Certificate for Action(s)
Since a few days, some users might have a warning message displayed when launching Action(s):
or
This is due to the fact that our current certificate has expired and is currently being renewed. It will be updated in a few days and the message will not appear anymore.
In the meantime, we suggest useds to select the "Allow trust content from this publisher" option or the "Allow all applications from app.jbbres.com with this signature" option and click on the "Run" or "Allow" button.
Sorry for the inconvenience
Triggering workflow on folder events
Have a look at http://app.jbbres.com/forum/index.php?topic=236.msg430#new for the full article.
Action(s) 1.1.8 released
The update will download automatically next time you will start Action(s) from your desktop or by clicking on this the launch button below:
Action(s) 1.1.8 contains minor bug corrections. Find all the details regarding this release in the release notes page.
Action(s) 1.1.6 released
The update will download automatically next time you will start Action(s) from your desktop or by clicking on this the launch button below:
Action(s) 1.1.6 contains minor bug corrections. Find all the details regarding this release in the release notes page.
Mouse and Keyboard Pack updated
The update is recommended for all users using this pack.
Send a file via FTP and much more
redwarp has created a great collection of actions for Action(s), including some amazing feature such as:
- Send files via FTP. (yep, a lot of you have been waiting for this one since a very long time!)
- Convert a text into a QR code (you know, those square bar codes that you find a little bit everywhere now)
- Produce the MD5 hash of a file
So do not hesitate and go download this new collection!
And if you too you want to create your own actions, remember, it is very easy. Simply visit our More Actions webpage for more information.
New tutorial video: Using Variables in Action(s)
This video requires a more recent version of the Adobe Flash Player to display. Please update your version of the Adobe Flash Player.
New tutorial video: Creating Loops with Action(s)
This video requires a more recent version of the Adobe Flash Player to display. Please update your version of the Adobe Flash Player.
Action(s) is on Serbian TV
Interfejs is one of the most popular program on Serbian TV, with 400.000 viewers every week, so we are very proud that they decided to present our application in their show:
If, like me, you unfortunatelly do not understand Serbian, you can still discover the content of the article in English with Google Translate.
At app.jbbres.com, we found their introduction very interresting as it reflects exactly what we have been trying to achieve with Action(s):
If you ask customers what is the most important thing that has changed with the usage of computers, we believe that in many cases the answer will be: "Now it is possible to do many tasks and routines much faster and with more efficiently than before." A statement with which we entirely agree. Nevertheless, the degree of automation depends on the capabilities of your tools. If you have to perform a set of actions and steps, and nobody has ever written a program with such a purpose, you’re left with not some many solutions.
Action(s) 1.1.5 released
The update will download automatically next time you will start Action(s) from your desktop or by clicking on this the launch button below:
Action(s) 1.1.5 contains minor bug corrections. Find all the details regarding this release in the release notes page.
Action(s) 1.1.4 released
The update will download automatically next time you will start Action(s) from your desktop or by clicking on this the launch button below:
Action(s) 1.1.4 contains minor bug corrections. Find all the details regarding this release in the release notes page.
More Internet Actions
The Additional Internet Actions Pack offers a brain new action, Get icon URLs from Webpage, that allow you to download the favicons of a website. This action event manages the website icon for Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPad) if any.
Thanks to Enzyme for the idea.
Tips & Tricks: File Renaming and Date Format
Especially, using the add date mode, you can add a date to the file name using various date formats. By default, Rename Files provides 7 formats:
| Date and Time Format | Example |
|---|---|
dd MMMMM yyyy
| 29 March 2011
|
dd-MM-yy
| 29-03-11
|
MM-dd-yy
| 03-29-11
|
yyyyMMdd
| 20110329
|
dd-MM-yy hh.mm.ss
| 29-03-11 17.42.12
|
h.mm a
| 5.42 pm
|
hh.mm
| 17.42
|
But you can also create your own format if the ones provided does not answer your need. It is very easy. Action(s) interprets different letters as date and time codes and replaces them by their values. You can combine the codes to create your own format.
