script to print Mail.app messages

[willchernoff]

My rule is something along the lines of if subject contains "print" then print.

and lpr seems to be active (as in working) through the console.

My code is as follows:

on perform_mail_action(info)
	tell application "Mail"
		set selectedMessages to |SelectedMessages| of info
		repeat with eachMessage in selectedMessages
			set theEmail to (headers of eachMessage as text) & return & return ¬
				& (content of eachMessage as text)
			set theTextFile to open for access ":MailText" with write permission
			set theTempFile to (":MailText" as alias)
			write theEmail to theTextFile
			close access theTextFile
			do shell script "lpr /MailText"
			tell application "Finder"
				delete theTempFile
			end tell
		end repeat
	end tell
end perform_mail_action

[rusto]

further empirical testing:

comment out the lines

tell application "Finder"
       delete theTempFile
end tell

to see if the MailText file is even being created.

[willchernoff]

I'll try that this weekend... thanks and I'll keep you posted )

[hayne]

Read this Apple article about 'do shell script':
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn2002/tn2065.html

One of the most important things it tells you is that you should use full paths for any executables or files referred to in the script.

Thus you should use /usr/bin/lpr instead of just lpr.

The section "Dealing with Files" might also be useful - the 'POSIX path' and 'POSIX file' constructions are useful when going back & forth between AppleScript and UNIX shell scripts.

[rusto]

Good stuff to keep in mind when debugging, Hayne. Thanks!

[willchernoff]

Hmm... I posted the code exactly as stated under "success," but it still will not work. I also tried using full path names to lpr and I tried using my full printer name.

I also tried to comment out the lines that delete the temp file. When I ran the script again I couldn't find the temp file.

Possible reasons why this is not working:

1. I am using my airport base as a print station.
2. I am not using the default account that came on this ibook. I created a new one and then delete that one. I gave this account "addminister" privileges, so I assume my current account to be no different to the original account.


Thank again,
Will

[willchernoff]

ping

[darndog]

Wonderfull, just what I needed, needed some tweaking on my machine as I didn't get headers, I've reduced this info down to the sender, time, subject & content.

using terms from application "Mail"
	on perform_mail_action(info)
		tell application "Mail"
			set selectedMessages to |SelectedMessages| of info
			repeat with eachMessage in selectedMessages
				set theSender1 to the sender of eachMessage
				set theSender to "From: " & theSender1
				
				set theDate to the date received of eachMessage
				set dateReceived to "Received: " & theDate
				
				set theSubject1 to subject of eachMessage
				set theSubject to "Subject: " & theSubject1
				
				set theContents to the content of eachMessage
				
				set theEmail to theSender & return & dateReceived & return & theSubject & return & return & theContents
				
				set theTextFile to open for access ":MailText" with write permission
				set theTempFile to (":MailText" as alias)
				write theEmail to theTextFile
				close access theTextFile
				do shell script "lpr /MailText"
				tell application "Finder"
					delete theTempFile
				end tell
				
			end repeat
		end tell
	end perform_mail_action
end using terms from

[rusto]

Thanks for the update, I love to see a great old thread revived!

[SystemLord]

Thanks a buch for the scripts folks, bun none of the scripts work, the first one prints but only "?" is printed. The other one "the above" doest even print.

Anymore great ideas would be apprecited.

[darndog]

I don't actually use it myself, one of my clients wanted it, it did work correctly when posted, I'll check it out to see what's going wrong.

[darndog]

Still works for me, I would test lpr from your terminal to make sure that command operates, write a text file using textedit, (covert to plain text Format>Make plain text), save it in your home folder as test.txt, then type: lpr test.txt
in the terminal and hit return.
If that does not function try:
/usr/bin/lpr test.txt

Make sure your default printer is set to an available printer before running any of these commands.

[jamjon]

I'm having an issue with the print script and GPG. I've got GPG working in Mail, but when I use a auto print script I get the unencrypted source. Does anyone have script to decrypt and print?