Consistent List View appearance across a folder and its subfolders

[john202307]

One more questionm, if you don’t mind

The following block works fine:

tell options
  set properties of column name column to {index:1, sort direction:normal, width:100}
  set properties of column comment column to {index:2, sort direction:normal, width:1}
  set properties of column creation date column to {index:3, sort direction:normal, width:1}
  set properties of column kind column to {index:4, sort direction:normal, width:1}
  set properties of column label column to {index:5, sort direction:normal, width:1}
  set properties of column modification date column to {index:6, sort direction:normal, width:1}
  set properties of column size column to {index:7, sort direction:normal, width:1}
  set properties of column version column to {index:8, sort direction:normal, width:1}
end tell

But do you know which names to use to address the “Date Added” and “Date Last Opened” columns?

set properties of column date added column to ...

and

set properties of column date last opened column to ...

don’t work.

[peavine]

@john202307

But do you know which names to use to address the “Date Added” and “Date Last Opened” columns?

I couldn’t find anything that works. Also, in the following screenshot the sort column should be “Date Last Opened” and it is instead “name”. So, setting properties for those two columns may not be possible.

[john202307]

Yes, sadly even

set properties of every column to ...

doesn’t work for them.

[john202307]

@peavine It turned out the current version doesn’t work for smart folders.

global mediumDelay, shortDelay, longDelay
set mediumDelay to 1 -- edit as necessary
set shortDelay to 0.5 -- edit as necessary
set longDelay to 2 -- edit as necessary

tell application "Finder"
  set targetFolder to target of front Finder window
  try
    set theSubfolders to every folder of the entire contents of targetFolder
    if class of theSubfolders is not list then set theSubfolders to theSubfolders as list
  on error
    set theSubfolders to {}
  end try
end tell

set theFolders to (targetFolder as list) & theSubfolders

-- optionally
set theSubfoldersMax to 10 -- edit as desired
if (count theSubfolders) is greater than theSubfoldersMax then
  display dialog "This script will only reset" & space & theSubfoldersMax & space & "or fewer subfolders" buttons {"OK"} cancel button 1 default button 1
end if

repeat with aFolder in theFolders
  tell application "Finder" to set the target of Finder window 1 to aFolder
  resetFinderWindow()
end repeat

tell application "Finder"
  set target of front Finder window to container of targetFolder -- previous...
  set target of front Finder window to targetFolder -- ...and back
end tell

--display dialog "Done." buttons {"OK"} default button "OK" -- optionally

on resetFinderWindow()
  tell application "Finder"
    tell front Finder window to set current view to list view
    activate

    tell application "System Events" to tell process "Finder"
      delay shortDelay -- edit as necessary
      tell menu item "Show View Options" of menu of menu bar item "View" of menu bar 1 to if exists then click
      delay mediumDelay -- edit as necessary
      repeat with boxName in {"Comments", "Date Added", "Date Created", "Date Last Opened", "Date Modified", "Kind", "Size", "Tags", "Version"}
        if boxName is in {"Comments", "Date Created", "Date Modified", "Kind", "Size", "Tags", "Date Added", "Date Last Opened"} then -- edit as desired
          tell checkbox boxName of group 1 of window 1 to if value is 0 then click
        else
          tell checkbox boxName of group 1 of window 1 to if value is 1 then click
        end if
      end repeat
      delay mediumDelay -- edit as necessary
      tell menu item "Hide View Options" of menu of menu bar item "View" of menu bar 1 to if exists then click
      delay mediumDelay -- edit as necessary
    end tell

    tell front Finder window to set options to its list view options

    tell options -- edit as desired
      set properties of column name column to {index:1, width:100}
      set properties of column comment column to {index:2, width:0}
      set properties of column creation date column to {index:3, width:0}
      set properties of column kind column to {index:4, width:0}
      set properties of column label column to {index:5, width:0}
      set properties of column modification date column to {index:6, width:0}
      set properties of column size column to {index:7, width:0}
      set properties of column version column to {index:8, width:0}
      -- "Date Added" and "Date Last Opened" aren't supported
    end tell
  end tell
end resetFinderWindow

I tried to adjust it to handle this case, but stumbled out. The idea is that in smart folders the script should turn columns on and off and control their width and order, but should not work recursively.

Here is the adjusted work-in-progress version. Could you take a look on it?

global mediumDelay, shortDelay, longDelay
set mediumDelay to 1 -- edit as necessary
set shortDelay to 0.5 -- edit as necessary
set longDelay to 2 -- edit as necessary

tell application "Finder"
  set targetFolder to target of front Finder window
  set isSmartFolder to false
  try
    -- attempt to get a POSIX path (fails for smart folders)
    set testPath to POSIX path of (targetFolder as alias)
  on error
    set isSmartFolder to true
  end try
end tell

if isSmartFolder then
  -- only apply settings to the smart folder view, no recursion
  resetFinderWindow()
else
  -- process regular folders recursively
  tell application "Finder"
    try
      set theSubfolders to every folder of the entire contents of targetFolder
      if class of theSubfolders is not list then set theSubfolders to theSubfolders as list
    on error
      set theSubfolders to {}
    end try
  end tell

  set theFolders to (targetFolder as list) & theSubfolders

  set theSubfoldersMax to 10 -- edit as desired
  if (count theSubfolders) is greater than theSubfoldersMax then
    display dialog "This script will only reset" & space & theSubfoldersMax & space & "or fewer subfolders" buttons {"OK"} cancel button 1 default button 1
  end if

