Help with AppleScript

Targets macOS
1

Hello,

I would like to close a TextEdit file and I have this AppleScript which needs modification, kindly assist.

tell application "TextEdit"
	activate
	set f to "/Users/len/Desktop/my File.Txt"
	close f without saving
end tell

Thanks.

Lennox

2

What are you trying to do? The AppleScript doesn’t make sense.

3

That’s not how it works. You’d need to do something like:

tell application "TextEdit"
     activate
     close document 1 (* without saving *)
end tell

I’ve commented out the “without saving” bit so you don’t accidentally close an important document without saving changes.

It looks like you’re a relative newcomer to AppleScript; however, helping you learn the basics of AppleScript is beyond the scope of this forum. I would suggest you read any one of the excellent tutorials that are out there - AppleScript has been around for over 30 years and there’s a lot of good resources on the web for learning.

4

Thanks, Eric,

This actually works… and is specific to a particular file.

tell application "TextEdit"
set myFile to "my file.Txt"
close (every window whose name is myFile)
end tell

Thanks gain.

Lennox

5

I suggest you look at the path property of TextEdit’s document class. You could probably use that to target a document by path (instead of by name, which is hazardous because people name files the same all the time).

6

Hi Eric,

Thanks, but I would appreciate a link to “TextEdit’s document class”.

I looked here TextEdit Class | WinForms Controls | DevExpress Documentation but that seems to be VB/Windows.

Thanks again.

Lennox

7

Look into Script Editor on the Mac and the TextEdit terminology dictionary.

8

Thanks
Lennox

9

This code would work.

tell application “TextEdit”

activate

set TheList to every document whose path is “/Users/len/Desktop/my File.Txt”

set cnt to count items of TheList

if cnt = 1 then

close (item 1 of TheList) without saving

else if cnt = 0 then

display dialog “Document not found.” buttons {“OK”} default button 1

else --more than one

display dialog “More than one document with that path. Don’t know which one to choose.” buttons {“OK”} default button 1

end if

end tell

10

Thanks Arnaud,

That works as expected in an independent, standalone, AppleScript, I had to replace the double-quotes with double-quotes with my keyboard… no a problem/issue.

But when I incorporate in an app and call it by a mouse-down click, or the Close event of the app, there is no response, the window is not closed.

How can I fix that?

Thanks.

I use many other AppleScripts in my apps and they all work.

Lennox