Is it possible to automate anything?

What i mean by this is like how Photoshop actions work, you click record and it records every button you click, changes you make etc so when you open up a bunch of files you can hit play and it does it to them all.

Is there a way to do this with basically anything on a Mac? Not specific to any programs just records what you are are doing, so for instance yesterday i had to save frames from a video which meant using a shortcut to bring up export frame, click save, close window, shift right once using the right arrow key and repeat, originally this needed to be repeated 350 times which would have been extremely tedious so i was wondering if there is such a thing that could record these actions and then hit play to initiate a cycle of a set amount of times?

iWheeler said:

so i was wondering if there is such a thing that could record these actions and then hit play to initiate a cycle of a set amount of times?

Click to expand...

I think you should try Automator:
Automator for Mac OS X: Tutorial and Examples - Ray Wenderlich

I've had a look at automator before and it's basically presets though as in its a list of things to choose from that you can automate, you can customise them to a certain extent but it couldn't do what i mentioned about saving frames from a video.

What i would like is the ability to automate any set of commands so you'd hit record and whatever you do on screen from then will be recorded until you hit stop, rather than having to build an automation like you do in automator, Photoshop does it pretty much exact how i mean, it records every button you click and changes you make then you can batch automate those commands on a bunch of files.

Well, I admit I haven't done this -
but I think Quartz Composer is capable of doing what you want (or, maybe together with Automator).
Quartz Composer is part of Apple's Xcode install.
http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2006/03/23/quartz-composer.html

Sorry i'm a little confused, i looked at the link but it's just talking about using Quartz Composer to create animation?

Keyboard Maestro is easily your best bet.
Keyboard Maestro 6.4.8: Work Faster with Macros for Mac OS X

Automator has a function called "Watch Me Do" which is supposed to record a series of steps and allow you to replicate them. I say supposed to because it often has difficulty completing a task due to small changes. If, for example you record a task which requires clicking an option in a dialog moving the dialog slightly when the actions are run can cause the macro to break down.

Slydude said:

Automator has a function called "Watch Me Do" which is supposed to record a series of steps and allow you to replicate them. I say supposed to because it often has difficulty completing a task due to small changes. If, for example you record a task which requires clicking an option in a dialog moving the dialog slightly when the actions are run can cause the macro to break down.

Click to expand...

Yes this is the kind of thing i want, i will give it a try but it doesn't sound like the most ideal solution if there's a fine margin for error. Are there tutorials on this?

iWheeler said:

Yes this is the kind of thing i want, i will give it a try but it doesn't sound like the most ideal solution if there's a fine margin for error. Are there tutorials on this?

Click to expand...

There are a number of websites dealing with Automator although some of them are devoted to the early releases of the program. There are also a number of Automator-related podcasts though I have not looked at them in quite some time.

Were you interested in Automator info in general or information specific to the Watch Me Do command?

BTW Here's a link to Ben Waldie's Mac Automaton Made Simple podcasts which generally contain a wealth of good information.

iWheeler said:

Yes this is the kind of thing i want, i will give it a try but it doesn't sound like the most ideal solution if there's a fine margin for error. Are there tutorials on this?

Click to expand...

If your task can be done completely using keyboard navigation, then you can avoid any concerns over a margin of error by taking mouse clicking out of the equation here. Most dialogue boxes in particular can be be controlled by keyboard if you have the keyboard preferences set to "All Controls". If this is the case, then using the screen recording feature is less than ideal. You'd instead want to set up your Automator action to pass the keyboard commands necessary to complete one full run of the action, then set a "repeat" x however many times you need it to run. It's easy to do once you fully understand how Automator works. It's really one of OS X's little gems that few people take advantage of.

Thanks Slydude i'll check that out.

Oh right i didn't know that, one task the other required a mouse click to close the dialog box as i could find and shortcut to close it. Looks like i need to dig into Automator some more to really understand it!

One of the nice things about Automator is that it behaves somewhat like glue. It can take actions/commands from any of the languages that the Mac understands or programs you have actions for to build increasingly complex tasks. Here's an example from a project I built several years ago.

Note: I don't recommend spending time trying to build this specific project. t breaks down under the newer OS versions because the behavior of one or two actions has changed.

oh wow that's pretty cool, looking more and more like a tool i need to get my head around.

I was using it a lot more at one point than I am now. The number of new add on actions seems to have slowed somewhat over the years. There are several other articles in that archive with some articles describing things I've done with Automator. Some of them should still work.

BTW I neglected to mention earlier that the Macworld.com site has quite a bit of Automator info and periodically runs examples of what chan be done with it. There info is more current than any of the stuff that I have written.