Volumes (Disk Images) run with rules

Ok so I was wondering if the action "run rule on folder content" works with volumes / disk images.

Basically, I have rules for my download folder that unzip a zipped file, moves a dmg file to the /app folder then mounts it, moves an app to the /app folder.
My 'problem' though, is that mounting a disk image is not very useful if rules inside that can't be run automatically. I was wondering if once a disk is mounted, I could have hazel "go into" the volume the same way it can go into a folder, and run rules from there, so that my whole automation process is accelerated since I don't have to worry about moving or launching anything from a newly added disk image, hazel will do the same as it does in my downloads folder.

Thanks !

Edit: Although I think I may have found how to do this, I'm not sure how to differentiate an external hard drive from a disk image.

If your workflow can handle a re-name of each DMG the same name, then you should have no trouble adding that name from /Volumes/MyDMGName

I'm not sure how that is going to help, as the name of the dmg file does not affect the name of the volume.

Oh, obviously. Wasn't thinking when I posted that. haha

Well, another option would be to monitor the volumes folder for file sizes. This works for me:

Code: Select all: Name: IGNORE THE MAIN DRIVES if (all) of the following conditions are met for (current file or folder) size is 1 byte then ignore file Name: DIVE INTO SUBFOLDERS if (all) of the following conditions are met for (current file or folder) kind is folder then run rules on folder contents Name: COPY TO APPLICATIONS if (all) of the following conditions are met for (current file or folder) kind is Application then copy to /Applications

I tried filtering the drives with number of subfiles/folder and the size of the volume, that works for non empty hard drives, which should be enough for now.

I used dropbox installer as a test volume, and it passes the conditions to run the volume rules. I check inside, the dropbox app passes the condition to be moved to an app folder. But nothing happens, and hazel eventually returns an error. I took the logs from when it started to run the rules up until it ended. After the error, I tried ejecting the volume but it says that system preferences is still using it. I have to stop hazel to be able to eject the volume, unless no conditions match it

Code: Select all: 2012-04-23 06:24:30.859 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: Processing directories: ( "/Volumes" ) 2012-04-23 06:24:30.860 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: About to process directory /Volumes 2012-04-23 06:24:30.862 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: .DS_Store: File is hidden/invisible. Skipping. 2012-04-23 06:24:30.865 hazelworker[8627] [Error] Error during rule evaluation: Received error while trying to evaluate rule Volumes on file Dropbox Installer 2012-04-23 06:24:30.866 hazelworker[8627] Error while matching rule Volumes against file /Volumes/Dropbox Installer: Could not retrieve metadata for file: /Volumes/Dropbox Installer 2012-04-23 06:24:30.866 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: Tapping error retry sequence 2012-04-23 06:24:30.866 hazelworker[8627] ( 0 CoreFoundation 0x00007fff960a8fc6 __exceptionPreprocess + 198 1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff97617d5e objc_exception_throw + 43 2 hazelworker 0x0000000100019bc8 start + 99824 3 hazelworker 0x000000010001a26f start + 101527 4 hazelworker 0x00000001000190d7 start + 97023 5 Foundation 0x00007fff96f0df5d -[NSCustomPredicateOperator performPrimitiveOperationUsingObject:andObject:] + 46 6 Foundation 0x00007fff96ed5725 -[NSPredicateOperator performOperationUsingObject:andObject:] + 109 7 Foundation 0x00007fff96ed500c -[NSComparisonPredicate evaluateWithObject:substitutionVariables:] + 290 8 Foundation 0x00007fff96ed4abe -[NSPredicate evaluateWithObject:] + 18 9 hazelworker 0x0000000100036f41 start + 219497 10 hazelworker 0x0000000100036c46 start + 218734 11 hazelworker 0x000000010003bf04 start + 239916 12 hazelworker 0x00000001000363dd start + 216581 13 hazelworker 0x00000001000027a0 start + 4552 14 hazelworker 0x00000001000036d3 start + 8443 15 hazelworker 0x0000000100006562 start + 20362 16 hazelworker 0x000000010000160c start + 52 ) 2012-04-23 06:24:30.866 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes/Dropbox Installer and rule Volumes: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.866 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: displayExtension ==[cd] "pkg" negation: 0 result: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.866 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-23 06:24:30.866 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes/Dropbox Installer and rule Pkg Files: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.866 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: displayExtension ==[cd] "app" negation: 0 result: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.866 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-23 06:24:30.866 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Bail out: AND predicate 2012-04-23 06:24:30.866 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes/Dropbox Installer and rule Apps: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.867 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: displayExtension ==[cd] "zip" negation: 0 result: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.867 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-23 06:24:30.867 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Bail out: AND predicate 2012-04-23 06:24:30.867 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes/Dropbox Installer and rule Zip Files: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.867 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: displayExtension ==[cd] "dmg" negation: 0 result: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.867 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-23 06:24:30.867 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Bail out: AND predicate 2012-04-23 06:24:30.868 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes/Dropbox Installer and rule Dmg files: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.868 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: Dropbox Installer: Did not match any rules. 2012-04-23 06:24:30.896 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: typeObject isType: "hazelkind:Volume" negation: 0 result: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.897 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-23 06:24:30.897 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Bail out: AND predicate 2012-04-23 06:24:30.897 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes and rule Volumes: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.897 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: displayExtension ==[cd] "pkg" negation: 0 result: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.897 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-23 06:24:30.897 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes and rule Pkg Files: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.897 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: displayExtension ==[cd] "app" negation: 0 result: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.897 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-23 06:24:30.897 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Bail out: AND predicate 2012-04-23 06:24:30.897 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes and rule Apps: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.897 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: displayExtension ==[cd] "zip" negation: 0 result: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.898 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-23 06:24:30.898 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Bail out: AND predicate 2012-04-23 06:24:30.898 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes and rule Zip Files: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.898 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: displayExtension ==[cd] "dmg" negation: 0 result: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.898 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-23 06:24:30.898 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Bail out: AND predicate 2012-04-23 06:24:30.899 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes and rule Dmg files: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-23 06:24:30.899 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: Volumes: Did not match any rules. 2012-04-23 06:24:30.899 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: Writing out DB file: /Volumes 2012-04-23 06:24:30.970 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: Directory /Volumes processed. 2012-04-23 06:24:30.971 hazelworker[8627] Sending metrics to scheduler. Next scheduled run: 2012-04-23 06:29:30.865 2012-04-23 06:24:30.972 hazelworker[8627] DEBUG: Done

