Launch OSX Finder window with specific files selected

Question

I'm trying to programmatically launch an OSX Finder window from an Xcode project. I need the window to open to a specific folder and have specific files within that folder automatically selected.

Does anyone know how to do this in either objective c, applescript, or Finder command-line parameters?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Objective-C version:

NSArray *fileURLs = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:fileURL1, /* ... */ nil];
[[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] activateFileViewerSelectingURLs:fileURLs];

Answer 2

$ open -R <path-to-reveal>

Answer 3

Another AppleScript flavor - the Finder's reveal command will both open a window to the containing folder and select the item(s). If there are multiple containing folders, multiple Finder windows will be opened.

tell application "Finder" 
   to reveal {someAlias, "path/to/POSIXfile" as POSIX file, etc}

Answer 4

I'm finding that activateFileViewerSelectingURLs is not working on Yosemite (at least when in separate space from Finder). It will cause a switch to the Finder's space but won't seem to select the URL. Using:

• (BOOL)selectFile:(NSString *)fullPath inFileViewerRootedAtPath:(NSString *)rootFullPath

will switch spaces from full screen app and select path.

Answer 5

Swift version:

    let paths = ["/Users/peter/foo/bar.json"]
    let fileURLs = paths.map{ NSURL(fileURLWithPath: $0)}
    NSWorkspace.sharedWorkspace().activateFileViewerSelectingURLs(fileURLs)

Answer 6

When opening a file at path:

NSString* path = @"/Users/user/Downloads/my file"
NSArray *fileURLs = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:path], nil];
[[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] activateFileViewerSelectingURLs:fileURLs];

Answer 7

Swift 3.2/4.0 Version: NSWorkspace.shared.activateFileViewerSelecting([outputFileURL])