Target a specific subfolder

fruityth1ng wrote:Eagerly awaiting hazel 3

I hope it makes this sort of thing less complicated.

Take a peek at the beta forum, it looks like it might

Actually, I don't think version 3 will cover this case as it stands.

The conditions do have a new pop-up to specify against which file/folder to apply the conditions (but not the actions). You can select the current file (which is how it has worked until now) or you can select it to match any or all of the subfiles. This allows you to do something like color a folder green if any files underneath it have been modified in the last 5 minutes, or something like that.

Unfortunately, it doesn't go the opposite direction. I did (and will reconsider) add enclosing/parent folder to that pop-up. That way, you can have actions run on files based on attributes of the parent. This will cover your specific case but won't cover a case, say, where the file is two levels down from your "Android" folder. Handling all those types of cases can become a mess but if people are ok with just the parent folder, then I may consider adding that in.

I recall someone even wrote a script for something akin to it, but that just retargets the matching to the parent.
http://www.noodlesoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=135

I think the action I find so hard to describe & implement here might simply be: "Run just a *subset* of rules on (the children of) this file/folder" - does that sound useful? (I'm not saying it's easy to implement... but it sounds easy to use anyway

)

I think I'd use that for a bunch of things, not just my mobile ui-workflow.

Yes, the screenshots in the beta forum address what the parent-folder script did before. But it is different than what you want.

In the screenshots, you have a pop-up that allows you to apply the conditions underneath to any or all subfiles. But, the actions still work on the top level folder that is being matched. You can use this to color a parent folder a certain color based on the subfiles underneath it.

Ex: "If, for any subfile, date modified is after date last matched, color the current file (the parent folder) green"

What you want is for some files to be acted on based on conditions of the parent folder (it's the opposite direction). What is in the 3.0 version doesn't do that. What I suggested above was adding "parent folder" to that pop-up. That way, the conditions underneath that heading would apply to the parent folder while the actions apply to the file underneath it.

Ex: "If, for the parent folder, date modified is after date last matched, color the current file (the file underneath the parent folder) green"

In the first example, the parent folder is colored green if any subfile has been modified. In the second example (which doesn't exist yet but I am considering it), the file is color green if the parent folder has been modified, which is more in line with what you want.

As I said before, I'm considering adding this before I start the 3.0 beta. One issue is that it's not exactly the reverse of the first one. The first one will match subfiles any level deep from the folder being matched. In the second one, it only goes one level up from the file being matched. I'm not sure if this matters to people that would need this functionality but it's something I am pondering.

You'd make me a happy camper with that feature - I can't speak for others

That first one looks really useful too!

Thanks for all your time!