On Jan 25, 2005, at 18:28, Bob Savage wrote:
On Jan 24, 2005, at 7:04 PM, has wrote:
The idea here is to develop Automator actions so that _end users_ can
automate with complete ease and simplicity, not to make the writing of
actions simple.
False dichotomy. While I absolutely agree with the first, I see absolutely no reason why writing actions should not also be made as simple as possible. Otherwise you might as well argue that there's no point in creating languages like Python because you can already program anything in C.
It's a floor wax *and* a desert topping! Yes, ultimately end users will be assembling pre-built pieces in an easy, visually obvious, snap it together way. And yes, some people will be happy to pay someone else to build a custom piece for them, so that they can snap it into their existing set. And yes, there will be some clever folks in between who might hire someone to do C programming, or perhaps have some legacy code, and figure they can use Python to glue it into their or their customers' workflow. Etc. and Etc.
I like has' idea that instead of a VB-like systems integrator group on the Mac platform, these people might stumble across an article on the O'Reilly site or something describing how to do something interesting by writing Python code that is reusable as a component inside of Automator. I would recommend that someone interested in writing said article look specifically at a solution for the publishing industry. That industry has bought into the idea of using Macs, but more importantly, they have bought into the idea of assembling workflows (using AppleScript, traditionally) in order to automate repetitive actions. Perhaps processing of an XML file prior to feeding it into Adobe's InDesign, but really anything cool that's a good read would serve the purpose.
Thanks to has for starting this thread, and thanks to Bob Ippolito for contributing code, since at least someone checking the archive can look here:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/pythonmac-sig/2005-January/012696.html
It's "probably" not correct code, but it is correct enough given the public documentation. I "imagine" that it's close to what you would actually write, though :)
-bob
_______________________________________________ Pythonmac-SIG maillist - Pythonmac-SIG@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/pythonmac-sig
