AppleScript experts , move along ; there ’s nothing to see here . Please come back Monday for the next exciting installment of Mac Gems .
OK , now that the AppleScript geeks are blend , I can tell you about CocoaApp’sDockables 1.0.5 (; destitute ) , one of the simplest gem I ’ve cover . Dockables is just a set of one - trick - jigger applications , each of which performs a simple job . In fact , each program is , at its sum , a introductory AppleScript , so anyone with enough AppleScript knowledge could make a similar set of apps on their own . What makes Dockables interesting is how the developer has box them — and how you could take advantage of them .
Here are the apps include in Dockables :
Three full sets of Dockables are included , each with a dissimilar theme ( a set of icons ): Midnight ( the nonpayment black - and - white-hot appearance ) , Colour , and Tangerine . The three sets are otherwise indistinguishable ; you just use the set with the appearance you prefer .
give that all of these actions can be do using simple card commands or black eye clicks , you may enquire what makes Dockables useful . The answer is that they bring home the bacon quick approach to their actions from anywhere you could launch an program . Here are some example of ways to use Dockables :
If you take to put Dockables in your Dock , the developer includes several DockSnaps — optical dividers that you may contribute to the program side of your Dock to aid with organization ( perpendicular divider if your Dock is horizontal , and horizontal single if your Dock is upright ) . If you ’ve ever tried to add a document or folder to the app side of the Dock — the left side on a horizontal Dock , or the bottom of a vertical Dock — you know that it does n’t work . So DockSnaps are actually tiny program with divider - like icons .
Dockables are so simple that there ’s not much to criticise . However , I did have one issue and a span complaints . The issue is that I occasionally saw a “ connection invalid ” content when I launch a Dockable ; launching it again loosely work fine . The first ailment is that , as you may have noticed above when I described each Dockable , several piece of work a bit differently than you might have a bun in the oven ; it would be nice if the developer offered the user a alternative on how each worked , either via a dialog when the Dockable is launch , or by providing a separate Dockable for alternate behavior . ( For instance , when using the Eject Dockable , it would be nice to see an options duologue call for if you want to just eject your optical drive or to unmount all removable volume . )
The 2nd complaint is that the developer deal out Dockables as a Mac OS X Installer package , which mean you have to run Installer — and even provide an admin - lever username and parole . This is n’t necessary , and it clear set up such wide-eyed software program more complicated than it needs to be . The developer could have provided a Mac OS X disk double containing the folder of Dockables ; you could simply drag that folder to your laborious drive .
As I pointed out earlier , anyone who make love some AppleScript — and I encourage you to learn if you have the prison term , as it ’s a useful technology — could make similar apps on their own . But for those who have no desire to be scripters , Dockables is a slick , free package that makes accessing — and automating — these actions convenient .
