Mac OS X Leopard - ARCAism

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CHAPTER 23 MAC OS X AUTOMATION WITH AUTOMATOR AND APPLESCRIPT
Figure 23-2. Creating a new Automator workflow
Workflows
A program written in Automator is called a workflow. A workflow is a step-by-step list of simple
instructions, called actions. Workflows can also contain small bits of reusable data, called
variables, but we’ll return to that. Actions resemble windows in that they contain a title bar, a
content view, and a tabbed details view.
The title bar, which has the action’s name and icon, has a disclosure triangle on the left that
will collapse and expand the action. Double-clicking the title bar has the same effect. On
the right side of the title bar is an X icon. Clicking this icon will remove the action from the
workflow.
CAUTION Clicking the X icon removes the action without warning or confirmation. You can
undo this by selecting Undo from the Edit menu or by pressing Cmd+Z.
The action’s content view will typically contain preferences or other configuration options
in the form of drop-down boxes, text fields, table views, and so forth. Your workflow contains a
single action, Ask for Text, as shown in Figure 23-3. This action will prompt the user to enter
some text. Set the question text to “What keyword shall I search for?” Leave Default Answer
empty, but check the “Require an answer” box. Leave the buttons labeled as Cancel and OK.
To run this simple workflow, click the Run button in the toolbar. You’ll be presented with
the dialog you designed, as shown in Figure 23-4. Automator will pause execution of your workflow
and wait for you to deal with the dialog. Enter a search term, and click the OK button.