If you work in Terminal with any regularity, you know there are times when listing a directory structure in a manner similar to Finder’s List view would be handy, but there is no built in command to do so.

Before I switched to Mac OS X, I used Linux where I discovered a package called Tree. The package consists of a single command that when passed a directory, displays a recursive tree-like listing of its content in ASCII form. The source for the package is freely available and can be downloaded and built in just a couple minutes.

Building Tree for Mac OS X

1. Your using Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
2. The latest Xcode Tools from the Snow Leopard DVD or downloaded from Apple are installed
3. Your shell’s PATH variable includes /usr/local (if you don’t know why or how, see this Hivelogic post)
4. You have experience running UNIX commands in Terminal

Change to or create a directory where you can download and unpack the source. I keep a ‘Projects’ folder to use for this kind of task.

cd ~/Projects/src/

Download and unpack the source code

curl -O ftp://mama.indstate.edu/linux/tree/tree-1.5.3.tgz
tar xzvf tree-1.5.3.tgz

Now change to the source directory:

cd tree-1.5.3/

Modify the Makefile for Mac OS X

Find the line that reads:

prefix = /usr

… and change to:

prefix = /usr/local

Find and uncomment (remove the leading ‘#’) the CFLAGS and XOBJS lines in the Mac OS X section of the Makefile so it looks like this:

# Uncomment for OS X:
#CC=cc
CFLAGS=-O2 -Wall -fomit-frame-pointer -no-cpp-precomp
#LDFLAGS=
XOBJS=strverscmp.o

Compile and install

make
sudo make install

Assuming you did not receive any errors during the build process, you should be able to type the following and see a recursive listing of all the files and folders in the current directory:

tree

If you want to see directories only, try this:

tree -d

That’s all there is.

open .

Dead simple.

The Automator application lets you build a workflow by choosing from a collection of actions, some native to OS X, some installed by other applications, and dragging those actions into a workflow. There are actions that perform standalone tasks like copying a file to a specific folder, processing an image, or asking for input. If you need something more advanced there are actions that let you run shell commands, or even call other scripting languages like Python, Perl, or Apple’s own AppleScript. Combining these actions into a workflow lets you automate just about anything.

Addressing an Envelope Using Selected Text
I recently received a request to mail some additional information for a rebate I submitted several weeks ago. The email message contained the mailing address for the fulfillment center. Ordinarily, this means either hand addressing an envelope or going through several steps to launch Pages, choose a template, cut and paste the address, and print the envelope. It felt like I should be able to select the address and have an envelope automatically prepared and ready to print, but there is no built in way to do this.

Using Automator, I created a service that appears as a contextual menu item when working with selected text… in this case an address. In this workflow the Automator service is essentially a wrapper around AppleScript which does the heavy lifting here.

Here is the AppleScript that makes it happen.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35

on run {input, parameters}
	-- set the name of Envelope template to use
	set theTemplate to "Classic Envelope"
	-- set selection to first item of input list, ignore rest
	set theSelection to item 1 of input as text
	tell application "Pages"
		-- launch Pages without "Template Chooser"
		launch
		try
			make new document with properties {template name:theTemplate}
		on error
			-- display msg if the template does not exist
			display alert ¬
				"Template does not exist or
the document could not be created" buttons {"Cancel", "OK"} as warning
			-- If can't create document, then bail out of the whole shebang!
			quit application "Pages"
			return
		end try
		tell the front document
			--delete the default template text and make a new paragraph
			delete every paragraph
			make new paragraph at beginning
			tell body text
				-- put the selected text into the new paragraph
				set paragraph 1 to theSelection
			end tell
		end tell
		-- open the print dialog ready to print! Enclose in try block to ignore errors
		try
			print the front document with print dialog
		end try
	end tell
	return input
end run

Download All Links on a Web Page
There is a great add-on for Firefox called DownThemAll that lets you download all the links on a web page without the need to click on each link individually. I have not been able to find anything like it for Safari. I wanted to download several zip archives containing sample code for a tutorial I was working through and was certain this could be done using Automator. In just a few minutes I hacked together a workflow that finds links on the current Safari page, filters them by extension, and displays a list for me to select from, before downloading the links to the Downloads folder. This workflow makes use of several Safari specific actions.

Copy or Move Files and Folders to iTunes
One of the easiest ways to add songs to iTunes is by copying audio files or folders containing songs to the aptly named Automatically Add to iTunes folder. While this is relatively easy, why not save a few mouse clicks and drags by adding a service to the contextual menu for Finder items like files and folders. Add one service to copy files or folders, and a second to move them.

I have services that copy and move files to my Dropbox folder, create tar archives from selected files and folders, and even automatically shorten a selected URL with bit.ly. Automator includes actions for working with text files, creating PDF documents, and even processing images. There is really no limit to the cool things you can do with Automator.

Resources
There are lots of great places online where you can find workflows. The best place to start is at Mac OS X Automation where you will not only find sample services, but some great tutorials about Automator and AppleScript.

