How to get IKEv2 VPN connection by AppleScript? - applescript

Question

Does anyone experience AppleScript in working with IKEv2 network service?
In El Capitan, I can create an IKEv2 VPN connection and connect correctly. However AppleScript doesn't work with that kind of connection/service, it cannot get the service with name, it cannot list the connection from the service.
tell application "System Events"
tell current location of network preferences
set service_name to "IKEv2_connection_name"
do shell script (do shell script "scutil --nc start \"" & service_name & "\"")
end tell
end tell
And here is the error:
error "System Events got an error: No service" number 1
It appears that AppleScript cannot recognize the IKEv2 VPN connection. So I tried to run another script which to print out all the current internet connections in the system:
tell application "System Events"
tell current location of network preferences
set names to get name of every service
end tell
end tell
The result shows all the network connections (including "Wi-Fi", "USB Ethernet", "Bluetooth PAN", "Thunderbolt Bridge", all VPN connections of type L2TP, PTPP, IPSec) but it doesn't list any IKEv2 connections although I have set a few of them and they're all working.

Answer 1

I was able to get this to work using UI scripting. So far this script seems to work well, and I think I've made it about as user friendly as possible. It requires System Preferences to be opened at all times, but the window can be hidden. If System Preferences is closed when the script starts, the script will launch and then auto-hide System Preferences. Major inconvenience is that System Preferences is essentially locked to the Network pane while the script is running. Feel free to give it a try, let me know if you have any problems or suggestions! You'll need to replace "MY VPN SERVICE NAME" with the name of the VPN service you want to keep connected. You may also want to modify the delay at the bottom.
repeat while true
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "System Preferences"
if not (window 1 exists) then
tell application "System Preferences"
activate
end tell
repeat while not (menu bar 1 exists)
end repeat
repeat while not (menu "System Preferences" of menu bar 1 exists)
end repeat
repeat while not (menu item "Hide System Preferences" of menu "System Preferences" of menu bar 1 exists)
end repeat
delay 3
click menu item "Hide System Preferences" of menu "System Preferences" of menu bar 1
end if
click menu item "Network" of menu "View" of menu bar 1
tell window 1
repeat while not (rows of table 1 of scroll area 1 exists)
end repeat
repeat with current_row in (rows of table 1 of scroll area 1)
if value of static text 1 of current_row contains "MY VPN SERVICE NAME" then
select current_row
exit repeat
end if
end repeat
repeat with current_button in (buttons in group 1)
if name of current_button is equal to "Connect" then
click current_button
exit repeat
end if
end repeat
end tell
end tell
end tell
delay 60
end repeat

Answer 2

This is not a direct answer to your question, but another way to accomplish the same;
This guy created an app (source available also) to do what scutil and AppleScript cannot : https://blog.timac.org/2018/0719-vpnstatus/

Answer 3

There are a few reports of this and it seems to be some changes in AppleScript made in OSX 10.10 which stopped services in connection object to list IKEv2 VPNs.
You are on the right path though, just don't use location:
tell application "System Events"
set service_name to "IKEv2_connection_name"
do shell script "scutil --nc start \"" & service_name & "\""
end tell
Based on this answer, where you can see more options for scutil as well:
In Mac OS X 10.11, Opening a VPN connection window with the command line gives me an error