Applescript to rename a selected file, appending the current date

rename with date.applescript

(*
Rename with Date 0.1

Copyright 2004 Mark Nottingham <[email protected]>

THIS SOFTWARE IS SUPPLIED WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, AND MAY BE
COPIED, MODIFIED OR DISTRIBUTED IN ANY WAY, AS LONG AS THIS NOTICE
AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP REMAIN.

*)

tell application "Finder"
	try
		set the source_folder to (folder of the front window) as text
	on error -- no open folder windows
		set the source_folder to (path to desktop folder) as text
	end try
	set these_items to the selection
end tell
repeat with i from 1 to the count of these_items
	set this_item to (item i of these_items) as alias
	set this_info to info for this_item
	set {file_name, file_ext} to splitExtension from the name of this_info
	set this_date to the modification date of this_info
	set formatted_date to (my dateFormat(this_date))
	set new_name to file_name & " (" & formatted_date & ")" & file_ext
	-- check to see if it's already there
	tell application "Finder"
		if (exists item (source_folder & new_name)) then
			display dialog new_name & " already exists."
		else
			set name of this_item to new_name
		end if
	end tell
end repeat


on dateFormat(theDate)
	set {year:y, day:d, time:t} to theDate
	copy theDate to b
	set b's month to January
	tell (y * 10000 + (b - 2500000 - theDate) div -2500000 * 100 + d) as string
		set date_string to text 1 thru 4 & "-" & text 5 thru 6 & "-" & text 7 thru 8
	end tell
	return date_string
end dateFormat

to splitExtension from file_name
	set dot to "."
	tell AppleScript
		set oT to text item delimiters
		set text item delimiters to dot
		if (count text items of file_name) > 1 then
			set out_name to (text items 1 through -2 of file_name) as string
			set ext to last text item of file_name
		else
			set out_name to file_name
			set ext to ""
		end if
		set text item delimiters to oT
		if ext is not "" then set ext to dot & ext
		return {out_name, ext}
	end tell
end splitExtension

I am currently using this script to do some revision control with CAD files using DraftSight. Is there a way to do this same thing but, from the script menu while in DraftSight itself. Instead of clicking save periodically I would like to click the script and have it time/date stamp the saves so I have a history of my work.

Hi!
I used your code to "synchronize" pictures (ab. 650) from various camera devices in my family (3 smartphones, 1 camera).
In order to get all pictures in a useful sequence I also had to add the time of day (hour, minute, seconds).

More problem I had is that our devices do NOT run correctly in regard to time – e.g. the camera "gains" about 2 minutes every month (here: +720 sec), my smartphone is hardly ever online and slow (-210 sec) ... so I added a "correction dialog" asking for a number (in seconds) to be subtracted or added to the "original" result.
(I had to find pictures taken at about the same time to get comparison values for these corrections.)

Here are my additions:
(* Time correction, in front of "tell application finder": *)
global plusMinus
set plusMinus to 0

(* Asking for value, put after "set the source_folder to (folder of the front window) as text" *)
set Corrections to display dialog "Insert number of seconds (also negative):" default answer "" buttons {"Okay"} default button 1
set plusMinus to text returned of Corrections as integer

The main calculation of course happens in "on dateFormat(theDate)":

(* Adding values for time of day, put after "set b's month to January" *)
set hou to (((t - plusMinus) / 3600) - ((t - plusMinus) / 3600 mod 1) as integer)
set min to ((((t - plusMinus) - hou * 3600) / 60) - (((t - plusMinus) - hou * 3600) / 60 mod 1) as integer)
set sec to (t mod 60)
if (hou < 10) then set hou to "0" & hou
if (min < 10) then set min to "0" & min
if (sec < 10) then set sec to "0" & sec
(* Change the "tell" part of "on dateFormat(theDate)" to: *)
set date_string to (text 1 thru 4 & text 5 thru 6 & text 7 thru 8 & "_" & hou & min & sec)

("mod 1" => "as integer" rounds values, sometimes up, sometimes down ...
"if (xxx < 10) ..." => get a leading zero: "180704" instead of "1874".)
Please be aware that I am not an IT professional – be lenient with any "stupid" algorithms ...

Last point:
one of our smartphones (or its transfer app) saved pictures with the "current" date – so I had to replace "modification date" in the above original code to "creation date" to get a valid result (I did NOT put this into another dialog).

I tried to run this as a service but nothing seems to be happening. Help.