New to Aperture
Aperture 2.1.1 released - new metadata field
Jul 30, 2008 @ 07:06 PM -
Apple released Aperture 2.1.1.
I decided to take a quick look at the Applescript dictionary and noticed one additional tag, “MasterProject” of the “other tag” class. Oddly this tag hasn’t been added to the GUI (I don’t see it in the metadata inspector nor in the Query HUDs).
In 2.1, there is a tag named “MasterLocation” which provides the full path of a particular image. However it does not give you the project object. Why would you want a reference to the containing project object?
Let’s start with a very simple structure in Aperture:
If I wanted to know the name of the project of the container of the image I currently have selected using such a simple structure, obtaining the project’s name and properties will be pretty easy. I could then use that name to refer to the project. As log as the structure is left flat, no two projects can be named the same and there won’t be a problem identifying a project based on its name.
Now let’s look at a more complex structure in Aperture:
As you can see, there are two projects that have the same name. Say I want to know the value of MasterLocation of a currently selected image found in “folder 1 > project 1”. After removing “folder 1 “ from the string, I now know the project’s name. Then I want to know the properties or something similar of that parent project.
tell application “Aperture”
get properties of project "project 1"
end tell
Which project will Applescript/Aperture return? I have no idea because both have the same name. What I want is the ID of the project which is unique and thus uniquely identifies the project and thus eliminates confusion.
Aperture 2.1.1 has a new field “MasterProject” which should help solve this problem because this field provides a reference to the project object. Now users can uniquely identify a project based on an image selection.
I decided to take a quick look at the Applescript dictionary and noticed one additional tag, “MasterProject” of the “other tag” class. Oddly this tag hasn’t been added to the GUI (I don’t see it in the metadata inspector nor in the Query HUDs).
In 2.1, there is a tag named “MasterLocation” which provides the full path of a particular image. However it does not give you the project object. Why would you want a reference to the containing project object?
Let’s start with a very simple structure in Aperture:
If I wanted to know the name of the project of the container of the image I currently have selected using such a simple structure, obtaining the project’s name and properties will be pretty easy. I could then use that name to refer to the project. As log as the structure is left flat, no two projects can be named the same and there won’t be a problem identifying a project based on its name.
Now let’s look at a more complex structure in Aperture:
As you can see, there are two projects that have the same name. Say I want to know the value of MasterLocation of a currently selected image found in “folder 1 > project 1”. After removing “folder 1 “ from the string, I now know the project’s name. Then I want to know the properties or something similar of that parent project.
tell application “Aperture”
get properties of project "project 1"
end tell
Which project will Applescript/Aperture return? I have no idea because both have the same name. What I want is the ID of the project which is unique and thus uniquely identifies the project and thus eliminates confusion.
Aperture 2.1.1 has a new field “MasterProject” which should help solve this problem because this field provides a reference to the project object. Now users can uniquely identify a project based on an image selection.
fullscreen property
Apr 07, 2008 @ 04:44 PM -
I just read through an article on another blog (Inside
Aperture) concerning new Applescript stuff in 2.x. While I was
reading it and looking over the dictionary I just realized
something.
The application class in 2.1 has a new property: fullscreen.
The user can set and get the value of this property (it is a boolean property which means you set its value to true or false). The end result of setting this property is toggling the application fullscreen on or off. At this moment, I haven't come up with a good use for this but that doesn't mean one doesn't exist. Since Apple put it there, I'm sure its there for a good reason. I don't think its a good replacement/workaround for a slideshow because it takes some time to decode RAW files and thus the slideshow may get bogged down. But it may be useful for JPEGs.
tell application "Aperture"
set fullscreen to true
end tell
The application class in 2.1 has a new property: fullscreen.
The user can set and get the value of this property (it is a boolean property which means you set its value to true or false). The end result of setting this property is toggling the application fullscreen on or off. At this moment, I haven't come up with a good use for this but that doesn't mean one doesn't exist. Since Apple put it there, I'm sure its there for a good reason. I don't think its a good replacement/workaround for a slideshow because it takes some time to decode RAW files and thus the slideshow may get bogged down. But it may be useful for JPEGs.
tell application "Aperture"
set fullscreen to true
end tell
More new stuff for 2.1
Mar 31, 2008 @ 04:23 PM -
During the weekend I finally got
around to upgrading to Aperture 2.1 as well as playing around with
new Applescript support. I'm very surprised Apple has released
2.0.1 and 2.1 with additions to Aperture's Applescript but hey I'm
certainly not complaining. Thanks Apple! I hope there is even more
to come.
