I cannot seem to find an answer to how to write my applescript to
Right-Click on a listing in the Applications Folder to open the Get Info option window to open to read in the Version field so I can compare it against my expect value.
I have spent about 6 hours, and I am kind of a noob. I can understand what is happening once I see it, but creating from scratch is just taking a long time for me. Thanks.
You don't need ugly GUI scripting, every application even without AppleScript dictionary responds to the version property
set appVersion to version of application "Maps"
Related
Hello all,
Can anyone tell me how to clear the 'Recent items' list in Preview application of Mac OS X through code? Is there a terminal command that can do this?
Or is there any way to click on 'Clear Menu' in 'Open Recent' of the 'File' menu in Preview?
Alternatively, does someone know where Preview stores this information and how do to remove it?
Check out this image to see what I mean.
Ok, so none of the described methods on the websites I could find actually succeeded in getting rid of all the 'recent document' lists in all of my apps.
I feel the most common sense approach would be (for OSX 10.12 / Sierra):
First go to system settings > general and choose "none" in the recent file dropdown menu (my OSX is in another language so the exact terms might be different, but you should be able to see what I mean). / This will get rid of most, but not all recent-items in different apps.
Get familiar with Apple's 'defaults' command in terminal. Now, hunt for any lists you might still want to get rid off, e.g. none of the options mentioned in the answers already listed here helped to get rid of the recent-items list in Finders "GO" menu. I played around with the defaults command and found that: "write com.apple.finder "FXRecentFolders" '({})' && killall Finder" does the trick for me. Playing around I found similar solutions for many of the other apps that where still able to maintain a list of recent items.
Create a shell script containing the commands you found during step 2.
Schedule the script to be run automatically on a preset interval or action (e.g. log out). AND/OR create an alias in your shell's profile (or directly apply the script as a function inside it) so you can call it with a single command from your terminal. (for instance: I have created an alias to it, so when I now type "killrecent" in terminal, it empties all the recent-items lists I've been able to find.
Hope this will be of some help to others. Good luck!
open Preview ->- go to File ->- Open Recent ->- Clear Menu
You may try the approach outlined here, which is to run
defaults delete com.apple.Preview.LSSharedFileList RecentDocuments
in the Terminal (manually or through your app). However I tried this and it didn't work for me (OSX 10.11), since the Preview defaults file doesn't contain this entry.
You can use
defaults write com.apple.Preview NSRecentDocumentsLimit 0
which will hide all recently used items, but as soon as you set that number to anything greater than 0, they will show up again.
I also checked the ScriptingBridge Interface for Preview, but couldn't find anything useful. So unfortunately it looks like this is not possible.
with 10.11, there are at
~/Library/Application\ Support/com.apple.sharedfilelist/com.apple.LSSharedFileList.ApplicationRecentDocuments/com.apple.preview.sfl
I am trying to incorporate my applescript into xcode. the script works normally with applescript but not ran in xcode. I am trying to open the file for reading. here is the code
set Location to "US"
set DriverFile to "/Volumes/MacPrintDrivers/" & Location & "DriverInstall.txt"
set DriverInstallFile to POSIX file DriverFile
open for access DriverInstallFile
i have confirmed the file exists and i can display the contents. i can't seem to read this way in Xcode. the error i get is
«script» doesn’t understand the «event rdwropen» message. (error -1708)
ASOC (AppleScript Objective-C) has some problems with scripting addition commands (such as open for access). Sometimes you can work around this by saying tell current application to, e.g. tell current application to open for access. But for further details I suggest you get Shane Stanley's book: http://www.macosxautomation.com/applescript/apps/ He has explored this in great depth.
I am trying to create a script that will open an application in a specific "space". So let's say I am on space 1 working in the terminal and then I want to be able to open safari in space 4. Is there a way to do this?
I have done some searching and found only ways to set the system profile options. Maybe I should tell you my end goal in case what I am attempting is not possible.
I use a laptop and plugin in to multiple stations, home, office, and travel. I want to create different window layouts for each one. So I will need an apple script telling it to open applications in varios spaces and different dimensions. I hope this makes sense. Ask me for clarification if it doesn't thanks!
PS the answer doesn't necessarily have to be any applescript I just thought that would be the easiest way :)
Here's a list of applescript commands for Spaces. There's a couple things there that might help you.
It is possible to do some scripting of application Space preferences by using the scripting interface to the System Events.app. See the answer to a similar question here.
