Be more detailed in the File and Folder section

[jxa-cookbook]

Be more detailed in the File and Folder section

[Ontonator]

You can call openForAccess using the current application with standard additions, like so:

var app = Application.currentApplication();
app.includeStandardAdditions = true;
app.openForAccess(Path("/path/to/file"));

I'm a bit late, but someone may find this later like I did.

[Tatsh]

It is true. A lot of weird stuff has to go through System Events rather than their direct objects. This also affects processes as I documented here: https://github.com/dtinth/JXA-Cookbook/wiki/System-Events#clicking-menu-items (where you cannot get menu items through Application('name of app') but you must go through SE).

I guess you are looking for something like basename(). I think there is no good short-cut right now, so you would have to make a function for yourself. You can even add it to Path prototype.

The Objective-C bridge way:

ObjC.import('Foundation');
var fm = $.NSFileManager.defaultManager;
var basename = function (fullpath) {
    return ObjC.unwrap(fm.displayNameAtPath(fullpath));
};

Or attach the SE version to Path() prototype:

Path.prototype.name = function () { return Application('System Events').aliases.byName(this.toString()).name(); };

I have not figured out if we can import the actual C function. That would be libgen but that fails to import. The things you can import are at /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/JavaScriptAppleEvents.framework/Versions/A/Resources/BridgeSupportCache. If a framework defines $.basename() I would like to know (it would have to define basename() in C).

Alternative function with toString(), split('/'), and pop():

var basename = function (s) { return Path(s).toString().split('/').pop(); }

>> basename('/Applications/Xcode.app')
=> "Xcode.app"

How you call openForAccess I have no idea:

>> f = Application('Finder')
=> Application("Finder")
>> f.includeStandardAdditions = true
=> true
>> ref = f.openForAccess(Path('/Users/tatsh/Downloads/xcode_6.dmg'))
!! Error on line 1: Error: A privilege violation occurred.
>> ref = f.openForAccess(Path('/Users/tatsh/Downloads/xcode_6.dmg'), {writePermission: false})
!! Error on line 1: Error: A privilege violation occurred.

[Tekl]

Thanks for you detailed answer.

The pop() trick is nice, so I don't have to use Path() and just use the string.

'/path/to/file'.split('/').pop()

I don't understand what Path() is for. It has no properties.

[Tatsh]

Seems to be there for some kind of internal mechanism that AppleScript layer uses. Old code would be: set ref to (path to '/Users/tatsh/somefile.txt') and you would have to use ref with the open function:

tell application "TextEdit"
    set ref to (path to "/Users/tatsh/somefile.txt")
    open ref
end tell

You could not just pass the string.

[dtinth]

Hello,

Thanks for your comments and contributions. I've never accessed files in my script; just through Finder so far, so I didn't have much need for that. That's why I did not cover about them.

I agree that file manipulation should be elaborated more. In fact, I think it even needs its own section, given the amount of multiple ways of doing things. I'll put that on my todo list.

About generic methods, I've never used "byName" in favor of ['name'] notation. I agree that it is worth mentioning briefly (better link to relevant docs to keep it small and simple).

[criztiano]

I tried using @Ontonator 's solution with QuickTime but still getting the same error posted by @Tatsh:

A privilege violation occurred.

Any idea of why this might happen?
(not posting the code as it's identical, just targeting QT instead of current app)

[Ontonator]

I'm not sure why that's happening (although it is happening to me as well). It does seem to happen for other applications as well, and doesn't seem to happen for all commands (displayDialog, for example, seems to work fine).

Not that this is a solution, but would it still work if you accessed the file through Application.currentApplication() instead of QuickTime?

[criztiano]

@Ontonator strangely, it actually works this way... 🤔

[JMichaelTX]

I just posted a file related question here, before I discovered this issue thread.
#8 (comment)

Just in case someone would like a challenge, here's one that has stumped all JXA experts so far.
What is the JXA equivalent of this AppleScript?

tell application "Finder"
set itemList to (selection as alias list)
end tell