I am trying to make a simple AppleScript to open Spotify on my computer. I have assigned Spotify to always open on Desktop 2. However, every time it opens, it switches my focus from whatever desktop I am currently using to Desktop 2 where Spotify is being opened. Is there any way for me to prevent this, that is, for the app to open without switching my focus to a different desktop?
Current code:
tell application "Spotify"
activate
delay 3
playpause
end tell
I have also tried to open Spotify using commands like open -g -a 'Spotify', but this just opens the app in the background and still switches desktops.
Thanks for the help.
Related
I want to use Automator and AppleScript to fill out a form in Safari. I have a functioning script that looks something like this toy example:
on run {}
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "Hello"
tell application "System Events" to keystroke tab
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "World"
end run
I wish to execute it with a keyboard shortcut when I'm at a specific point in my browser. However, when I do this, I run into permission issues:
The action "Run AppleSCript" encountered an error:
"System Events got an error: Automator Workflow Runner
(WorkflowServiceRunner, my_script_name) is not allowed to send keystrokes"
In System Prefrences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy -> Accessibility I have allowed both Automator and AppleScript Utility, and under the Automation tab, I have allowed System Events for Safari.
I can get it to work, at least temporary, if I allow Safari in Accessibility too, but that seems to be too drastic and a security risk to have Safari to always have full control just to run a script from time to time.
How should I approach this? I want the script to be easy to use, and wouldn't want to go into the settings each time to temporary allow Safari. Or can this be automated too? Is there a completely different approach than Automator and AppleScript that would allow me to do this in a more user friendly and safe way? Basically, I want to do something similar to what AutoHotKey would be able to do in Windows.
I’m guessing that what you’ve done is set up a Quick Action and then given that Quick Action a shortcut under “Services” in “Keyboard:Shortcuts” in System Preferences. I was able to duplicate the problem by doing that: attempting to run the script requires that Safari itself have access to “control your computer”. If that is not what you’ve done, this solution should still work, but you may also want to update your question, in case a better solution is available.
What you can do is use redirection. Create an application that can be given permission to control your computer, and then create a Service that will launch the application.
Use Automator (or Script Editor) to create an Application with the above steps, adding as the first step tell application "Safari" to activate. You need that step because opening the app will take the focus away from Safari.
Save this Application. (If using Automator, you tell Automator that it’s an application when you start creating the script; if using Script Editor, you tell Script Editor that it’s an application when you save the script.)
Use Automator to create a Quick Action. Give it the action “Launch Application” and tell it to launch the application you just created.
Drag the application you created in step 2 into the “Accessibility” list in System Preferences’s “Security & Privacy” settings. (You may have to unlock those settings to allow changes.) It should be checked automatically when you drag it in, but if not you can check it.
In the “Services” list in the “Keyboard:Shortcuts” settings of System Preferences, the Quick Action you created in step 3 should be listed. Give it a keyboard shortcut.
At this point, you should be able to use the keyboard shortcut to run the application, and only that application needs to have permission to control your computer.
When I run this script from Alfred (using the text "nsafari", and Safari is quit (not in the dock), two Safari windows will pop up. When I run it from the Script Editor, it will sometimes open up two windows, but sometimes not. (This also happens with my new Safari window script as well).
if application "Safari" is running then
tell application "Safari"
make new document
activate
end tell
else
tell application "Safari" to activate
end if
Why does it open two windows only from Afred? And how do I make it only create one?
I don't know why, but after two years, the problem I reported above does not seem to happen any more...
(and yes this is not a very satisfying answer)
I use 1Password to store my passwords, and fluid.app to create a few site-specific apps/browsers
While 1Password integrates well with Chrome, Safari and other browsers, it doesn't play nicely with Fluid apps, which is where my troubles lie.
I have therefore created a shortcut (with Keyboard Maestro) to run an applescript to open the mini, when I am in Fluid apps. However, I can't seem to get the applescript to launch the mini. Here are my attempts:
tell application "1Password mini" to launch does nothing, though AppleScriptEditor doesn't report any errors
tell application "1Password mini" to open nothing, though AppleScriptEditor doesn't report any errors
tell application "1Password mini" to activate is pointless, as 1Password mini is already activated
tell application "1Password" to open opens the main 1Password application, not the mini, which is what I need.
