How to access the "comment" property of a file?

[sritcp]

I need to access the "comment" field of a file from within LC.
(This is the field that is displayed when you hit Command-I to display the information panel of a file -- where you can type in descriptive information).
Is there a simple way to read in / write out to this file property?
I know very little about working with OS elements, so please provide an example.

Thank you for any help,
Sri

[Klaus]

Hi Sri,

you can use MDLS with SHELL to get these "Finder" infos.
For the comment use something like htis:

Code: Select all

on mouseUp
   answer file "What Finder comment shall I display?"
   put it into tFile
   put shell("mdls -name kMDItemFinderComment" && QUOTE & tFile & QUOTE)
end mouseUp

Run this code and see what it will return.
Very easy to parse the result!

Try this to see what other infos the MDLS shell command can return about a file:

Code: Select all

on mouseUp
   answer file "sdsdsd"
   put it into tFile
   put shell("mdls" && QUOTE & tFile & QUOTE)
end mouseUp

Best

Klaus

[sritcp]

Hi Klaus:

Thank you so much!
Your code worked (as it always does!).

Now, how would I save an edited "comment" back into the file data?

Thanks,
Sri

[[-hh]]

Yet another option is to use applescript, works here (tested) in LC 6/7/8.

Code: Select all

-- Use Finder's "Get info" box in MacOS
-- Get and set "Comments" via applescript

on setComment fPath,fComment
  do "tell application " & qq("Finder") &cr& \
        "set fn to POSIX file " & qq(fPath) &cr& \
        "set comment of (fn as alias) to " & qq(fComment) &cr& \
        "end tell" as applescript
end setComment

function getComment fPath
  do "tell application " & qq("Finder") &cr& \
        "set fn to POSIX file " & qq(fPath) &cr& \
        "set finfo to comment of (fn as alias)" &cr& \
        "end tell" as applescript
  return the result
end getComment

-- usage example
on mouseUp
  answer file "Give me a path."
  if it is empty then exit mouseUp
  put it into fPath
  -- use \n instead of cr
  put (the internet date) & "\nThe matrix has you." into fComment
  setComment fPath,fComment
  put getComment(fPath) into rslt
  put "FILE = " & qq(fPath) &cr& "COMMENT = " & rslt into fld "info"
end mouseUp

function qq strng
  return quote&strng&quote
end qq

[sritcp]

Thank you so much, Hermann!
I apologize for the delay in acknowledging your post.
I was out of circulation for a while.
Just today I was able to run your code and check it out. Just what I needed!

Regards,
Sri