Crash in 3.0.12 When Setting Spotlight Comment

Hi all,

3.0.12 crashes on me when I try to trigger an Automator Workflow that sets the Spotlight Comment according to the user input (i.e. checked the option "Show this action when the workflow runs" in Automator).

When running this workflow from a Hazel trigger I get the pop-up asking me for user input but pressing any key crashes the workflow. Note that Hazel is not crashing but some Automator sub-process. After the crash Hazel rules that don't rely on Automator work fine, rules that are relying on Automator trigger but get stuck on the Automator part of the workflow. I have to kill to Automator related processes in Activity Monitor to get things moving again.

The workflow was working fine prior to 3.0.12.

The reason for this workflow is that I want to rename a file according to a user input. I used set the Spotlight Comment accordingly and then let Hazel rename the file according to the Spotlight Comment. This is now broken.

If anybody has an idea how to fix this and/or workaround the bug I'd be very happy to hear it.

Additional observation: The same crash occurs if I try to trigger the "Rename Single Item" Automator Workflow - this seems to be a more general Automator-related issue with 3.0.12

Resolved it by replacing the Automator Workflow with an AppleScript I found on here that allows me to enter a new file name and use it within Hazel's standard rename action.

If you are still interested in fixing it with Automator, you should check the logs and post the Automator error here. Nothing has changed in Hazel w.r.t. Automator for some time now. Also, you may want to specify what OS version you are running.

Mr_Noodle wrote:If you are still interested in fixing it with Automator, you should check the logs and post the Automator error here. Nothing has changed in Hazel w.r.t. Automator for some time now. Also, you may want to specify what OS version you are running.

Thanks for the reply Mr. Noodle. I never looked backed after adapting the AppleScript [1]. Very powerful solution and it introduced me to ExportTokens.

Now, if I only could make real sense of AppleScript... Although I have plenty of experience working with Python, C, C++, Pearl and even VBA, AppleScripts syntax just drives me crazy.

[1] viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1445

It definitely takes getting used to. I consider it a language that's easy to read but hard to write (which is a bit like the opposite of Perl). In any case, search around the net as there are quite a few resources out there.

Dembo wrote:Resolved it by replacing the Automator Workflow with an AppleScript I found on here that allows me to enter a new file name and use it within Hazel's standard rename action.

I have a feeling that you're using this script? If so, since I wrote it I'll be happy to help you make some changes.

a_freyer wrote:I have a feeling that you're using this script? If so, since I wrote it I'll be happy to help you make some changes.

Absolutely! It's brilliant, thank you very much for showing us/me how to do these things. I am happy with what I figured out just by looking at your code and things are working very reliable for now. I just have the gut feeling that by truly understanding AppleScript so much more could be accomplished using the Hazel framework...