Using Automator to build workflows is simple and takes little time to learn. Services are an effective way to automate repetitive tasks that save time. Make your computer work for you now by creating a few services of your own.

I will write about my experiences when time permits, but for now how about this… blogging from TextMate. That’s right, this post was written and posted from inside TM!

Here’s five web applications you can’t live without:

Sandy

Because �everyone deserves an assistant�, the clever team at Values of n give you Sandy, an electronic executive secretary to help manage your busy life.

Need to remember a meeting with your Boss? Send Sandy an email, and she will remind you when the time comes. Need to remember contact information for someone you just met? Send it to Sandy, she’ll categorize it as a contact. Want to check out a new website but don’t have time? Send the details to Sandy and she’ll check it out, summarizing the site’s recent changes.

Sandy starts each day by sending you a “Daily Digest” listing all the things you need to accomplish. She reminds you about appointments and reoccurring tasks. Sandy will keep track of books you want to read, compile a grocery list, and much more.

All of the magic is accomplished through the exchange of a few naturally worded commands sent to Sandy via email. Sandy sends reminders by email, or by SMS to your mobile phone. If you are a Twitter fan, Sandy can even take instruction in the form of a tweet.

Jott

Next on the list is Jott, a service that converts voice messages to text. The concept is simple, call Jott and say who you want to communicate with, then record your message. Jott transcribes the message and routes it to a recipient via email, or takes some predetermined action. Jott’s transcription is surprisingly accurate, just speak clearly and a little slower than usual.

Record email to your self or others, set reminders, create lists, and even link to other web services like Sandy (a powerful combination). In a bit of reverse technology, Jott recently added, the ability to call and have your favorite RSS feeds read to you… great for the drive to work.

Signing up is simple, just tell Jott what phone numbers you want to use to interact with the service and you are ready to go.

Google Reader

For information junkies, Google Reader provides a way to rapidly consume RSS feeds from your favorite web sites, weblogs, and news services. Reader aggregates and provides a �river of news� enabling you to quickly review and read the stories that interest you. Its layout is clean and simple (like every other Google service), and if you take advantage of the well thought out keyboard navigation, you can sift through hundreds of feeds in a short amount of time.

Categorize your feeds into folders, and tag with additional keywords to help you quickly spot your favorites. Share interesting or important posts with the whole world, or just a few friends. Google Reader is the cream of the crop web-based feed aggregator.

Backpack

Backpack gives you a place to put and organize your stuff. Notes, lists, ideas, images, just about anything electronic can be kept in your Backpack. Developed by the crew at 37 Signals, Backpack was one of the first in the new wave of less is better (not more) applications that does a few things really, really well, and nothing more.

Store your stuff in one place, or spread it across several pages. Create lists wherever you want, reorganize list items, and check things off when you get them done. Add a few notes or even upload files to a page so you can find them later. Backpack even lets you email content directly to a specific page using a super-secret email address.

Driven by a simple, intuitive user interface, Backpack is truly a pleasure to use. Open a free account, and create up to five pages; paid accounts let you create more.

Gmail

Suffering from ‘inbox overload’, ready to declare ‘email bankruptcy’, let Gmail handle the myriad messages that find their way to you each day. A great layout, slick interface, and of course the best search technology available make this the perfect web-based email client.

Tag messages using keywords, build filters to act on messages before they clutter up your inbox, and use keyboard navigation to read and organize your messages. Combine all that with 6GB+ of storage for free and incredibly effective spam protection, and you have an efficient solution to manage email.

Did I miss anything. What are your favorite web-based applications?

The ability to graphically browse remote servers via SSH is great, but I found out that trying to edit a remote file chokes Vim. Apparently the netrw module does not handle an SSH URI, but rather prefers SCP. So a quick nautilus-script to the rescue.

#!/usr/bin/env python
 
import os, sys
import re
import urllib
 
files = []
 
def unescape(uri):
    return re.sub(r'\s', r'\\ ', urllib.unquote(uri))
 
for file in os.getenv("NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_URIS", None).split("\n"):
 
    if re.match(r'^file://', file):
        files.append(unescape(re.sub(r'^file://', r"", file)))
 
    elif re.match(r'^ssh://', file):
        files.append(unescape(re.sub(r'^ssh://([^/]+)(/[^/]+){2}/(.*)$', r'scp://\1/\3', file)))
 
    else:
        pass
 
if files:
    os.system("""gvim """ + " ".join(files))
 
sys.exit(0)

Still some work to do, but for now it’s simple and effective.

$ mkdir -m 0700 -p Maildir/{cur,new,tmp}

The -m and -p options are no-brainers, but the {cur,new,tmp} was new to me. It was easy to figure out what was going to happen… one command to create the Maildir directory, and the three subdirectories, I was simply unfamiliar with the syntax. A quick look at the Bash man page and I discovered Brace Expansion:

Brace expansion is a mechanism by which arbitrary strings may be generated.

A comma separated list between opening and closing braces is expanded by the shell including any preamble (in my case Maildir/) or postscript. Brace expansion can also generate ranges:

$ echo {1..10}
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Cool, huh?