The easiest way I've found is via GUI scripting. Make sure the Spaces menu is active on the upper right of your computer. That lists the spaces by number. You can then just write a GUI script to select the menu item of the space you wish. That will switch to that space. Then do an activate Applescript to open the application there.
Let me know if you need sample code demonstrating this. I have some in Python + Appsscript that does this but I should be easily able to convert it back to Applescript proper if you need it.
OK, this feels like an idiot question, but I'm stuck - I don't know the first thing about AppleScript. I have a .scpt file and I want to double-click it and just have it run, but instead every time I click, it opens up the AppleScript Editor. This feels like it should just be an option on the file, but I'm missing something obvious.
Please help me feel less dumb, thank you.
From the “File” menu, choose “Export”; there’ll be a “File Format” dropdown underneath the file browser. To get a double-clickable application instead of a document, choose “Application”. This will produce a .app bundle like ordinary Mac applications (this will also let you package other resources with your script if you need to). You can choose “Run Only” or not; if you do, then anybody with just the .app won’t be able to edit your script further, since it’ll be compiled. (But if you’re saving a copy as the application, that might be what you want.)
Another option, as per an anonymous user on Ask Different, would be to save/export your file as a “Script” (.scpt) or “Script Bundle” (.scptd), save it in ~/Library/Scripts/, and check “Show Script menu in menu bar” in Script Editor’s preferences.
(If you’re running an old version of OS X, the first version of this answer has the information you’re looking for.)
There's more than one way to do it; i have found this to be the simplest:
In sum, you create an Automator application and place your applescript inside it (easier than it sounds, and it's not a hack either--there's actually a specific Automator action for this). Then when you are finished, you select "File" from the menubar, next "Save As Application", then select a location. Now check there and you'll see the newly-created Automator icon (little white robot holding a grenade launcher).
You can do anything that you would ordinarily do with this application icon--double click to open, drag it to your dock, etc.
Appstorm has created an excellent step-by-step tutorial for building an applescript-embedded automator action. On the page i linked to, the tutorial author has also supplied an Automator script that you can download and use as a template.
While it's certainly not the simplest route, one benefit to running your script from Automator, as doug suggested, is that you can set a hotkey or keyboard shortcut to execute your script if you hide it in an Automator Service (OSX 10.6+). See:
http://blog.fosketts.net/2010/08/09/assign-keyboard-shortcut-applescript-automator-service/
When you save a new script, a menu should appear asking what you want the file name to be, where it will be stored, any tags for it, and what script format you want it to be. There should be 4 scripts formats:
Script
Script Bundle
Application
Text
The script format you want to use would be "Application." This will turn it into a double-click application if its not in the dock.
One of my programs seems to be changing the Display Properties > Appearance > Effects > Show window contents while dragging setting to off every few hours.
I'm not sure exactly which program, or when it happens. I have a number of programs that seem like likely culprits - wallpaper rotators, software for multiple monitors, multiple virual desktops and switching, and a few others.
I am just thinking to create a little batch script to run periodically and set the setting back to on.
Does anyone know how to do this in windows? I'm using xp pro sp3.
Thanks!
The best option is to do this programmatically using the supported API. i haven't tested this, but it should do the trick:
SystemParametersInfo(SPI_SETDRAGFULLWINDOWS,
TRUE,
NULL,
SPIF_UPDATEINIFILE | SPIF_SENDCHANGE)
You can use SPI_GETDRAGFULLWINDOWS to see if the the bit has been flipped to avoid unnecessarily triggering a WM_SETTINGCHANGE.
You can use RegMon to find the program that keeps changing your settings. Maybe that's a better start than hacking around it.
There is a simple and effective solution to this problem. In Notepad type the following lines :
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop] "DragFullWindows"="1"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects\DragFullWindows] "CheckedValue"=dword:00000001 "UncheckedValue"=dword:00000001
Save the file as "Show Window Contents.reg" Double clicking this file and restarting will cure the problem permanently. Post a message if you find this useful.
Aravind Banerjee
It seems the registry setting which controls that preference is HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop\DragFullWindows. You can read more about it here. However, trying it on my own computer does not register the change right away, so a batch script won't do it. You'll probably have to write a program to manipulate it using SystemParametersInfo(). You can pass it the SPI_SETDRAGFULLWINDOWS parameter. Here's a page explaining it more. Here's a page showing how to call it, albeit not for the same parameter.
I suspect it's kept in the registry - maybe [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop] - "DragFullWindows"?
It would be easy to flip the registry setting back to "1" every hour or so with a batch file.