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macosbashscriptingosx-snow-leopard

How to smoothly make changes to Snow Leopard via bash script

I have a bash script that I run to toggle visibility for my desktop icons which is the following:

#!/bin/bash

DESKTOP=$(defaults read com.apple.finder "CreateDesktop")

if [ $DESKTOP == 1 ]
  then
    defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false
  else
    defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true
fi

killall Finder

it works, but there's 2 issues here I don't know how if it's possible to do using bash.

when running this script it It opens up terminal run the app and leave the terminal opened.

Is there any way to make this script run without have to open the terminal? I've found this link Making an executable bash file run when clicked which use Platypus as a wrapper for your script, but I would like to know if it's possible to do something natively without any extra tool :)

when running the script the killall Finder makes everything restart so the screen blinks and you lose the actual state of your windows

Is is possible to make only the desktop icons fade-in/out smoothly without affecting windows and other resources based on Finder?

this Camouflage app works like this, so basically I would like to know if it's possible to replicate this behavior using bash script.

Well that's it, I hope it's easy to understand. You could say that I could use this camouflage app for my needs but actually I'm trying to learn a bit about it and trying to do it myself (and obviously, with your help :)

Thanks in advance

Update

I was having a look at the second issue and I'm not sure but it seems that app in question doesn't hide the icons from destkop but instead, it creates an overlay between the most front level on the desktop(that is over the icons) and generate an image which is the same used as a desktop image. hence the fading effect, since it can control the image transition when appearing. what helped me analyze this was since every time you close the app the icons appear back. So it must have something do to with it. If I am wrong the it's really possible to do other way, please share your opinion :)

Solution

  • Not sure about a solution for your second question, but for the first: take a look at the third answer for the StackOverflow question you linked to:

    Making an executable bash file run when clicked

    You can create an application bundle with AppleScript Editor or Automator that will run your script without opening a Terminal window.