This Day in WWII Workflow

Hey guys, just signed up here cause I’m starting to get into Mac scripting, but just starting out with Automator, then hopefully going into Applescript. Anyway…

So I’m trying to do this workflow that will grab what happened in this day in WWII, and then make it your desktop background. Part of it I took from Macworld’s “Put Stock Quotes on your Desktop” workflow. So here it is, if you need the actual file just email me (rmjohnson307 (at) gmail dot com).

  1. Get Specified URLS
    http://www.historychannel.com/global/feeds/tdihrss.jsp
  2. Get Text from Webpage
  3. New TextEdit Document
    4.Run Applescript
on run {input, parameters}
	tell application "TextEdit"
		activate
		set the size of the text of the front document to 12
		set the zoomed of the front window to true
	end tell
	return true
end run
  1. Get Specified Finder Items
    Name: Desktop_Picture.png Path: Ryan’s eMac> Users > ryan > Desktop > Desktop_Picture.png
  2. Take Screenshot
    Typ: Full Screen
    Options: Main Monitor Only is checked, Timed is unchecked
    Save to: Clipboard
  3. Set the Desktop Picture

Like I said steps 3-7 are from that other workflow, I hope that’s ok. Any help is appreciated!

EDIT: Oh yea, I forgot to mention some other stuff. The Desktop_Picture.png is what I want to the screenshot to be changed to, but it doesn’t change it, it just keeps the original image.

Model: eMac
AppleScript: ?
Browser: Safari 416.13
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.4)

RM,

So, where’s the snag in your workflow so far?

In step 4, you may not need “activate”. Since you have created a new textedit document, activate may create a new empty document that will be foremost.

I also think you need to flip step 5 and 6.

Kevin

Check out the commands Launch and Run. I believe Activate behaves like an explicit Run, as well as bringing an app to the front. The effect of these commands can differ among applications (see the documentation).