Nice an all but what do you do if your dock is on the LEFT side of the screen?

edit the following lines:

set the bounds of this_window to {0, (monitor_height * 0.7) div 1, monitor_width, monitor_height}

set the bounds of this_window to {0, (monitor_height * 0.04) div 1, monitor_width, (monitor_height * 0.68) div 1}

to:

set the bounds of this_window to {100, (monitor_height * 0.7) div 1, monitor_width, monitor_height}

set the bounds of this_window to {100, (monitor_height * 0.04) div 1, monitor_width, (monitor_height * 0.68) div 1}

or whatever value (in pixels) you want in place of 0

Y

Nice piece of work! I gave it a hot-key using DragThing. I modified it to make space for (and activate) Drag Thing down the left-column and to close all existing Finder windows first. Now, with a press of a couple keys, DragThing comes forward, and my top window spans across and goes to my Home folder. Since I'm using the hack that removes the preview panel, my bottom window goes to my Temporary directory and leaves space for the Get Info window. The Get Info window moves to the bottom-right.

Ahhhhh...my screen is filled with DragThing, two Finder Windows, the Get Info Window, and the Dock. I've wasted too much time playing with this script, but your script was an inspiration. Thanks!

Care to share? Would love to see your revised script =)

Okay, here is my revised script. I didn't compile it as an application, but just
assigned it a hot-key. Using the script menubar item is also rather nice.
Here it is:

--FinderInit.scpt
--This script activates DragThing, opens two finely positioned Finder Windows, and opens the Info Window

--True Monitor size
property monitor_width : 1152
property monitor_height : 870
--Thicknes of titlebars (to prevent overlapping)
property menubar : 23
--Margins to make room for DragThing, Dock, Desktop items, etc
property leftmargin : 138
property rightmargin : 0
property topmargin : 0
property bottommargin : 54
--Height and width of the Info Window (will be placed to the right of the bottom window)
property infowidth : 280
property infoheight : 335


--Bring DragThing to the front (delete if you don't have it)
tell application "DragThing"
activate
end tell


tell application "Finder"
--set default directory (Notice that "home" represents your home directory)
set folder1 to home
--This is how you can refer to a subdirectory in your Home directory
set folder2 to ((home as string) & "Documents") as alias
--Use this if you'd prefer your bottom folder to go to root
--set folder2 to the startup disk

--clean up
activate
close every Finder window

-- BOTTOM WINDOW
set bot_window to make new Finder window
set the target of bot_window to folder2
--monitor origin is upper-left corner
--{left,top,right,bottom}
set the bounds of bot_window to {leftmargin, (monitor_height - infoheight - bottommargin),
(monitor_width - rightmargin - infowidth), (monitor_height - bottommargin)}
set the current view of bot_window to column view

-- TOP WINDOW
set top_window to make new Finder window
set the target of top_window to folder1
--monitor origin is upper-left corner
--{left,top,right,bottom}
set the bounds of top_window to {leftmargin, topmargin + (menubar * 2),
(monitor_width - rightmargin), (monitor_height - infoheight - bottommargin - menubar)}
set the current view of top_window to column view

-- INFO WINDOW
--Applescript currently can't set the position or bounds of the Info Window.
--Just move it to where you want it, close it, then open it. From then on, it will open in the proper place.
open information window of folder1
--set info_window to the information window
--set the position of info_window to {(monitor_width - rightmargin - infowidth), (monitor_height - infoheight - bottommargin)}

--Reactivate TOP WINDOW
select top_window
end tell

Great script!

Have you figured out how to tell the inspector to go to preview mode?

Your margin system is excellent.

I'm using a variation of your script now.

Cheers,

Y

This one just uses pixel numbers and is optimized for a 1024x768 screen with the dock at the bottom.

I have replaced the variables and functions to calculate window bounds with pixel values.

The bounds appear to be an array of the following values:

(left edge at # of pixels from left, top edge at # of pixels from top, right edge at # of pixels from left, bottom edge at # of pixels from bottom)

where the titlebar of the window is ignored.

Just change these numbers to change the window placement. Experiment for yourself until you get it the way you like it.

Cheers,

Y
___________________

set the startup_disk to (path to startup disk)

tell application "Finder"
activate
set visible of (every process whose visible is true and frontmost is false) to false
-- BOTTOM WINDOW
set this_window to make new Finder window
set the target of this_window to the startup_disk
set the bounds of this_window to {0, 400, 1024, 700}
set the current view of this_window to column view
-- TOP WINDOW
set this_window to make new Finder window
set the target of this_window to the startup_disk
set the bounds of this_window to {0, 46, 1024, 375}
set the current view of this_window to column view
end tell

Thanks for the modified script... I can follow that logic! I am interested in what the other script was actually doing however... if you can spare the time a brief explanation would probably help me understand it better. Your modified script is working great on my system here, and I like it's functionality a great deal. Excellent, thank you.

This is beautiful at 1280x1024 on my 17" LCD.. .Ahh... I can't believe folks still use Windoze. This is the greatest OS.

Hey, excellent script. I made some changes to have two windows open side-by-side. Here 's the script:

property monitor_width : 980
property monitor_height : 768

set the startup_disk to (path to startup disk)

tell application "Finder"
activate
set visible of (every process whose visible is true and frontmost is false) to false
-- BOTTOM WINDOW
set this_window to make new Finder window
set the target of this_window to the startup_disk
set the bounds of this_window to {60, 100, (monitor_width div 2), (monitor_height div 1.25)}
set the current view of this_window to column view
-- BOTTOM WINDOW
set this_window to make new Finder window
set the target of this_window to the startup_disk
set the bounds of this_window to {500, 100, (monitor_width div 1.03), (monitor_height div 1.25)}
set the current view of this_window to column view
end tell

BTW, a good program (cheap and powerful) to run timed applescripts is Alarm Clock SE. http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=12255&db=mac

Ciao!
---bkperry

great idea... i changed the script slightly too so you can adjust the offsets (make space for iTunes, etc). paste a nice icon onto it!

Anyone know how to bring both windows to the front but NOT hide all other apps?

--begin--

property monitor_width : 975
property monitor_height : 700
property vOffset_top : 70
property vOffset_bottom : 10
property hOffset_top : 5
property hOffset_bottom : 5

set the startup_disk to (path to startup disk)
tell application "Finder"
activate
set visible of (every process whose visible is true and frontmost is false) to false
-- BOTTOM WINDOW
set this_window to make new Finder window
set the target of this_window to the startup_disk
set the bounds of this_window to {0 + hOffset_bottom, ((monitor_height * 0.55) div 1 + vOffset_bottom), ¬
monitor_width, monitor_height}
set the current view of this_window to column view
--select this_window ; how can you bring to front?
-- TOP WINDOW
set this_window to make new Finder window
set the target of this_window to the startup_disk
set the bounds of this_window to {0 + hOffset_top, ((monitor_height * 0.06) div 1) + vOffset_top, ¬
monitor_width, (monitor_height * 0.53) div 1}
set the current view of this_window to column view
--select this_window
end tell

With Yuriwho's permission, I've revised this script, compiled it, added a cool icon (for use in toolbar or dock)* and posted it on my site:

<http://beam.to/woodenbrain>

It is built on James Sorenson's version, which allows for an info window and opening DragThing.

It has been substantially re-written, tho, to allow for very easy customization in the properties section of the script. It can be saved as an applet or a compiled script. See script & read me for details.

* icon taken from unknown source; please contact if it is yours & you want credit.