[wellylug] AppleScripting

[Gordon Paynter]

Warning: completely off-topic advice follows.

> >Does anyone know anything about AppleScripting.
> >
> >I need to write a script that copies contents of certain folders to a
> >external firewire/usb drive.

Assuming you're using a version of MacOS X that supports AppleScript Recording 
(e.g. version 10.3, or version <= 8, not sure about others) the best way for 
you to write this script is probably to go to the "Script Editor" program (on 
MacOS X 10.3, it is in Applications/AppleScript), then press the "Record" 
button, then go to the Finder and perform the actions that you want your 
script to do by hand, then go back to the Script editor and press the "Stop 
Recording" button.  

The script will appear in the editor window.  You can edit it by hand to 
remove any mistakes you made and clean it up. Once you see the syntax, it is 
pretty trivial to figure out how to edit it. If you need more complexity that 
that (e.g. variables) then you should probably RTFM.

If you have other questions, mail me off-list.  I haven't used AppleScript 
since MacOS 8 though.

Gordon