Time Quitting Applications

The purpose of this project was to run handbrake and encode video from a dvd, and when it was complete, the program would quit and appear as if it was never open.

Step 1: Create an iCal event at the time you want, in my example I will use handbrake, handbrake to quit. Let's choose 3:00pm. Create a new event for 3:00pm and label it whatever you would like. Under URL, I used a fake URL and put in http://www.qwer.com. This will distinguish this event from others if you use iCal frequently.

Step 2: Download the automator action "quit application 1.0" from this website: http://files.macscripter.net/Automator/Finder-System/quit%20application.zip

Step 3: Load this automator action into Automator in Mac OS X and begin a workflow.

Step 4*: The first action will be an iCal item entitled, "Filter iCal items". Under "Filter" select Events, and under "Whose" select URL, and in the blank space enter the exact URL you entered for the event earlier.

Step 5*: The next action to put in your workflow will be also in iCal labeled "Delete iCal Events". As it states, this will delete the iCal event you created.

Step 6: The next action will be in Finder labeled "Quit Application". This is the action you just loaded into the app. Under the drop down box, select the program you wish to quit, in my example it would be handbrake. Under "Save changes", select NO.

Step 7*: You will then select "quit application" again underneath the one you just put in. This time in the drop down box, select iCal. Under "Save changes", it doesn't matter if you select YES or NO.

Step 8: In Automator, select "File" then "Save As", enter the name you would like, but instead of saving it as a workflow, it will be saved as an application. You can put in anywhere you like as long as you know where it is.

Step 9: Go back into iCal to the event you created with the URL, and under "alarm", select "Open File". In the drop down section right below where it says "Open File" change this to "other and locate this application from Automator you created. Set the alarm for something like 1 min before and it will open this file 1 min before the time the event is scheduled.

Step 10: You are done, leave iCal open and the other application, in this example Handbrake, and everything will be quitted out of and the event you created will never appear to exist. Enjoy!

*You don't need to do these steps if you don't want to. It just removes everything to appear as if this process was never created.