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I have Hazel set up on a media server to automatically add files to specific iTunes playlists based on a text tag in the directory name. Several users will send us individual files or directories through a dropbox on our server and they're automatically downloaded to the media server via Cargo.

The problem I'm running into is that Hazel applies the rules as soon as it sees 1 file in the Cargo directory, so if someone sends multiple files only the first one is automatically added to iTunes. You have to manually select "run rules" in Hazel to get the remaining tracks added to the library and proper playlists.

Manually running the rules is absolutely not an option in this set up so I'm wondering if there's a way with Applescript or Automator to force Hazel to standby until the download is completed.

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Just loaded Hazel v3 on my Snow Leopard (10.6.8) and I noticed that it does a poor job of detecting when a file is busy.

When I created a file like this...

$ cat > fileXX

In it's log it correctly says that file is busy but then gives up on it and moves it anyway....!?

2014-09-28 22:07:32.735 hazelworker[11272] Processing folder Test
2014-09-28 22:07:34.740 hazelworker[11272] File fileXX is busy. Skipping for now.
2014-09-28 22:07:36.751 hazelworker[11272] File fileXX is busy. Skipping for now.
2014-09-28 22:07:38.756 hazelworker[11272] fileXX: Rule Newly Added Files matched.
2014-09-28 22:07:38.871 hazelworker[11272] [File Event] File moved: fileXX moved from folder Test to folder Test2.

Multiple files are processed as they appear. I even tried adding a delay on the fist file, via applescript, to confuse it but all that did was delay the first file, all other files got processed, one at a time.

On the opposite side, creating a bunch of files in a burst, didn't affect it. Even tried creating and importing into iTunes in a burst - no problems.

So, I'd recommend

  1. Check your Hazel log file for issues.
  2. Possibly change your rule to process files with Date Added is not in the last x minutes
  3. Check whether your iTunes is the root cause. First processing may be slow since iTunes takes a while to launch, affecting subsequent files...

If all else fails, try contacting the developer... :(

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