How can I retrieve the contents of an iTerm session with Applescript? - applescript

Question

I am working on an Applescript to make logging into 2-factor authentication domains a little easier. Long story short, instead of using delays and sending text, I'd like to poll the contents of the current session and enter usernames/passwords/tokencodes as soon as the prompt for them appears. Luckily, iTerm v3.X has a bunch of cool AppleScript stuff:
https://www.iterm2.com/documentation-scripting.html
But I'm having a lot of trouble reading the contents of the terminal session. Here's what I've got so far:
on run
# Start or activate iTerm
tell application "iTerm"
activate
tell the first window
# Create a new tab, which will create a new session inside
set newTab to (create tab with default profile)
tell newTab
# Since we just created the tab, there should only be one session right now.
repeat with aSession in sessions
tell aSession
delay 3
#set myvar to (tty)
#set myvar to (text)
set myvar to (contents)
#do shell script "echo " & myvar & " >> ~/some_file.txt"
#write text (contents)
end tell
end repeat
end tell
end tell
end tell
return myvar
end run
As you can see, I've tried several different things, "contents" seemed like the most promising solution according to the documentation, but crazy stuff comes out, like this:
session id "0986F3BD-D2AF-480F-B517-AB7A43B2A0C4" of tab 3 of window id "window-1" of application "iTerm"
What is this stuff? Why don't I see what I expect, which is something like this:
Last login: Fri Jun 10 18:18:22 on ttys001
me#MacBook-Pro:~|⇒

Answer 1

I got this to work for a good 3-5 times in a row, but as soon as I edited my script again, it started returning that session ID stuff. At that point, I decided that applescript or iTerm's applescript API is just too opaque. I hammered out a workaround that actually seems to work pretty well, here it is for anyone who comes after me:
on grepCountsFor(searchString)
set terminalContents to my getContents()
log "terminal contents: " & terminalContents
set oneline to ""
set allRecords to paragraphs of terminalContents
repeat with aRecord in allRecords
if length of aRecord is greater than 0 then
set variable to aRecord
log "variable: " & variable
set oneline to oneline & variable
end if
end repeat
log "oneline: " & oneline
set command to "echo \"" & oneline & "\" | grep -o \"" & searchString & "\" | wc -l"
log "command: " & command
set counts to do shell script command
return counts as number
end grepCountsFor
on getContents()
#iTerm needs to be in the front for key presses to register.
my waitForWindow("iTerm")
# Mush buttons in the app
tell application "System Events"
keystroke "a" using command down
keystroke "c" using command down
set sessionContents to do shell script "pbpaste"
end tell
return sessionContents
end getContents
# Waits for a window to come into focus
on waitForWindow(appName)
# Poll until "appName" is the active window
set activeApp to "noApp"
repeat until activeApp is appName
set activeApp to (path to frontmost application as Unicode text)
# If the active app name does not contain the target,
# try to activate it again.
if appName is not in activeApp then
tell application appName
activate
end tell
else
# Done
exit repeat
end if
delay 0.1
end repeat
end waitForWindow