Here are the available iddentifiers:
| Code | Date or Time Component | Examples |
|---|---|---|
G
| Era designator | AD
|
yy
| Year (2 digits) | 96
|
yyyy
| Year (4 digits) | 1996
|
MM
| Month in year (2 digits) | 07
|
MMM
| Month in year (3 letters) | Jul
|
MMMM
| Month in year (full) | July
|
w
| Week in year | 27
|
W
| Week in month | 2
|
D
| Day in year | 189
|
d
| Day in month (1 or 2 digits) | 5 ; 23
|
dd
| Day in month (2 digits) | 05 ; 23
|
F
| Day of week in month | 2
|
EEE
| Day in week (3 letters) | Tue
|
EEEE
| Day in week (full) | Tuesday
|
a
| Am/pm marker | PM
|
H
| Hour in day (0-23) (1 or 2 digits) | 0 ; 14
|
HH
| Hour in day (0-23) (2 digits) | 00 ; 14
|
h
| Hour in am/pm (1-12) (1 or 2 digits) | 12 ; 3
|
hh
| Hour in am/pm (1-12) (2 digits) | 12 ; 03
|
k
| Hour in day (1-24) (1 or 2 digits) | 24 ; 3
|
kk
| Hour in day (1-24) (2 digits) | 24 ; 03
|
K
| Hour in am/pm (0-11) (1 or 2 digits) | 0 ; 11
|
K
| Hour in am/pm (0-11) (2 digits) | 00 ; 11
|
m
| Minute in hour (1 or 2 digits) | 30 ; 5
|
mm
| Minute in hour (2 digits) | 30 ; 05
|
s
| Second in minute (1 or 2 digits) | 55 ; 8
|
ss
| Second in minute (2 digits) | 55 ; 08
|
S
| Millisecond (1, 2 or 3 digits) | 978 ; 78 ; 9
|
SSS
| Millisecond (3 digits) | 978 ; 078 ; 009
|
zzz
| Time zone (short name if available or GMT based) | PST ; GMT-08:00
|
zzzz
| Time zone (full name if available or GMT based) | Pacific Standard Time ; GMT-08:00
|
Z
| Time zone (RFC 822 format) | -0800
|
Text can be quoted using single quotes (
') to avoid interpretation. '' (2 quotes) represents a single quote. All characters which are not letters (from
'A' to 'Z' and from 'a' to 'z') are not interpreted and so do not need to be put between quotes.The following examples show how date and time patterns are interpreted in the U.S. locale. The given date and time are 4 July 2001 at 12:08:56 local time in the U.S. Pacific Time time zone.
| Date and Time Format | Result |
|---|---|
yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss z
| 2001.07.04 AD at 12:08:56 PDT
|
EEE, MMM d, ''yy
| Wed, Jul 4, '01
|
h:mm a
| 12:08 PM
|
hh 'o''clock' a, zzzz
| 12 o'clock PM, Pacific Daylight Time
|
K:mm a, z
| 0:08 PM, PDT
|
yyyy.MMMM.dd GGG hh:mm aaa
| 2001.July.04 AD 12:08 PM
|
EEE, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z
| Wed, 4 Jul 2001 12:08:56 -0700
|
yyMMddHHmmssZ
| 010704120856-0700
|
Using Action(s) with your iPhone
Have a look, it will for sure give you some ideas!
iPhone and DropBox hack: WATCH and EXECUTE
http://enzyme-play.blogspot.com/2011/02/iphone-and-dropbox-hack-watch-and.html
Action(s) 1.1.3 released
The update will download automatically next time you will start Action(s) from your desktop or by clicking on this the launch button below:
Action(s) 1.1.3 contains minor bug corrections. Find all the details regarding this release in the release notes page.
You asked, we listened: Action(s) 1.1 available
The update will download automatically next time you will start Action(s) from your desktop or by clicking on this the launch button below:
You asked, we listened: Action(s) 1.1 contains next to a 100 new functionalities, improvements and bug corrections, including:
- 9 new actions to efficiently manage email messages. Compatible with Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Live Mail and more.
- 3 new actions to improve the dynamic of your workflows: Condition, Loop and Dispense items incrementally.
- Execute scripts within your workflow, using JavaScript or AppleScript*.
- Variable edition
- Improved security. Application signed with a 2048 bit certificate.
Find all the details of this new release at http://app.jbbres.com/actions/about/1.1/1.1.html
In the coming weeks, we will come with even more new stuffs, so stay tune!
*AppleScript requires Mac OS X.
Action(s) 1.1 Release Candidate available now!
Release Candidate (RC) refers to a version with potential to be a final product, ready to release unless fatal bugs emerge. In this stage of product stabilization, all product features have been designed, coded and tested through one or more beta cycles with no known showstopper-class bug.