  repeat with aFolder in theFolders
    tell application "Finder" to set the target of Finder window 1 to aFolder
    resetFinderWindow()
  end repeat

  tell application "Finder"
    set target of front Finder window to container of targetFolder -- previous...
    set target of front Finder window to targetFolder -- ...and back
  end tell
end if

on resetFinderWindow()
  tell application "Finder"
    tell front Finder window to set current view to list view
    activate

    tell application "System Events" to tell process "Finder"
      delay shortDelay -- edit as necessary
      tell menu item "Show View Options" of menu of menu bar item "View" of menu bar 1 to if exists then click
      delay mediumDelay -- edit as necessary
      repeat with boxName in {"Comments", "Date Added", "Date Created", "Date Last Opened", "Date Modified", "Kind", "Size", "Tags", "Version"}
        if boxName is in {"Comments", "Date Created", "Date Modified", "Kind", "Size", "Tags", "Date Added", "Date Last Opened"} then -- edit as desired
          tell checkbox boxName of group 1 of window 1 to if value is 0 then click
        else
          tell checkbox boxName of group 1 of window 1 to if value is 1 then click
        end if
      end repeat
      delay mediumDelay -- edit as necessary
      tell menu item "Hide View Options" of menu of menu bar item "View" of menu bar 1 to if exists then click
      delay mediumDelay -- edit as necessary
    end tell

    tell front Finder window to set options to its list view options

    tell options -- edit as desired
      set properties of column name column to {index:1, width:100}
      set properties of column comment column to {index:2, width:0}
      set properties of column creation date column to {index:3, width:0}
      set properties of column kind column to {index:4, width:0}
      set properties of column label column to {index:5, width:0}
      set properties of column modification date column to {index:6, width:0}
      set properties of column size column to {index:7, width:0}
      set properties of column version column to {index:8, width:0}
    end tell
  end tell
end resetFinderWindow

[peavine]

@john202307

The idea is that in smart folders the script should turn columns on and off and control their width and order, but should not work recursively.

john202307. As you may know, a Smart Folder is an alias file and will simply be skipped by your script if it’s in the target folder or in a subfolder of the target folder.

If the target of the front Finder window is a Smart Folder, then your script calls the resetFinderWindow handler and does in fact make changes to the Smart Folder. However, in my testing, every column in the Smart Folder is made visible (see screenshot below). My knowledge of GUI scripting is extremely limited, and I don’t know why this happens.

If you want to process Smart Folders that are in the target folder or in one of its subfolders, then you need to include the Smart Folders in the list of subfolders and the following code demonstrates how that might be done. However, Finder is very slow when doing this type of operation and might simply fail if the number of files in the target folder is large.

set targetFolder to "Macintosh HD:Users:robert:Working:" --set to desired value

tell application "Finder"
	set theSubfolders to every folder of the entire contents of folder targetFolder
	if class of theSubfolders is not list then set theSubfolders to theSubfolders as list
	set smartFolders to every file of the entire contents of folder targetFolder whose name extension is "savedSearch"
end tell

set regularAndSmartFolders to theSubfolders & smartFolders

It’s just my personal opinion but getting Smart Folders to work with your script is going to be difficult, and unless you have a lot of Smart Folders, I’d be inclined to skip them.

[john202307]

@peavine

As you may know, a Smart Folder is an alias file and will simply be skipped by your script if it’s in the target folder or in a subfolder of the target folder.

No, what I’m trying to achieve is to make the script work if a smart folder is the target of the front window. Or, in simpler words, if I have “opened” a smart folder. When I try to use the script in a smart folder, Finder get an error:

Can’t set alias file “” to item 1 of {alias file “” of «script»}.

That error occurs here:

tell application "Finder" to set the target of Finder window 1 to aFolder

[peavine]

@john202307

No, what I’m trying to achieve is to make the script work if a smart folder is the target of the front window. Or, in simlper words, if I have “opened” a smart folder. When I try to use the script in a smart folder, Finder get an error:

John202307. I tested before posting and retested just now, and I do not get that error message. The line that you indicate is reporting an error is in the else section of the if statement, and that code should not be executed if the target folder is a Smart Folder. You may want to insert a few display dialog commands in the if and else sections of the if statement to see what code is in fact being executed.

[john202307]

@peavine

I tested before posting and retested just now, and I do not get that error message. The line that you indicate is reporting an error is in the else section of the if statement, and that code should not be executed if the target folder is a Smart Folder. You may want to insert a f

The detection of whether the current folder is a smart folder works correctly.

tell application "Finder"
	set targetFolder to target of front Finder window
	set isSmartFolder to false
	try
		set testPath to POSIX path of (targetFolder as alias)
	on error
		set isSmartFolder to true
	end try
end tell

display dialog isSmartFolder

And yes, currently the script enables all of the possible columns. But I don’t understand how to make it sort columns and adjust their width, the same way as the original script.

In other words, I don’t understand why the tell options block doesn’t have any effect.

[peavine]

@john202307

And yes, currently the script enables all of the possible columns

I hadn’t noticed this.

@john202307

In other words, I don’t understand why the tell options block doesn’t have any effect.

I observed the same thing, and I don’t know the reason for that.