Oddly, Apple only mentions one aspect of the new additions to Aperture's Applescript in the release notes for 2.1. I'm not entirely sure why that is. Here's what Apple says is new as it pertains to 2.1 and Applescript: "Extended AppleScript support. The "Reveal" verb in the AppleScript dictionary has been extended to include containers such as projects and albums.". Well I see one more addition to the dictionary: Import/Export of projects.
Here's a few simple scripts to help get you started with the new features found in 2.1:
I noticed right away the reveal verb has been updated more than just revealing containers (projects, folders, and albums) after looking at the 2.1 dictionary. The 2.0.1 reveal entry is very basic and you could only reveal a single image version at a time. The 2.1 dictionary states you need to place whatever you want to reveal in a list which got me thinking....does that mean I can reveal more than one object at once? Well as it applies to images, the answer is YES! For some reason the same isn't true for the containers (I realize you can't select more than one container in the GUI, but then why make it a list?).
tell application "Aperture"
tell library 1
tell project 1
reveal {image version 1, image version 10, image version 2}
--reveal {project 1, project 2}
--doesn't work although the dictionary gives an impression of a multiple container selection
end tell
end tell
end tell
Revealing a container is similar to revealing an image version: reveal {project 1}.
Exporting a project:
tell application "Finder"
set export_dir to (choose folder with prompt "Choose a folder to export into") as alias
end tell
tell application "Aperture"
set x to name of every project
choose from list x with prompt "Select a project"
set ap_proj to item 1 of result
set ap_proj to project ap_proj
export {ap_proj} to export_dir with consolidating images
end tell
I got caught by a stupid syntax mistake when exploring exporting projects. If you accidently leave off "images" from that last line, the script will run and the editor will ignore "consolidating" which will be treated as a variable. There are times when the editor will catch cases where a variable is used but no value is assigned to it and produces the appropriate error message. For whatever reason, the editor doesn't catch this particular case and I was trying and trying to figure out why my referenced images where not being consolidated on export. BEWARE!
And importing a project:
tell application "Finder"
set import_dir to (choose file with prompt "Choose a project to import") as alias
end tell
tell application "Aperture"
set x to name of every project
choose from list x with prompt "Select a project"
set ap_proj to item 1 of result
set ap_proj to project ap_proj
import {import_dir} into folder "blue folder1"
end tell
What's really nice with the way they implemented the ability to import projects is you can import a project into a particular location within the hierarchy within Aperture. For example, I have a blue folder named "blue folder1". I want to import a project so that it resides within that folder without any manual assistance. With 2.1, that can now be accomplished.
Oddly, Apple only mentions one aspect of the new additions to Aperture's Applescript in the release notes for 2.1. I'm not entirely sure why that is. Here's what Apple says is new as it pertains to 2.1 and Applescript: "Extended AppleScript support. The "Reveal" verb in the AppleScript dictionary has been extended to include containers such as projects and albums.". Well I see one more addition to the dictionary: Import/Export of projects.
Here's a few simple scripts to help get you started with the new features found in 2.1:
I noticed right away the reveal verb has been updated more than just revealing containers (projects, folders, and albums) after looking at the 2.1 dictionary. The 2.0.1 reveal entry is very basic and you could only reveal a single image version at a time. The 2.1 dictionary states you need to place whatever you want to reveal in a list which got me thinking....does that mean I can reveal more than one object at once? Well as it applies to images, the answer is YES! For some reason the same isn't true for the containers (I realize you can't select more than one container in the GUI, but then why make it a list?).
tell application "Aperture"
tell library 1
tell project 1
reveal {image version 1, image version 10, image version 2}
--reveal {project 1, project 2}
--doesn't work although the dictionary gives an impression of a multiple container selection
end tell
end tell
end tell
Revealing a container is similar to revealing an image version: reveal {project 1}.
