How to run something at Mac OS X by clicking on the desktop item

Question

I want to have a number of items on my desktop which will be used to launch some apps. E.g. launcher for MacVim with specific settings for each project. I don't know how does it name in Mac OS. I was tried to create executable .sh script but it opens Terminal, it is annoying. What is Mac way to do this?

Answer 1

AppleScript applet. You can use do shell script to wrap your shell commands in an AppleScript applet that you can double-click.

Answer 2

I'm not sure I understand what you mean, anyway you can try Automator.

Answer 3

Open Automator and create an Application with a single Run Shell Script action:

 open -a MacVim

If you want to pass command-line arguments, invoke like this:

 /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin -ProfileManager &

This application will launch Firefox and quit instantly (because of the trailing &), leaving only Firefox running. You can even pass arguments that way.

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Alternatively, create an application using AppleScript Editor with the following AppleScript code:

tell application "MacVim" to activate

This will simply launch the application. If you want to pass command line arguments, do it like this:

do shell script "open -a '/Users/danielbeck/Applications/Firefox.app' --args -ProfileManager"

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Both ways (Automator and AppleScript applications) work fine and don't keep either Terminal or a script application running for more than a second or so. Using Automator, you can even create a Service if you choose so.