There seems to be an error in getting metadata from /Volumes/Dropbox Installer. You may want to restructure the rule so it doesn't request any Spotlight metadata from the folder.

Also, I'd like to point out that it's a bit dangerous to use the subfolders rule when monitoring Volumes (or even calculating size). Every file in your system is potentially underneath /Volumes so it can be extremely resource intensive. Use with care.

I tried mounting other volumes, none of them gave me a metadata error.

is the rule I use to check if it is an image file. I then check for either .app, .pkg or .zip extensions inside. Even though hazel seems to find the correct items, it doesn't act upon it and just leaves them as is.

Also, a friend plugged in his hard drive yesterday and after a while, I noticed all his movies got transferred to my computer. How is that possible? I don't check for movies other than in my downloads folder, and I make hazel send a notification every time it performs an action, which it didn't do.

Can't say about the movie files without seeing all your rules. Maybe you have some other software that does that.

As for your current rule, it's not clear to me what you are trying to do. The best I can do is interpret what you have which is this:

If the current item is a volume, not named Macintosh HD, not red, and not 1 byte (note that it can be higher or lower than 1 byte) and either has fewer than 6 items in it or is less than 3G,

then

Go into that folder and run rules on it and then color that folder red.

That seems a bit weird to me but if it what fits what you need, then so be it.

Again, without seeing your other rules, I can't say why it's not working. For cases like this, it's probably best to email support and send in your full ruleset as it takes forever trying to get things piecemeal via the forums.

Here are all my rules

A couple things here:

Your zip files rule is set to "all" which can't happen if you are matching against different extensions. That should probably be "any".

Also, in your Volumes rule, are you using the built-in "Kind" attribute or the Spotlight version? In the pop-up, is it in the top section or bottom section? If it's in the bottom section, try using the built-in Kind attribute instead.

Lastly, calculating the size of a whole volume can be costly. Something to keep in mind.