Exporting a project:
tell application "Finder"
set export_dir to (choose folder with prompt "Choose a folder to export into") as alias
end tell
tell application "Aperture"
set x to name of every project
choose from list x with prompt "Select a project"
set ap_proj to item 1 of result
set ap_proj to project ap_proj
export {ap_proj} to export_dir with consolidating images
end tell
I got caught by a stupid syntax mistake when exploring exporting projects. If you accidently leave off "images" from that last line, the script will run and the editor will ignore "consolidating" which will be treated as a variable. There are times when the editor will catch cases where a variable is used but no value is assigned to it and produces the appropriate error message. For whatever reason, the editor doesn't catch this particular case and I was trying and trying to figure out why my referenced images where not being consolidated on export. BEWARE!
And importing a project:
tell application "Finder"
set import_dir to (choose file with prompt "Choose a project to import") as alias
end tell
tell application "Aperture"
set x to name of every project
choose from list x with prompt "Select a project"
set ap_proj to item 1 of result
set ap_proj to project ap_proj
import {import_dir} into folder "blue folder1"
end tell
What's really nice with the way they implemented the ability to import projects is you can import a project into a particular location within the hierarchy within Aperture. For example, I have a blue folder named "blue folder1". I want to import a project so that it resides within that folder without any manual assistance. With 2.1, that can now be accomplished.
New Applescript commands in 2.0.1
Mar 03, 2008 @ 05:35 PM -
Aperture 2.0.1 was released earlier today.
I noticed Apple has added three new commands to Aperture's Applescript dictionary: duplicate, move, and reveal.
reveal
Looks like this command will "reveal" an image version found in the library. Why would you ever want to use such a command? Check out an example on Apple's Applescript page and you'll know. By the way, this is gotta be my favorite feature in the entire application because of the power and time savings it creates. That page also has a pretty good video demo of the feature; check out the page just to watch the demo.
Here's a sample script to get you started:
tell application "Aperture"
tell library 1
tell project 1
set image_count to count of every image version
repeat with i from 1 to image_count
reveal image version i
delay 1
end repeat
end tell
end tell
end tell
I placed the delay command in there so the script doesn't fly through all the image versions. You can change the amount it delays (in seconds) to fit your needs. And of course you can also reveal an image version by name.
duplicate
Although this command is basically already provided to Applescript, it now does something in Aperture. What? It allows you to duplicate an image version from one container to another. Say you need a copy of a master in project 1 as well as in project 2. Looks like it works copying versions to albums as well. Here's how you do it:
tell application "Aperture"
tell library 1
duplicate image version 1 of project "project1" to project "project2"
end tell
end tell
move
Similar to the duplicate command, this command will allow you to move an image version to another project. I don't believe it works moving to an album. That seems right as you can't move versions to albums, you must copy them to albums.
tell application "Aperture"
tell library 1
move image version 1 of project "project1" to project "project2"
end tell
end tell
I noticed Apple has added three new commands to Aperture's Applescript dictionary: duplicate, move, and reveal.
reveal
Looks like this command will "reveal" an image version found in the library. Why would you ever want to use such a command? Check out an example on Apple's Applescript page and you'll know. By the way, this is gotta be my favorite feature in the entire application because of the power and time savings it creates. That page also has a pretty good video demo of the feature; check out the page just to watch the demo.
Here's a sample script to get you started:
tell application "Aperture"
tell library 1
tell project 1
set image_count to count of every image version
repeat with i from 1 to image_count
reveal image version i
delay 1
end repeat
end tell
end tell
end tell
I placed the delay command in there so the script doesn't fly through all the image versions. You can change the amount it delays (in seconds) to fit your needs. And of course you can also reveal an image version by name.
duplicate
Although this command is basically already provided to Applescript, it now does something in Aperture. What? It allows you to duplicate an image version from one container to another. Say you need a copy of a master in project 1 as well as in project 2. Looks like it works copying versions to albums as well. Here's how you do it:
tell application "Aperture"
tell library 1
duplicate image version 1 of project "project1" to project "project2"
end tell
end tell
move
Similar to the duplicate command, this command will allow you to move an image version to another project. I don't believe it works moving to an album. That seems right as you can't move versions to albums, you must copy them to albums.
tell application "Aperture"
tell library 1
move image version 1 of project "project1" to project "project2"
end tell
end tell