Interestingly, when I run (1), (2), and (3), AppleScriptEditor automatically replaces 1Password mini with 2BUA8C4S2C.com.agilebits.onepassword-osx-helper, which doesn't clarify things for me at all.
Does anybody have any clue how this can be solved?
I'm on OSX 10.10.2 (Yosemite), if it matters
I work for AgileBits, the developer of 1Password.
Looks like you found a solution, but here's another option for you:
open location "x-onepassword-helper://search/"
That AppleScript will open 1Password mini ready to search.
And if you're able to get the current website's domain from Fluid, you could even open 1Password Mini with a search term already filled in:
open location "x-onepassword-helper://search/twitter.com"
I hope that helps!
The solution was quite simple, with a little UI scripting:
tell application "System Events" to tell process "1Password mini"
tell menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1 to click
end tell
I have an applescript. The script goes like this..
tell application "Safari"
open location "http://www.google.com" -- mentions the perticular webpage to be loaded
activate --makes the Safari application the front most application
end tell
Whenever I open this script, the Safari application gets launched. To be very clear, I'm not running this application instead I am just opening this script in applescript editor.
Can anyone please explain me why the Safari is getting launched. The Safari gets launched but it will be hidden or say it does not put up any window. [Neither it does load any pages in the background, it just gets launched in the dock and a dot saying that the app is launched will be present].
Once I run the script then the safari puts up the window and loads the desired web-page.
Please Help.
In general, applescript must launch an application to learn what commands it understands. Over time applescript has gotten better at not launching applications for this task, but some apps still get launched. iPhoto is one I notice gets launched when I open applescripts that use it. As such it's not something you can avoid.
However, in your case there may be a fix. The "open location" command is a generic applescript command. You do not need to tell Safari to execute that command. Therefore you can probably change your script to this and avoid the launching issue. The open location command should just open the link in your default browser which I assume in your case is Safari. It should also automatically activate it for you.
Good luck.
open location "http://www.google.com"
I have 2 air applications that I wrote. They auto fullscreen after 10 seconds. Before then, they need to be sent to their proper displays. "app_1" needs to run on display 1, "app_2" needs to run on display 2.
Essentially, I have this code:
do shell script "cd /Applications/app_1.app/Contents/MacOS/ ; open app_1;"
which works for me flawlessly. Both apps are launched that way, and there is some code for ensuring that the apps weren't already open, and closing them if they were.
I tried to add in a script to position the app after it is launched:
do shell script "cd /Applications/app_1.app/Contents/MacOS/ ; open app_1;"
tell first window of application "app_1" to set bounds to {0,0,1920,1080}
This gives me an error:
app_1 got an error: Can't set bounds of window 1 to {0,0,1920,1080}
I tried adding a delay of a couple seconds before the set bounds, in case the application hadn't yet launched when the set bounds fired off, however this didn't change anything.
I also tried setting the bounds to something like {100,100,200,200} just to see if I had the screen coordinates wrong or something, but still the exact same error, only with the {100,100,200,200} instead of the original 1920x1080 coordinates.
Anyone have any insight on this? I've been trying to find the solution on google for a couple of hours now.
It sounds like your app isn't exposing the standard "window" class. I don't know if AIR apps are supposed to automatically take care of this and it's not working—if so, you'll want to debug that.
But another alternative is to use UI Scripting to control its windows externally. Instead of this:
tell first window of application "app_1" to set bounds to {0,0,1920,1080}
Do this:
tell application "System Events"
set position of first window of application process "app_1" to {0, 0}
set size of first window of application process "app_1" to {1920,1080}
end tell
However, this will only work if you've gone to the Universal Access pane of System Preferences and checked "Enable access for assistive devices" (or done the same via API, "sudo touch /var/db/.AccessibilityAPIEnabled", etc.).