Opening command line apps with GUI programs

[davidbrit2]

I've almost found a way to have GUI programs call command line programs. If you open the terminal, and type

open -a /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app /bin/ls

then /bin/ls will be opened using Terminal.app. Since it's an executable, it will create a new window and run it. So if we make an AppleScript that tells Terminal.app to open the executable, it should run the program. I've still got a couple problems, though. First, I can't figure out how to tell Terminal.app what size to create the new window. Second, I'm not an AppleScript master, and I'm having problems telling Terminal.app what file to run. Does anyone else know how to do either of these? It would be nice to have some command line apps assigned as internet file helpers.

 

[rharder]

The lack of control over the Terminal is frustrating.

Somebody wrote some AppleScript extensions for calling command line programs from a script. They're great, but I don't remember where I got them. Anyone know?

-Rob

 

[davidbrit2]

In theory, we should be able to tell the Finder "open this with this other thing." I lost interest in fumbling my way through it, since I don't have any good AppleScript books. But that still leaves the issue of changing the size.