process (like Ctrl-Z) to suspend it and check but should be simpler ways.
I am using bash in Linux.
Since you don't have access to the program code, then you could use the strace tool to intercept all the system calls issued by the process. Then with simple greps you can look for file creation, deletion and all related operations. Probably you have to use the "-f" option to make sure everything is logged including the operations performed by any process's child
If you can, with some certainty, know when the file will be created you can use the link command to hang onto the file. For example, in the code you are testing there is a sequence like:
open some temporary file for writing
# do stuff
write stuff to open file
close file
unlink file
If, in between the open and unlink in the tested program, you can run
ln the_temp_file my_temp_file
then when the unlink occurs, the tested program will have no idea that you have a hard link to the file so it didn't get removed from the file system.
This will not work for symbolic links ln -s so your link will need to be on the same physical device.

AppleScript Replace File

I'd like to write an AppleScript for replacing three system files with ones I've modified. I'd like to do this with an AppleScript instead of manually replacing them because I'll have to replace three files every time there's an OS X update. Specifically, I'll be replacing stock graphics drivers with ones I've modified to support a graphics card which is connected via Thunderbolt. Is it possible to write an AppleScript for replacing one file with another? I ask because I know that when you replace a file, a dialog pops up with three options, and I don't know how to address that.
You can do this with Finder:
set freshFile to choose file
tell application "Finder"
move freshFile to desktop replacing yes
end tell
All you need to do is work out the source and destination paths to completely automate the script.
Many scripters do not like working with Finder, for a variety of reasons. If you want something that is incredibly fast, you would use the do shell script inside of your AppleScript:
do shell script " mv -f ~/Desktop/ArlandaTilUppsala.pdf ~/Documents/Employ.pdf"

Corflags.exe cf001 Could not open file for wiriting

I am trying to edit the corflags file so that I can run 32bit applications on a 64 bit pc but everytime I try to edit the file using something like corflags.exe assembly /32bit+ it comes up with the error message cf001 could not open file for writing.
Now I have tried a lot of different options such as:
Running in administrator mode;
Finding the file using a search and checking read only is not ticked
Checking that user full control is ticked
Tried to set the whole folder to non read only
When trying the whole folder, it goes through looking like it has set read-only, but then I click OK and re-right click on the whole folder, the box is filled in (not ticked) does this mean that part of the folder is read only and why does it reset to read only?
I just faced the same problem and have tried the same things.
Run cornflags from an elevated ("Run as administrator") Visual Studio Command Prompt. I did the same for a copy of the original .exe just to make sure no other process was using the program.
Create a copy of the file you intend to target with CorFlags.
(e.g. "WcfServiceHost.exe" --creates--> "WcfServiceHost - Copy.exe")
Rename the original file to something else:
(e.g. "WcfServiceHost.exe" --> "WcfServiceHose_Original.exe")
Rename to copy to the original file name
(e.g. "WcfServiceHose - Copy.exe" --> "WcfServiceHost.exe"
For my purposes, I created copies and named them describing their configuration:
Example:
WCFServiceHost_With32BitOn.exe
WCFServiceHost_With32BitOff.exe
Now I can destroy the WCFServiceHost.exe files and create them from these pre-modified copies. No more CorFlags operations necessary.
Note: this is basically a more verbose version of #RMalke answer and that answer should be marked as the answer.
I realise this is years later, but for anyone else looking, I found that the quickest way was to copy cmd and corflags.exe into the same folder as the one you want to edit. Then run cmd as admin from there.

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