What is the use of the Apple Services?

On the menu bar of each application for Mac OS X have a common point of Apple Services. He was seen everything, but I do not think that many of them enjoy. Services allow you to perform tasks in a variety of applications while working in another program. For example, working in TexEdit, you can highlight a word and selecting the menu any action service: find the definition in the Glossary as found at Google, send selected text via e-mail, create task, etc.

To "Snow Leopard" work with "services" had no desire: it seemed that to distribute the commands that normal users never need (such as "Convert the selected piece of text to Simplified Chinese in China traditional"). That all changed with the release of Mac OS X 10.6.

The Cupertino realized that people rarely work with the Services because of their complexity and confusion, so this component Snow Leopard has been thoroughly reworked. The main change - that's what Apple Services have learned to take into account context tasks. Instead, to show the user

everything possible commands, we show only those that can really be necessary. Those. for the selected video file it will be a list of services for audio - another for text files - third.

A list of services is not closed, users can write their own services. Adequate opportunity to be found by calling the Automator and select the flow (workflow) Service. Moreover, there are sites where you can download a ready-made collection service. The most famous of these resources - is a site Mac OS X Automation. Here you can find services to work with the Finder, use UNIX capabilities, transcode audio files from the AIFF, WAVE, Sound Designer II format, understood iTunes (ACC), and others. Installation services is usually limited to a room of the downloaded file in the folder ~ / Library / Services /, although some authors make it difficult, creating "installers".

To be continued.

Related Links:

• A set of ready-made services created using ThisService
• Useful service copy as plain text, with which you can repins text without formatting
• "Cartographic" service MappingService