Click on the Launch button to try Action(s) 1.1 release candidate:
So what’s new in version 1.1? Well, it contains next to a 100 new functionalities, improvements and bug corrections, including:
- 9 new actions to efficiently manage email messages. Compatible with Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Live Mail and more.
- 3 new actions to improve the dynamic of your workflows: Condition, Loop and Dispense items incrementally.
- Execute scripts within your workflow, using JavaScript or AppleScript*.
- Variable edition
- Improved security. Application signed with a 2048 bit certificate.
Find all the details of this new release at http://app.jbbres.com/actions/about/1.1/rn/rn.html
During the next two weeks, you will be able to try this new release, while we will be performing additional tests to ensure the quality before the official release of version 1.1.
More info at http://app.jbbres.com/actions/beta/beta.html
*AppleScript requires Mac OS X.
Help us to make Action(s) better
This is why we are opening today a donation program. Donations are used towards hosting costs for this website, licences and hardware, and also encourage further development! That way, you can donate if you think that Action(s) worth it.
You can do your donation via PayPal. To donate, click the button below and you will be directed to the Paypal site. Donations are taken in US$, but if you have an account in any other currency, PayPal will automatically convert the sum for you.
Thanks for your support and your help,
app.jbbres.com team
Convert to JPEG
If you are using Action(s) to work on your pictures you probably know that Action(s) is providing by default an action to change the type of image. It allows you to easily convert any picture, whatever its format is, to another format, including JPEG.
For most of us, this action is just what we need: easy to use and easy to configure. But if you are an advance user, you for sure have noticed that "Change the Type of Image" apply a default quality rate to the JPEG pictures it creates (usually 80%), and you might want to be able to define a quality rate that fit your needs.
The Convert to JPEG action is for you. It converts any picture into a JPEG file with the quality rate indicated. Download it right now from the More Actions webpage or by clicking on "Get more actions..." in the "Help" menu of Action(s).
A new video tutorial from Lifehacker.com
The excellent LifeHacker.com website has published a very well done tutorial of Action(s) today, with video demonstration and advises.
Read the article at: http://lifehacker.com/5669762/automate-just-about-anything-on-your-windows-pc-no-coding-required
Action(s) 1.0.1 released
the update will download automatically next time you will start Action(s) from your desktop or by clicking on this the launch button below:
Action(s) 1.0.1 release content:
- "Copy file" action: Now prevent from coping a folder into itself or one of its sub-folders. Prior to this release, Action(s) was generating an infinite number of sub-folders within the destination folder.
- "Get URL" action: Selected lines backgrounds were white instead of using the system colors.
- "Show notification in tray bar" action: Mac OS X - The notification windows is now using the system colors.
- Variable selection combo box: Selected lines backgrounds were white instead of using the system colors.
- Some actions were displaying an incorrect version number (1.1 instead of 1.0.1)
- "Split files" additional actions: An error message was displayed when adding one of the actions in the workflow. Users of the "Split files" additional actions can download the latest version at http://app.jbbres.com/actions/more
- Action(s) plug-in folder now support jar file as well as actc files
- New version of the Action(s) API (v1.0.1) available. Users of the API can download the latest version at http://app.jbbres.com/developers/libraries/actions/
FreewareGenuis pick
Action(s) has been selected freewaregenuis pick by the famous freewaregenuis.com blog. As we are reading this website since a long time at app.jbbres.com, and loving what these guys are doing, you can imagine that this has been a great surprise for all of us.
A few selected lines:
« The range of options that Actions supports, I will say, is truly impressive »
« What can this program do for you? Most anything you can think of. »
« Very user friendly and goes a long way towards making this application accessible and easy to learn »
« There’s no syntax to learn and no libraries or functions to deal with; the experience is closer to building a Lego than writing code. »
And my personal favorite 
: « I’ve been playing with this software for a couple of days and I just love it. The developers have done an astounding job making this software both powerful and accessible. »
Read the full article at http://www.freewaregenius.com/2010/10/13/actions-automate-all-kinds-of-tasks-via-drag-and-drop-without-writing-a-line-of-code.
Action(s) turns 1
First, Action(s) turns one this month. Even if most of you know Action(s) only since June (when we released the first public beta), we started working on Action(s) in September 2009. Already one year ago.
And the second one is the official release of Action(s) 1.0 today. From now on, no more beta! We are officially live!
If you were already using the beta or release candidate version of Action(s), the update will download automatically next time you will start Action(s) from your desktop or by clicking on this the launch button below:
A Video Introduction to Action(s)
This video requires a more recent version of the Adobe Flash Player to display. Please update your version of the Adobe Flash Player.
