downloading files in apple mail.

(*

Requirements:
   https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8524215

Quick hints
1) Apple hids the User's library folder.  You will want to make it visible.
  http://osxdaily.com/2013/10/28/show-user-library-folder-os-x-mavericks/
2) Place this Applescript in this folder with name ShortMailDownload.scpt.  You may not use the App extension.
   "/Users/mac/Library/Application Scripts/com.apple.mail"
2) The first "on" statement needs to be
   on perform mail action with messages theMessages
3) Mail > Preferences... > Rules > Add Rule
    "Perform the following actions"   [ buttons should be ]
    "Run AppleScript" "ShortMailDownload"
4) When saving you may get a warning message that some other app, Mail, has made changes to the script. When ever the script is run, the script changes a global variable which modifies the script.  Ignore and save any way.

Limitation: Yosemite, 10.10.5, Mail Version 8.2 (2104) only supports extracting one attachment. No problem in High Sierra, 10.13.6.

off topic.  Clicking on menu item:
tell application "System Events" to click menu item "Date" of menu "Sort By" of menu item "Sort By" of menu "View" of menu bar item "View" of menu bar 1 of process "Mail"

Based on the example " Sample Rule Action Script.scpt" script in macOS 10.6.8 found in folder
"/Library/Scripts /Library/Scripts/Mail Scripts/Rule Actions"
  Sample Rule Action Script.scpt

I think "on perform mail action" needs to be the first "on" routine.

-- If run as an ordinary script, instead of directly from the Scripts
    -- menu, it will call the default handler instead.
    on r u n
        tell application "Mail" to set selectedMessages to selection
        tell me to perform mail action with messages (selectedMessages)
    end r u n
    http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070215145127300

There is lots of outdated advice on download attachments found by Google.
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39882312/how-to-download-an-attachment-from-mail-via-applescript-and-mail-rules


       Copyright 2018 rccharles

       Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
       of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
       in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
       to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
       copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
       furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

       The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
       copies or substantial portions of the Software.

       THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
       IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
       FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
       AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
       LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
       OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
       SOFTWARE.

*)
(*  Uncomment when you want to debug this script in the Script Editor. Go into Mail and select a message. Run this script. *)
on run
    tell application "Mail"
        try
            set theSelectedMessages to selection
            log "class of theSelectedMessages is " & class of theSelectedMessages
            log "count of theSelectedMessages is " & (count of theSelectedMessages)
        on error errMsg number n
            display dialog "Silly, you need to select a message in Mail." & return & "on error the errMsg is " & errMsg & " number is " & n giving up after 8
            return
        end try

        my processMessages(theSelectedMessages, "buster")

    end tell -- app "Mail"
end run

(**)
using terms from application "Mail"
    on processMessages(theMessages, theAccount)
        -- Required by debug routine.
        global debugRunning
        set debugRunning to ""

        -- debug status for displaying messages in this routine.
        set debugSwitch to true
        log "debugSwitch is " & debugSwitch
        -- initialize
        set longWait to 20


        set startMsg to "perform mail with " & getMyName() & " ====== " & ((current date) as string) & " ====== perform mail "
        log startMsg)
        --set inboxes to mailbox "INBOX" of account theAccount
        --set inbox to mailbox "Inbox" of account theAccount
        set outbox to mailbox "Junk" of account theAccount

        if (count of theMessages) = 0 then
            log "odd no messages to process."
            display dialog "Odd, no messages to process." giving up after longWait
            return 1
        end if




        tell application "Mail"
            --activate
            log "was activated"

            -- look throught the messages we selected.
            repeat with aMessage in theMessages -- loop through each message
                log "class of aMessage is " & class of aMessage

                -- get the senders email address
                set fromMail to aMessage's sender
                log "fromMail is " & fromMail

                -- Create folder for the individual student.
                -- ---- Set final target folder ---->
                set pathToStudents to pathToHome & finalDestination & ":"
                log "pathToStudents is " & pathToStudents
                repeat 1 times -- sinulate continue

