OSXFAQ Mac OS X Tip-of-the-Day  

This tip shows a neat way to launch a script or application at regular intervals by using iCal's alarm facility. For example, you might schedule a backup program to execute daily or weekly, perhaps during the night (so long as your Mac is left running). Here's how:

Create a new iCal event as usual (click and drag at the appropriate point on the main calendar window) and open the Info window by clicking the "i" button in the lower right corner.

Select "Run Script" from the alarm pop-up and two more lines appear from which you select the name of the script to run and a time at which to run the script:

Select "Other..." from the script pop-up and navigate to the desired script. Then select something appropriate, such as "On date", from the when pop-up. The selected script will now be launched just before the event is due.

The script must be an Apple Script. If you wish to run an application or a Unix script, simply write an AppleScript wrapper that launches the desired application or Unix script.

Here are two very simple AppleScript examples. The first launches a Unix shell script called 'test-script' in your home folder. The second launches a (fictitious) application called "Backup".

(I'm not an AppleScript expert, so excuse the simplistic examples.)

Enjoy! :- )

Tiger 10.4.3