Use the desktop without knowing the user name

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
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#1

hi
i’m trying to make an applescript that will work generically on all apple computers. i need to refer to the desktop but to do this you need to know the desktop for example

tell app “finder”
open folder “Macintosh HD: Users: Yourusername : desktop”
end tell

so is there a way of refering to the users desktop folder without knowing their username or is their a script which can find their username

thanks

#2

Well, I’m quite new to AppleScript, but I’ve been doing a lot of research this morning on syntax, etc. I keep coming across the following way of referencing a folder:

tell application "Finder" to count every file in folder "Desktop" in home

No need to know the username here. Maybe it will work for you?

Good luck!

-Rob

#3

Hi

Not sure if this helps.
But try this to get name of every user:

tell application "System Events" to set this_user to name of every user
#4

Using path to from StandardAdditions:

path to desktop

Alternative for Finder:

tell application "Finder"
	desktop
end tell
#5

Hi.

The Finder has its own ‘desktop’ keyword to refer to the current user’s desktop.

tell application "Finder"
	open desktop
end tell

You can also get an alias or a text path to the desktop without using the Finder:

set desktopFolder to (path to desktop) -- returns an alias

-- or:
set desktopPath to (path to desktop as Unicode text) -- returns the path as Unicode text
#6

hi oj,

just another way to do it. this finds all users on an OS X computer and puts a file on the Desktop of each user:

set getUsers to (do shell script "/usr/bin/nireport / /users name uid | grep \"5[0-9][0-9]\"")

set howMany to number of paragraphs in getUsers
set theUsers to {missing value}
set i to 1
repeat while i ≤ howMany
	if i = 1 then
		set theUsers to word 1 of paragraph i of getUsers as list
	else
		set theUsers to (theUsers & word 1 of paragraph i of getUsers)
	end if
	set i to (i + 1)
end repeat

set x to 1
repeat while x ≤ howMany
	do shell script "/usr/bin/touch /Users/" & item x of theUsers & "/Desktop/testfile.txt" with administrator privileges
	set x to (x + 1)
end repeat