                    (* move v : Move object(s) to a new location.
                                     move specifier : the object for the command
                                     to location specifier : The new location for the object(s). *)

                    try

                        move aMessage to outbox
                    on error errMsg number n
                        -- It's ok if the folder already exits [-48 ]. Put out warning for all other errors.
                        set commonError to "attempting to move " & " on error the errMsg is " & errMsg & " number is " & n
                        display dialog commonError giving up after longWait
                        log commonError
                        exit repeat -- look at next message. simulate iterate here.

                    end try


                end repeat -- continue
            end repeat -- next message
        end tell --tell app "Mail"
        return 0
    end processMessages
end using terms from


(* ======================== Subroutines ======================= *)
-- ------------------------------------------------------
(*
*)
on appendToFile(fileId, theData)

    local theSize, writeWhere

    set theSize to (get eof fileId)
    set writeWhere to theSize + 1 as integer
    write theData to fileId starting at writeWhere

end appendToFile

-- ------------------------------------------------------
(*
 debug(<string>)
 Write messages to a log file.

  -- Need to place these two lines in the calling routine.
    global debugRunning
    set debugRunning to ""
 -- references appendToFile()
  -- example:
    debug("start program. Reading from " & listOfFiles)

   found here: /Users/mac/Documents/BJ\ Prior\ Years/BJ2004/sendmailapp2\ copy

*)
on debug(theMessage)
    -- return
    global debugRunning
    local theSize, startupDiskName, pathToLog, fileReference

    set pathToLog to (path to home folder as text) & "tryAttachmentsLog.txt"
    -- log "pathToLog is " & pathToLog
    -- display dialog "pathToLog is " & pathToLog giving up after 4

    try
        -- Complete the path.
        set pathToLog to pathToLog as text
        set fileReference to (open for access file pathToLog ¬
            with write permission)

        if debugRunning = "" then
            set theSize to (get eof fileReference)
            if theSize > 0 then
                appendToFile(fileReference, " " & return)
            end if
            appendToFile(fileReference, "   --- debug on " & ((current date) as string) & "   --- " & return)
            set debugRunning to "running"
        end if
        -- log "theMessage " & theMessage
        -- display dialog "in debug..." & return & "theMessage " & theMessage giving up after 3
        appendToFile(fileReference, theMessage & return)

        close access fileReference
        tell application "Finder"
            set the creator type of the file pathToLog ¬
                to "R*ch"
        end tell
    on error mes number n
        try
            set commonErr to "error ... " & mes & " error number is " & n
            log commonErr
            close access fileReference
            display dialog commonErr giving up after 4
        end try

    end try
    -- log "end of debug"
end debug

(*
write log message to script editor log and to our file log
*)
on debugLog(theMessage)
    log "debugLog: " & theMessage
    return debug(theMessage)
end debugLog

-- ------------------------------------------------------
(*
  ideas from:
  https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3469389/applescript-testing-for-file-existence

 use the alias way.
*)
on fileExists(theFile) -- (String) as Boolean
    (* "System Events" and "Finder" checking for file existance revealed problems. l*)
    set debugging to false
    if debugging then log "  fileExists: theFile is " & theFile
    try
        set theAlias to theFile as alias
        set theExistance to true
    on error errMsg number n
        if debugging then log "  fileExists: n is " & n
        -- File or folder doesn't exist.
        if n is not -43 then
            set commonError to "on error the errMsg is " & errMsg & " number is " & n
            if debugging then log "  fileExists: " & commonError
            display dialog commonError giving up after 10
            -- cause grief above.
            error "Failure of alias." number -1
        else
            set theExistance to false
        end if
    end try
    if debugging then log "  fileExists: theExistance is " & theExistance
    return theExistance
end fileExists

(*
  Philip Regan
  https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3469389/applescript-testing-for-file-existence
*)
(*on fileExists(theFile) -- (String) as Boolean
    tell application "System Events"
        if exists file theFile then
            return true
        else
            return false
        end if
    end tell
end fileExists*)

