Single window mode (was Re: Can Entourage X replaceOutlook Client?)

[Allen Watson]

Title: Single window mode (was Re: Can Entourage X replace Outlook Client?)

I always use my Applescript for opening folders; from a script, a folder still opens in its separate window in EfX. Try, for instance, running this script

Tell application "Microsoft Entourage"
Open folder "Inbox"
End tell

Here's my full open folder script, which pops up a semi-sorted folder list, and lets you type a couple characters to position yourself in the list to select one. The selection by typing ignores special characters like space, "*", or "#" that I use for changing the order folders appear in the folder list. That is, I have a folder called "*Office". To select it, I just run the script, type "off", hit return, and when the folder list pops up, "*Office" is pre-selected, so I just hit return a second time. The folder opens up. This script can be downloaded from my web site (URL below).

(*     OPEN FOLDER from list, by Allen Watson, 2/15/00 for OE5.0: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
    adapted from my Folder List script, which was adapted in turn from: DB Stats by
    Dan Crevier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
    Fixed up for OS X, no osaxen.
*)
global the_folder_name
global myCount
property the_big_list : {}
property faveFolder : "Entourage" -- Name of folder to highlight as default if nothing is entered
on run {}
    --    display dialog "Testing"
    set myCount to 0
    if the_big_list = {} then
        set the_folder_name to ""
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ":" -- Our special folder-name delimiter
        display dialog ("Getting list of folders") giving up after 2
        set {folderCount} to ProcessFolder(application "Microsoft Entourage")
        display dialog ("Sorting list") giving up after 2
        set the_big_list to sortL(the_big_list)
    end if
    try
        display dialog ¬
            "Type first few characters of desired folder, or if unknown just click OK." & return & "To rebuild folder list, click the REBUILD button after typing." default answer ¬
            "" buttons {"REBUILD", "Cancel", "OK"} default button "OK"
        set {theButton, pfx} to {button returned of result, text returned of result}
        
        if theButton is "Cancel" then
            return
        else if theButton is "REBUILD" then
            set the_big_list to {}
            set the_folder_name to ""
            set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ":" -- Our special folder-name delimiter
            set {folderCount} to ProcessFolder(application "Microsoft Entourage")
            set the_big_list to sortL(the_big_list)
        end if
        set list2 to {}
        repeat with anItem in the_big_list
            if (character 1 of anItem) is in {"*", "#", "!"} then set anItem to text 2 thru -2 of anItem
            copy anItem to end of list2
        end repeat
        set theDefault to ""
        if pfx is "" then set pfx to faveFolder -- If no prefix entered use my favorite folder
        repeat with i from 1 to (count list2)
            set anItem to item i of list2
            if (anItem as text) begins with pfx then
                set theDefault to item i of (the_big_list) as text
                exit repeat
            end if
        end repeat
        
        set the_choice to ¬
            choose from list the_big_list default items {theDefault} ¬
                with prompt "Choose ONE folder name to open it." without multiple selections allowed and empty selection allowed
        --Recursively trace the folder tree for this folder
        if result is false then return
        my open_folder(the_choice)
        
    on error theMsg
        display dialog theMsg
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
    end try
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
    --    beep 3
end run

on open_folder(the_choice)
    set aFolder to ""
    set the_choice to the_choice as text
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ":" -- Our special folder-name delimiter
    tell application "Microsoft Entourage"
        repeat with i from ((count of text items of the_choice)) to 1 by -1
            if aFolder ? "" then
                set aFolder to folder (text item i of the_choice) of aFolder
            else
                set aFolder to folder (text item i of the_choice)
            end if
        end repeat
        (open aFolder) in window 1
    end tell
end open_folder

on ProcessFolder(theFolder)
    set myCount to myCount + 1
    if (myCount mod 25) = 0 then
        display dialog "" & myCount & " folders so far" giving up after 2
    end if
    tell application "Microsoft Entourage"
        set folderCount to count folders of theFolder
        set folderList to the folders of theFolder
        --        set messageCount to 0
        if (count of folders of theFolder) > 0 then
            --Debug            display dialog "Getting subfolders of " & name of theFolder
            repeat with f in folderList
                set temp to name of f
                if (length of the_folder_name) > 0 then
                    
                    set the_folder_name to temp & ":" & the_folder_name
                else
                    set the_folder_name to temp
                end if
                copy the_folder_name to end of the_big_list
                --                set msgC to count message of f
                set {fc} to my ProcessFolder(f)
                set folderCount to folderCount + fc
                --                set messageCount to messageCount + msgC + mc
                if (count of text items in the_folder_name) > 1 then
                    set the_folder_name to (text items 2 thru -1 of the_folder_name) as text
                else
                    set the_folder_name to ""
                end if
            end repeat
        end if
        return {folderCount}
    end tell
end ProcessFolder

on sortL(l)
    --    beep
    if length of l ? 1 then return l
    set x to item 1 of l
    set ll to rest of l
    set l1 to {}
    set l2 to {}
    repeat with i in ll
        if x < i then
            set l2 to l2 & i
        else
            set l1 to l1 & i
        end if
    end repeat
    if length of l1 > 1 then set l1 to sortL(l1)
    if length of l2 > 1 then set l2 to sortL(l2)
    return l1 & x & l2
end sortL


On or near 11/12/01 10:25 AM, Greg Hammond at [EMAIL PROTECTED] observed:

> Yeah, I know, but not the same. Every time I use my wife's machine which has
> OS 9 and Entourage 2001, I miss that default behavior.
>
> On 11/12/01 10:21 AM, Mark Deniken was willing to say outloud:
>
>> on 11/12/01 1:08 PM, Greg Hammond at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>>
>>> Big disappointment, but about the only one I have with Entourage X, except
>>> for that darn forced single window mode.
>>
>> You know that you can click on a folder and it will open in a new window,
>> but you can't have it do this by default tho, it defaults back to single
>> window when you restart.
>>
>> --Mark
>>
>


--
Add me to Palm/Visor: http://signature.coola.com/?[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Allen Watson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> XNS name: =Allen Watson
Applescripts for Outlook Express and Entourage: <http://homepage.mac.com/allenwatson/>