There is no hazel volume kind, I had to go into others and search for volume, so i'm guessing that it is not a built it kind ( I tried the disk image kind, the rule is not match. I tried the folder kind, the rule is matched but again hazel doesn't act upon it and I don't want hazel to start moving things in my apps folder when they are in the volumes)

But the thing is that the rules match, hazel just doesn't do anything after matching the volume rule. (I don't have the metadata error anymore)

Provide some logs, in particular, of anything about the Dropbox app. See if it matches the Apps rule there. Keep in mind that if it matched once and ran the actions already, it won't run the actions again.

it matches the rule, but the app is never moved to the application folder

Code: Select all: 2012-04-28 13:29:54.614 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: About to process directory /Volumes 2012-04-28 13:29:54.620 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: .DS_Store: File is hidden/invisible. Skipping. 2012-04-28 13:29:54.622 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: displayBasename ==[cd] "Macintosh HD" negation: 0 result: 0 2012-04-28 13:29:54.622 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-28 13:29:54.622 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Bail out: AND predicate 2012-04-28 13:29:54.623 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes/Dropbox Installer and rule Ignore Main: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-28 13:29:54.623 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: sizeObject ==[cd] 1 B negation: 0 result: 0 2012-04-28 13:29:54.623 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-28 13:29:54.623 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Bail out: AND predicate 2012-04-28 13:29:54.623 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes/Dropbox Installer and rule Ignore Alias: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-28 13:29:54.645 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: typeObject isType: "hazelkind:Volume" negation: 0 result: 1 2012-04-28 13:29:54.645 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-28 13:29:54.645 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: labelColor !=[cd] 1 negation: 0 result: 1 2012-04-28 13:29:54.645 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-28 13:29:54.646 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: subitemCount <[cd] 6 negation: 0 result: 1 2012-04-28 13:29:54.646 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-28 13:29:54.655 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: sizeObject <[cd] 5 GB negation: 0 result: 1 2012-04-28 13:29:54.655 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-28 13:29:54.656 hazelworker[4814] Dropbox Installer: Rule Volumes matched. 2012-04-28 13:29:54.656 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: New rule signature. Executing actions. Old signature: (null) New Signature:{typeObject isType: "hazelkind:Volume" AND labelColor !=[cd] 1 AND subitemCount <[cd] 6 AND sizeObject <[cd] 5 GB}:{(recurse:,{ })(notify:( "{file}", " Passes Volumes Restrictions" ),{ "Make Sticky" = 0; })(color:1,{ })} 2012-04-28 13:29:54.658 hazelworker[4814] Hazel Alert: Dropbox Installer Passes Volumes Restrictions 2012-04-28 13:29:54.658 hazelworker[4814] [Custom Message] Hazel Alert: Dropbox Installer Passes Volumes Restrictions 2012-04-28 13:29:54.659 hazelworker[4814] Could not set catalog info for path /Volumes/Dropbox Installer: -61 - write permissions error 2012-04-28 13:29:54.659 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: Caught error but not refiring. 2012-04-28 13:29:54.659 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes/Dropbox Installer and rule Volumes: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-28 13:29:54.660 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: displayBasename ==[cd] "Macintosh HD" negation: 0 result: 0 2012-04-28 13:29:54.660 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-28 13:29:54.660 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Bail out: AND predicate 2012-04-28 13:29:54.660 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes and rule Ignore Main: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-28 13:29:54.660 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Calculating fire time - predicate: sizeObject ==[cd] 1 B negation: 0 result: 1 2012-04-28 13:29:54.660 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Next fire time: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-28 13:29:54.660 hazelworker[4814] Volumes: Rule Ignore Alias matched. 2012-04-28 13:29:54.660 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: New rule signature. Executing actions. Old signature: (null) New Signature:{sizeObject ==[cd] 1 B}:{(ignore:,{ })} 2012-04-28 13:29:54.660 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: [PREDICTION] Predicted fire time for file: /Volumes and rule Ignore Alias: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 Should poll: 0 2012-04-28 13:29:54.660 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: Writing out DB file: /Volumes 2012-04-28 13:29:54.835 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: Directory /Volumes processed. 2012-04-28 13:29:54.837 hazelworker[4814] Sending metrics to scheduler. Next scheduled run: 5828963-12-20 08:00:00.000 2012-04-28 13:29:54.838 hazelworker[4814] DEBUG: Done 2012-04-28 13:30:01.528 (null)[0] DEBUG: Could not scan past browser.download.dir preference 2012-04-28 13:30:01.544 hazelworker[4822] DEBUG: Chrome preference file not found. 2012-04-28 13:30:01.546 hazelworker[4822] DEBUG: Initialized 2012-04-28 13:30:01.546 hazelworker[4822] DEBUG: Pausing to wait for things to settle down.

after reading the logs a couple of times, I realized that the problem is coming from the fact that hazel doesn't dive into the volumes to run rules.

The issue is that the Volumes rule is failing because you are trying to set the color label but you don't have write permissions to do so. You might want to look into removing that action.

this seems to be working for almost every case. Thanks!