-- ------------------------------------------------------
(*
   Yvan Koenig
   https://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=43133
   with mods for no extension present

*)
on getExt(theName)
    if (offset of "." in theName) is greater than 0 then
        set saveTID to AppleScript's text item delimiters
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"."}
        set theExt to last text item of theName
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to saveTID
        if theExt ends with ":" then set theExt to text 1 thru -2 of theExt
    else
        set theExt to ""
    end if
    return theExt
end getExt

-- ------------------------------------------------------
(*
    Input: a file with or without an extension.
    hhas
    https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/applescript-to-get-file-name.927338/

    may not work with folders with extensions like apps.

    Test cases:
                set fileName to " "
                set fileExt to my getExt(attachmentName)
                log "fileName  is " & fileName & " fileExt  is " & fileExt
                set fileExt to my getExt("testfileNo")
                log "fileName  is " & fileName & " fileExt  is " & fileExt
                set fileExt to my getExt("path:to:testfileNo:")
                log "fileName  is " & fileName & " fileExt  is " & fileExt
                log ">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>"
                set {fileName, fileExt} to my getNameExt(attachmentName)
                log "fileName  is " & fileName & " fileExt  is " & fileExt
                set {fileName, fileExt} to my getNameExt("testfileNo")
                log "fileName  is " & fileName & " fileExt  is " & fileExt
                set {fileName, fileExt} to my getNameExt("path:to:testfileNo:")
                log "fileName  is " & fileName & " fileExt  is " & fileExt
*)
on getNameExt(fileName)
    set saveTID to AppleScript's text item delimiters
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "."
    if fileName contains "." then
        set {displayName, nameExt} to {text 1 thru text item -2, text item -1} of fileName
    else
        set {displayName, nameExt} to {fileName, ""}
    end if
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to saveTID

    return {displayName, nameExt}
end getNameExt
-- ------------------------------------------------------
(*
    modified to let the extension be.

    by mklement0
    https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5770384/how-find-the-file-name-of-an-executing-applescript
*)
on getMyName()
    local myAlias, myName
    tell application "System Events"
        set myAlias to path to me -- alias to the file/bundle of the running script
        set myName to name of myAlias -- filename with extension, if any.
        -- leave extension alone.
    end tell
    return myName
end getMyName

-- ------------------------------------------------------
(*
   ls_l is list file with options
  the format is best for debuging.

  example usage:
  set {fileExists, fromUnix} to ls_l(attachmentNamePath, "-l")
  log "attachmentNamePath fileExists is " & fileExists & return & " fromUnix is " & fromUnix

  *)
on ls_l(attachmentNamePath, options)
    --log "ls_l"
    --log options

    set unixAttachmentNamePath to POSIX path of attachmentNamePath
    --log "unixDesktopPath = " & unixAttachmentNamePath

    set quotedUnixAttachmentNamePath to quoted form of unixAttachmentNamePath
    --log "quoted form is " & quotedUnixAttachmentNamePath
    try
        set fromUnix to do shell script "ls " & options & " " & quotedUnixAttachmentNamePath
        set fromUnix to "ls " & options & return & fromUnix
        set fileExists to true
    on error errMsg number n
        set fromUnix to "ls " & options & "  error..." & errMsg & " with number " & n
        set fileExists to false

    end try
    return {fileExists, fromUnix}
end ls_l

-- ------------------------------------------------------
(*
textToList seems to be what you are trying to do
  thisText is the input string
  delim is what to split on

  returns a list of strings.

- textToList was found here:
- http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=15423

*)

on textToList(thisText, delim)
    set resultList to {}
    set {tid, my text item delimiters} to {my text item delimiters, delim}

    try
        set resultList to every text item of thisText
        set my text item delimiters to tid
    on error
        set my text item delimiters to tid
    end try
    return resultList
end textToList