Last Stop before the Big 1
Anyway, we are publishing today a new version of Action(s). You will spot immediatly what this version brings:
Yep, you can now search the library of actions. That’s a very useful function, so we hope you will like it.
Plus, this version is tagged RC. This means that, except for major issue, this will be the last version before the final 1.0. We are very excited about that!
So, as always, the update will download automatically next time you will start Action(s) from your desktop or by clicking on this the launch button below:
Action(s) hits the top 5% rated on developer.com
Action(s) has beed rated 950 over a possible 1 000 points. The rating is divided in tree parts:
- Presentation: 350 over 400 possible points
- Function: 300 over 300 possible points
- Originality: 300 over 300 possible points
Find more information at http://jars.developer.com/utilities/other/resource.php/41601.
News collections of actions
- The first collection gives you control over the mouse and keyboard of the computer: the 9 actions included into this pack allows you to move the mouse over the screen, click a mouse button, press a combination of keys etc.
- The second one is a little action that might be a great help for HTML developers: it converts the received text into the ISO 8859-1 charset for HTML: with this action, no more problem of accents and special characters in your web pages!
Those great collections of actions are available in the More Actions webpage or by clicking on "Get more actions..." in the "Help" menu within Action(s).
A Little Update
Get More Actions
Action(s) provides a lot of built-in actions to work with files, images, Internet... but depending on what you want to do, this might not be enough. Fortunatly, Action(s) is also made to support additional actions, which means that anybody with some knowledge in computer programing can create new actions and add them into Action(s).
In order to help you find new actions, we have create a dedicated webpage where all extentions for Action(s) are available. You can access it by clicking on the "Get more actions..." menu in Action(s) or simply by following this link.
One on the webpage, simply download the new actions you are interrested in, open the actc file and and the new actions will be instantly available within Action(s). Et voila.
But wait, that’s not all: today we are providing the very first extention for Action(s). We named it Split Files because it’s a set of actions to split big files in smaller files. It is very usefull if you want to sent files via the Internet but have a size limitation. We’re sure you gonna love it! It is available in the Get more actions webpage.
If you are a developper and you want to know how to create your own actions, remember that everything you need - API, documentation, tutorial and much more - are available in the Resources for developpers webpage.
New Action(s) beta
During this time, we have been busy at app.jbbres.com to continue improve Action(s). We have listen to your feedbacks and have designed some new great functionalities to make workflow creation easier and safer. They are available right now in the new beta version we are releasing today. This update will download automatically next time you will launch Action(s).
Among all the new functionalities and bug corrections of this new beta version, there is one that we are very proud and that we would like to present you: in Action(s), you might have noticed that a lot of the actions need to receive input to work properly. For example, if you add an “Add Border to Image” action into your workflow, it requires to receive image files to work on, otherwise the action will have no effect.
Well now, if you add such an action at the beginning of your workflow, Action(s) knows that it will have no effect and suggests you to add a matching action in front of it.
Creating your workflow and automation has never been easier.
And more than ever, continue to send us your comments and feedbacks!
Introducing Action(s)
Action(s) lets you build workflows that accomplish manual chores quickly, efficiently, and effortlessly. You don’t have to know any scripting languages or write any code. Instead, you create and execute automation “workflows” simply by dragging and dropping each individual step of a process. It’s like creating a kitchen recipe.
We are very proud of our baby. Here are some of the great features that Action(s) offers:
- Easy-to-use interface: Action(s) comes with a library of dozens of actions that users can browse or search to find exactly what they need. Actions are dragged and dropped from the library to create workflows.
- Complete control: the pre-installed actions allow manipulation of files and folders, image cropping, scaling, conversion, and adjustment, command line execution, variable storage and access and much more.
- Extendable architecture: Developers can easily create and share their own actions.
- Re-usable: Display controls allow action parameters to be customized each time a workflow is executed; encapsulated flow design enables workflows to be used within other workflows.
- Portable: Java and XML format used by Action(s) ensure that workflows can be shared with others, whatever their operating system is.
Action(s) is available in English and French and is free.
Simply click on the launch button. Action(s) will download and start.
Action(s) 1.1.7 released
The update will download automatically next time you will start Action(s) from your desktop or by clicking on this the launch button below:
Action(s) 1.1.7 contains minor bug corrections. Find all the details regarding this release in the release notes page.