I want to make an icon in my Dock that sets my screen res to 1280x800. Time for me to give Automator a try?<br><br>But the record ("Watch Me Do") button seems to be entirely useless. Sometimes you hit play and it will do what you said... and sometimes it will do some entirely other thing or generate an error. And that's for really simple stuff, like:<br><br>1. Preferences is already running--just click it in the Dock.<br><br>2. Click View > Displays.<br><br>But half the time it clicks the Window menu instead of View. Or clicks out in empty space somewhere. Then again, every now and then it works. I tried a bunch of other simple tests, and never got ANY action to work with the record button. A useless feature then?<br><br>Any other ideas for how I can set my screen res with Automator?<br><br>I suspect I'll just head back to AppleScript, but I'd like to learn the "new" stuff. (And I don't think AppleScript can do it anyway--without 3rd-party system additions I'd rather not install.)<br><br>TIA.<br><br>nagr[color:red]o</font color=red>mme<br><br>I require stroyent!<br>TeamMacOSX.com | MacClan.net

There's no script access to many parts of System Preferences. But if you did want to install something useful (to save time), there's:<br><br>http://scriptbuilders.net/files/cscreen1.0.html<br><br>- padmavyuha <br><br>[color:purple]A lopsided man runs best along the little side-hills of success<br>- Frank Moore Colby</font color=purple>

Thanks. I tend to avoid 3rd-party stuff and sudo (not a command line fan) but it's worth considering.<br><br>For now I've gotten Automator to change the resolution about 9 times out of 10 which may have to be good enough!<br><br>nagr[color:red]o</font color=red>mme<br><br>I require stroyent!<br>TeamMacOSX.com | MacClan.net

<br>I tried to use AppleScript years ago ... for a very similar task, namely, arranging desk top icons still under OS9.<br>Sometimes it would do it, others not, and instead of wondering whether this would be the one time .... well, too finicky for me.<br><br>The other problem I found was that tasks, which really were click-intensive, often involved non-Apple apps, and those wouldn't work anyway. So, I gave up.<br><br><br><br><br><br>

Instead of going through system prefs to record the action, try having the displays menu bar item set to show. Then start recording with Automator. Simply move to the menubar item and select the resolution, and hit stop recording. Save as an app, and you should be done.<br><br>I tried it on my MBP and it worked all five times that I tried it.<br><br>

That's what I tried first. It didn't work ANY of the times I tried it. It would click the displays icon, but wouldn't click the item contained within.<br><br>Other things that didn't work (except sometimes):<br><br>* Launching Preferences and clicking the Displays icon<br><br>* Launching Preferences and choosing Displays from the View menu. (It would consistently try to click in some menu OTHER than the one I recorded.)<br><br>What DID work... most of the time... is launching Preferences, clicking Show All first, and THEN clicking Displays.<br><br>But then we get into choosing the res from the list. Turns out that's no problem if you're choosing one of the first (lowest) sizes. But to change it back at the end required scrolling down to see 1920x1280. Scroll actions would be recorded, and shown in the list, but would not actually execute, and the res change would not happen.<br><br>So I thought I'd try keystrokes: type a 1 then a 9. That works.... but only if you manually scroll down to make it visible first. Only you can't scroll.<br><br>But this worked:<br><br>First click the res it's already set to (harmless, and gives the list focus). Now type 1 and 9.<br><br>That usually works. It also does an awkward double-resize: as soon as the 1 is processed it sets the screen even smaller (1024x768), and then when you hit the 9 it changes again, to the desired 1920x1280.<br><br>I'm letting well enough alone now, but I don't think I would have let that Record function out of the labs if it doesn't even work with basic OS and system apps.<br><br>Anyway, what I've got now (which usually works, although somewhat slowly and awkwardly) is an app in my dock that I can click when I use Jaadu on my phone. It drops the res (conducive to VNC) and also pauses Folding@Home (which is NOT conducive to VNC) and throws up a "Continue" button. When I'm done with my session I click that, Folding resumes, and my res goes back to full. Saves me a lot of steps.<br><br>nagr[color:red]o</font color=red>mme<br><br>I require stroyent!<br>TeamMacOSX.com | MacClan.net