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Last active March 8, 2020 03:57
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Export spreadsheet to UTF8 CSV using Numbers 3.6 on a Mac with AppleScript
#! /usr/bin/osascript
(*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Script: SpreadsheetExportToCSV
Command-line tool to convert a spreadsheet document to CSV
This AppleScript is tested with and compatible with Apple iWork Numbers 3.6,
current as at October 23, 2015.
Parameters:
1. Full Path to the input file, including file extension
2. Full Path to the output file, including file extension
Example command-line invocation:
osascript SpreadsheetExportToCSV.scpt "/Users/me/Documents/MySpreadsheet.xlsx" "/Users/me/Documents/Converted/OutputFile.csv"
The spreadsheet to use as an input file can be an Excel file or a Numbers file.
Sohail A.
Blog: http://sohail.io
Twitter: @idStar
Creation Date: October 23, 2015
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*)
global _inputFilePathAlias
global _outputFilePath
global _requestedOptions
(*
run
This is our entry point, our main function, where this script
begins execution. We call out to helper functions, to modularize
the design.
*)
on run argv
-- Ensure our CSV files are encoding with UTF8:
ensureUTF8Encoding()
-- Parse and determine input/output paths:
retrieveCommandLineArguments(argv)
-- Perform the actual activation, file open, export and cleanup:
processSpreadsheet()
end run
---------------------- SUPPORTING FUNCTIONS --------------------------
(*
retrieveCommandLineArguments
Handles parsing the command line arguments passed to us.
We return a list, where the first element is the input file
path as an alias. The second element is the output path,
as text (as it may not yet exist).
*)
on retrieveCommandLineArguments(command_line_arguments)
set _inputFilePathAlias to POSIX file (item 1 of command_line_arguments) as alias
set _outputFilePath to (POSIX file (item 2 of command_line_arguments)) as text
log "input file path is: " & _inputFilePathAlias
log "output file path is: " & _outputFilePath
end retrieveCommandLineArguments
(*
processSpreadsheet
This function is the workhorse of this script. We open Numbers,
have it load the source spreadsheet, and invoke the export command
to ultimately write the output CSV to the specified path.
*)
on processSpreadsheet()
tell application "Numbers"
activate
-- Before we open the file asked of us, close out every document
-- that might have opened along with the application having activated:
close every window saving no
-- Retrieve information about the source file:
set fileInfo to (info for (_inputFilePathAlias))
set fileName to name of (fileInfo)
set fileExtension to name extension of (fileInfo)
log "Opening source document " & fileName & "..."
tell (open _inputFilePathAlias)
-- In this scope, we are now implicitly dealing with the document just opened
-- as the current target, which means we access it through the "it" keyword,
-- as per: https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/AppleScript/Conceptual/AppleScriptLangGuide/conceptual/ASLR_fundamentals.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40000983-CH218-SW4
set activeDocument to it
-- Note: We could have also gotten to the active document by walking the chain from the top,
-- i.e. right from the Application object:
--set activeDocument to document 1 of application "Numbers"
say "Starting Export."
with timeout of 600 seconds
export activeDocument as CSV to file _outputFilePath
-- Use this instead if you want to export to Excel:
-- export activeDocument as Microsoft Excel to file _outputFilePath
end timeout
say "Completed Export."
-- Since we closed out other windows that might have been open before
-- opening the file we sought, we really should only have one document
-- window open.
close activeDocument
end tell
quit
end tell
end processSpreadsheet
(*
ensureUTF8Encoding
Microsoft Excel on the Mac is not good with exporting special
characters as is Apple Numbers. Part of this is in the ability for
Numbers to correctly process UTF8 formatting when exporting.
Setup default export encoding for CSV files to UTF8, so without
specifying anything further for AppleScript, the right format will
be applied automatically. Since we cannot specify the CSV export
encoding via AppleScript, we will set it via the Defaults Database
with a shell command.
Here are the codes that apply: 4=UTF8, 12=windows latin, 30=MacRoman
As such, we'll specify 4 for UTF8.
This technique courtesy of: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4018778?tstart=0
*)
on ensureUTF8Encoding()
do shell script "/usr/bin/defaults write com.apple.iWork.Numbers CSVExportEncoding -int 4"
end ensureUTF8Encoding
@questulent
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Would this still run under El Capitan?

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