Parallel vs Sequential Processing

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
#1

An issue I keep running into in my Scripts is that Applescript seems to always run things as fast as possible, not waiting on previous events to complete.

For instance, I tell Finder to eject a Sparse disk image on a USB external drive, then to eject the USB drive. When I do that, I get an error that the drive is still in use. But if I put a delay in between, all is well.

In Cheeseman’s article on running parallel actions by using ignore application responses, he implies that, unless this is used, things occur seqentially.

Is what I am seeing is that Finder is saying it has completed its task of telling the SDI to eject, and so it is finished, even though some other application (say, SDI helper) is still working?

In the scripts I have written so far, I have lots of delay commands to cope with this issue, is there a better way?

Here is my specific script, and any other critiques are welcome.

tell application "Finder"
	close every window
	open application file "Quit Everything.app" of folder "Applications" of startup disk
end tell

delay 10

display dialog "Did Everything Quit?
If not, finish closing them and press OK"

display dialog "Eject Unused Volumes"

display dialog "If needed,
Connect LaCie Portable Hard Drive.
Wait for it to be mounted."

tell application "Finder"
	make new Finder window
	open document file "PortBU.sparseimage" of disk "Portable BU"
	delay 5
	close every window
end tell

tell application "SuperDuper!"
	run using settings "Smart Update PortBU.sdsp" without user interaction
end tell
delay 5
repeat
	tell application "Finder"
		if process "superduper!" exists then
			delay 5
		else
			exit repeat
		end if
	end tell
end repeat

tell application "Finder"
	eject "PortBU"
	delay 5
	eject "Portable BU"
end tell
display dialog "Remove LaCie Portable Hard Drive
Then Mac mini will re-start"
tell application "System Events" to restart

David

#2

HI David,

I recommend to use the shell to unmount the volumes.
The advantage is, the shell waits until the volume is unmounted successfully or generates an error

try this replacing the whole Finder tell block

do shell script "diskutil unmount /Volumes/PortBU"
if result contains "unmounted" then
	do shell script "diskutil unmount '/Volumes/Portable BU'"
end if

Notes: The if - end if lines aren’t actually necessary
The single quotes in the second unmount line are needed because there is a space character in the path