AppleScript read data every few minutes - applescript

Question

I run a screen which display some data on the menu bar
the variables are taken from "~/Desktop/_MyData.plist"
everything work fine, however when the data change on _MyData.plist
How, can I make the script getting the new data ? I guess we can't expect AppleScript to detect file change and then run the script but is there a way to get the plist data on idle maybe and keeping running the whole script.
Here is the part that only getting the data :
property theAccountNumberFromPlist : ""
property SNNumber : ""
property appName : ""
property devicesID : ""
property domainEMAIL : ""
property fullEmail : ""
property purchaseDate : ""
property thename : ""
property theList : ""
set the plistfile_path to "~/Desktop/_MyData.plist.plist"
tell application "System Events"
set p_list to property list file (plistfile_path)
-- read the plist data
set theAccountNumberFromPlist to value of property list item "AccountNumber" of p_list as text
set SNNumber to value of property list item "SNNUMBER" of p_list as text
set appName to value of property list item "appName" of p_list as text
set devicesID to value of property list item "devicesID" of p_list as text
set domainEMAIL to value of property list item "domainEMAIL" of p_list as text
set fullEmail to value of property list item "fullEmail" of p_list as text
set purchaseDate to value of property list item "purchaseDate" of p_list as text
set thename to value of property list item "thename" of p_list as text
end tell
Here is the whole script :
use AppleScript version "2.4"
use scripting additions
use framework "Foundation"
use framework "AppKit"
property StatusItem : missing value
property selectedMenu : ""
property theDisplay : ""
property defaults : class "NSUserDefaults"
property internalMenuItem : class "NSMenuItem"
property externalMenuItem : class "NSMenuItem"
property newMenu : class "NSMenu"
property theAccountNumberFromPlist : ""
property SNNumber : ""
property appName : ""
property devicesID : ""
property domainEMAIL : ""
property fullEmail : ""
property purchaseDate : ""
property thename : ""
property theList : ""
set the plistfile_path to "~/Desktop/_MyData.plist.plist"
tell application "System Events"
set p_list to property list file (plistfile_path)
-- read the plist data
set theAccountNumberFromPlist to value of property list item "AccountNumber" of p_list as text
set SNNumber to value of property list item "SNNUMBER" of p_list as text
set appName to value of property list item "appName" of p_list as text
set devicesID to value of property list item "devicesID" of p_list as text
set domainEMAIL to value of property list item "domainEMAIL" of p_list as text
set fullEmail to value of property list item "fullEmail" of p_list as text
set purchaseDate to value of property list item "purchaseDate" of p_list as text
set thename to value of property list item "thename" of p_list as text
end tell
if not (current application's NSThread's isMainThread()) as boolean then
display alert "This script must be run from the main thread." buttons {"Cancel"} as critical
error number -128
end if
on menuNeedsUpdate:(menu)
my makeMenus()
end menuNeedsUpdate:
on makeMenus()
newMenu's removeAllItems()
repeat with i from 1 to number of items in someListInstances
set this_item to item i of someListInstances
set thisMenuItem to (current application's NSMenuItem's alloc()'s initWithTitle:this_item action:"someAction:" keyEquivalent:"")
(newMenu's addItem:thisMenuItem)
(thisMenuItem's setTarget:me) -- required for enabling the menu item
if i is equal to 3 then
(newMenu's addItem:(current application's NSMenuItem's separatorItem)) -- add a seperator
end if
end repeat
end makeMenus
on someAction:sender
--MenuItem
end someAction:
-- create an NSStatusBar
on makeStatusBar()
set bar to current application's NSStatusBar's systemStatusBar
set StatusItem to bar's statusItemWithLength:-1.0
-- set up the initial NSStatusBars title
StatusItem's setTitle:(theAccountNumberFromPlist & " " & thename & " " & fullEmail & " " & SNNumber & " " & appName)
-- set up the initial NSMenu of the statusbar
set newMenu to current application's NSMenu's alloc()'s initWithTitle:"Custom"
newMenu's setDelegate:me (*
*)
StatusItem's setMenu:newMenu
end makeStatusBar
my makeStatusBar()

Answer 1

Make use of an idle handler.
on idle
-- do your stuff
return 5 -- idle handler will be executed again in 5 seconds.
end
Therefore you need to save your script as application. Here's the essential part from apples docs:
idle and quit Handlers for Stay-Open Applications
By default, a script application that receives a run or open command
handles that single command and then quits. In contrast, a stay-open
script application (one saved as Stay Open in Script Editor) stays
open after it is launched.
A stay-open script application can be useful for several reasons:
Stay-open script applications can receive and handle other commands in
addition to run and open. This allows you to use a script application
as a script server that, when it is running, provides a collection of
handlers that can be invoked by any other script.
Stay-open script applications can perform periodic actions, even in
the background, as long as the script application is running.
Two particular handlers that stay-open script applications often
provide are an idle handler and a quit handler.
idle Handlers
If a stay-open script application includes an idle handler,
AppleScript sends the script application periodic idle commands—by
default, every 30 seconds—allowing it to perform background tasks when
it is not performing other actions.
If an idle handler returns a positive number, that number becomes the
rate (in seconds) at which the handler is called. If the handler
returns a non-numeric value, the rate is not changed. You can return 0
to maintain the default delay of 30 seconds.
For example, when saved as a stay-open application, the following
script beeps every 5 seconds:
on idle
    beep
    return 5
end idle
The result returned from a handler is just the result of the last statement, even if it doesn’t include the word return explicitly.