l i v e c o d e

stsCreateShortcut
Mac OS X Windows

Usage
stsCreateShortcut(origFilePath,aliasPath[,shortCutName])
put stsCreateShortcut(tPath,tAliasPath)
put stsCreateShortcut(tPath,specialFolderPath(35),"MyAlias")
Description
Creates an alias on Mac and Windows, getting around a bug in Rev where you can't create aliases to folders or disks (which includes OS X apps). Note: Creating aliases to network volumes on Mac OS X does not work. Note also that this code now no longer supports any non-OS X Mac System.

Code
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on stsCreateShortcut pOrigFilePath,pAliasLoc,pShortcutName
  -- Gets around a bug in Rev where you can't use 'create alias' on OS X bundles
  --
  -- pAliasLoc can either be a folder path, a file path, or a specialFolderPath name.
  -- If supplied as a folder (or SFP), pShortCutName is used to name the shortcut
  -- If supplied as a file, the shortcut name is the file name in the supplied path

  -- First, check pOrigFilePath to confirm its existence
  if (the platform is "MacOS") and char -4 to -1 of pOrigFilePath = ".app" then
    -- need to check for a folder by that name
    put (there is a folder pOrigFilePath) into tFound
    put "folder" into tType
  else
    put (there is a folder pOrigFilePath) into tFound
    if not(tFound) then
      put (there is a file pOrigFilePath) into tFound
      put "file" into tType
    else
      put "folder" into tType
    end if
  end if
  if not(tFound) then
    return "Error: Original file path at '" & pOrigFilePath & "' could not be found."
  end if
  if "/" is not in pAliasLoc then 
    -- assume it is a specialFolderPath name
    put specialFolderPath(pAliasLoc) into pAliasLoc
    if pAliasLoc="" then
      -- something wrong with the SFP name
      return "Error: Alias path at '" & pAliasLoc & "' could not be found."
    end if
  end if
  if pShortCutName <> "" then
    put pAliasLoc & "/" & pShortcutName into pAliasLoc
  end if
  set the itemDel to "/"
  put item 1 to -2 of pAliasLoc into tFolder
  put item -1 of pAliasLoc into pShortCutName
  if there is not a folder tFolder then
    return "Error: Folder for alias at '" & tFolder & "' could not be found."
  end if
  set the itemDel to ","

  switch (the platform)
  case "MacOS"  -- assumes OS X
    if tType = "folder" then
      put "ln -s" && quote & pOrigFilePath & quote && quote & pAliasLoc  & quote into tCmd
      get shell(tCmd)
    else
      create alias pAliasLoc to file pOrigFilePath
    end if
    break
  case "Win32"
    -- Works for files, folders, and disks
    if char -4 to -1 of pAliasLoc <> ".lnk" then put ".lnk" after pAliasLoc
    create alias pAliasLoc to file pOrigFilePath
    break
  end switch
  if "error" is not in the result then return ""
end stsCreateShortcut
Change History

Date Description
5/10/07
Changed to use 'ln' for aliasing; removed OS 9 support.
9/30/06
Initial posting


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