Big Cat Frequently Asked Questions
The Scripts menu shows up, but there are no scripts in it. What’s going wrong?
I get no Scripts menu at all. Why?
How come the Scripts menu shows up only in certain apps?
Why don’t my shell scripts run?
How can I see output from my shell scripts?
Can you help me figure out what’s wrong with my script?
Where can I find more Big Cat scripts?
The Scripts menu shows up, but there are no scripts in it. What’s going wrong?
One possibility is that it can’t find your scripts. Make sure they’re in the right place. They should be at ~/Library/Application Support/Big Cat Scripts/. There should be a Text folder and a Files folder. Each of those two folders should contain one or more scripts.
Note that the ~ in ~/Library/Application Support/Big Cat Scripts/ is Unix shorthand for your home folder. If your username is johndoe, then your home folder is at /Users/johndoe/, and your Big Cat Scripts folder is at /Users/johndoe/Library/Application Support/Big Cat Scripts/.
Another possibility is that you’re using an old version of FruitMenu. FruitMenu 3.0 resolves an incompatibility with Big Cat.
I get no Scripts menu at all. Why?
First thing to try is to log out then log back in to your desktop.
If that doesn’t help, try selecting some files in the Finder then ctrl-clicking on the selection. Do you get a Scripts menu?
If not, double-check that you’ve installed BigCat.plugin in the right place. It goes in the ~/Library/Contextual Menu Items/ folder. If you don’t have a Contextual Menu Items folder you will need to create one. Make sure it has spaces between the words. (Yes, a typo here will cause the system not to find the plugin, and then it won’t work.)
How come the Scripts menu shows up only in certain apps?
The Scripts menu appears in applications that support system contextual menus.
That includes the Finder, BBEdit, Eudora, Internet Explorer, and more. However, not all applications, particularly Cocoa applications, support system contextual menus.
Why don’t my shell scripts run?
The most likely cause is that you need to mark your shell scripts as executable.
Here’s how (which you probably already know if you know how to do shell scripting): chmod u+x /path/to/script.
How can I see output from my shell scripts?
Output appears in the console. Launch /Applications/Utilities/Console.
Can you help me figure out what’s wrong with my script?
Not to be mean, but, no, I can’t. However, there are lots of mailing lists for scripters. I particularly recommend the MacScripting mailing list. Lots of helpful folks there.
Where can I find more Big Cat scripts?
Check out the More Big Cat Scripts page, which points to scripts written by other Big Cat users.
