a record for each application

What do you suggest as a mechanism to monitor the Application folder and
create a record with tag and note capability corresponding to each application therein?

My stab at an answer to my own question:

  1. In EF, create an “Applications” library

  2. Using Automator, create and run the following workflow to create aliases in the “Applications” library for all existing apps.

  • Find Finder Items: Search Applications: Kind is application
  • New Aliases in Files (pointing to the “Files” folder in the Applications library).
  1. Using Automator, create and save the following Folder Action (I call it “Apps in Applications”), setting it to “receive Files and Folders added to Applications”. This will create a new alias in the Applications library for each app subsequently added to the Applications folder. The alias is added to the To Import folder.
  • Filter Finder Items: Search Applications: Kind is application
  • New Aliases in To Import (in Applications) (pointing to that file in the Applications library)

(credit to red_menace for the Filter Finder Items tip)

  1. <Ctl>click the Applications folder; select Folder Actions Setup and attach the above Folder Action to it.

Usage notes:

  • This is intended to copy only the apps, not the various associated files (read me’s, etc.).
  • Removing an app from the Applications folder does not remove its alias.
  • Per the EF manual, “When the library is opened (and, periodically, while it’s open) EagleFiler checks the [To Import] folder.”

An AppleScript alternative to the Folder Action above was suggested by twtwtw in the same thread linked above.

Thoughts? Alternatives?