applescript: GUI scripting method for toggling options (without using the mouse) - applescript

Is there any way to choose between the (format: (web archive) / (source)) in the safari "save as..." menu using something else than automator recorded mouse clicks? I'm looking for something similar to the methods you used for menu bar actions. (Using mouseclicks with automator works, but I want a more robust method.)

I'm afraid you'll have to (1) enable Full Keyboard Access and (2) use the keystroke method to send the appropriate number of tabs, so as to focus on the dropdown. Once it's selected you can use keystroke again to choose the right option.
If the item were scriptable, you would use properties to set how you want to do it. Since it's not, you're stuck with this uber-kludgy workaround.

Related

Xcode, default window layouts?

No-one has been able to answer this question.
It would seem to be impossible to have XCode open this way.
However Youssef provided the most useful answer - so Youssef gets the points, thank you Youssef.
Note for future readers .. the mac utility Moom is excellent for some, but not all, problems of this nature. Again it is not a total solution.
Using the current up-to-date XCode,
Whenever I OPEN a project in XCode (or start a new project),
it looks like this:
However, I want it to look like this:
Again that's when I OPEN a project.
Is there any way to achieve this? Thanks.
Go to Xcode (in the top menu bar) --> Preferences...
Switch to the Behaviors tab and modify what you want in the Running section
You'll get something like this:
You can choose to show/hide what you need, and specify the default behavior
Cheers
EDIT:
After understanding what you need, I will modify my answer.
There is no way to force XCode to automatically enter a behavior at startup.
The best you can do is to create a custom behavior and give it a keyboard shortcut. And when you start XCode just use the keyboard shortcut to enter the desired behavior.
This is how it is done:
In the behaviors tab (above) click on the + sign at the bottom
Then enter the desired name of this behavior (Maybe StartupBehavior)
Click on the left button to modify the shortcut key. My preferred shortcut key is Command + ` (the button to the left of the '1' key). This is because it will not override any other command and it is easy to click.
Note: you can specify any shortcut you like and dont be afraid to override one that already exists if you don't use it.
Now you need to configure your behavior the way you like it
Close the preference windows.
Now everytime you start XCode just use the shortcut key you specified (Command + ` in my case) to quickly load your behavior
Note:
If you dont like keyboard shortcuts you can also load your behavior by going to Xcode (menu bar) --> Behaviors --> Select your behavior
That is the quickest way you can achieve what you want. I dont think you will be able to force Xcode to run your behavior automatically on startup.
Hope it helped.
Cheers
(not really default layout, you have to hit at least 2 keys simultaneously once XCode is open) You could set up a behavior for "Build->Starts" and hit "CMD + B"
after opening XCode / any Project. This way it will 1. change to your
Layout even if there are any errors and Build fails and 2. you don't
have to Stop it again.
As already said, it's not a default layout, but I like to let the compiler run through projects of other people at the beginning anyway.
You could search for some Keys in XCodes preference file in
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Xcode.plist as already suggested in
my comment, I'm not experienced enough to know which are the right
ones, sorry.
Wrap the .xcodeproj File opening in an application. E.g. in no way "clean", but anyway:
Set up an XCode behavior like in option 1
Open Automator, choose Application, drag "open Finder Items" and "run AppleScript" inside.
on run {input, parameters}
set frontmostAppName to name of (info for (path to frontmost application))
repeat while frontmostAppName is not "XCode.app"
set frontmostAppName to name of (info for (path to frontmost application))
delay 0.5
end repeat
try
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "b" using {command down} --simulates CMD + B
end try
return input
end run
Insert some applescript like the above and save the Automator application.
RightClick -> getInfo on any .xcodeproj File in Finder/on Desktop, in "open with" select your new Automator app, click add and back in the info panel -> check "Change All"
You can obviously create a new Behavior instead of using Build->starts, assign a different Hotkey in XCode and script e.g. tell application "System Events" to keystroke "i" using {command down, control down, shift down, alt down} , optimize the applescript somehow or do everything via a real cocoa app if you want
Well, you may be able to approach it using preconfigured xcuserstate files nested in your project templates' default workspace directory, but that is going to be a pain to tweak and maintain. I'm not even sure it would work.
I would personally just approach it by using Behaviors.
So:
1) create a Behavior
2) Give it a convenient key binding
3) Then define the Behavior. For example:
ASCII Behavior Editor:
...
√ Show *Debugger* with *Console View*
√ *Hide* utilities
...
That should do it. Just hit the assigned key command when you want to restore that display state, regardless of its initial state.
Of course, you can do a few other things or all sorts of arbitrary stuff by running an external AppleScript (triggered with a Behavior's run script facility).

how to activate SysTreeView32 when folder-select dialog window is created?

When I create SHBrowseForFolderW dialog the default control is OK, what I need to do is make SysTreeView32 active so a user can right on use arrow keys to adjust the desired folder. I tried to use this code : http://comp.newsgroups.archived.at/os.ms-windows.programmer.win32/200505/05053122835.html which wokrs ok in finding the HWND of the dialog but using WM_NEXTDLGCTL has no effect on the window.
Maybe I should send TAB keystrokes to the window, or I don't know any other opions ? Are there swiches in creating the browse dialog what control will be highlighted when the window create ?
Ok, the thing is difference between PostMessage and SendMessage. I mistakenly used the later here. They are not the same!

Have one application execute an action when another application is given a command using AppleScript?

I know nothing about AppleScript, but I wonder if it could make my life easier: is there a way to write an AppleScript that tells Safari / Firefox / Chrome to refresh the current tab when I save a document in another application, say TextWrangler? Essentially, I want to map the Command+S keyboard shortcut to do two things at once in two separate applications.
If that’s not possible, can you script one application so that saving one file executes a command in another window in that same application?
There are different possible approaches to implement this, but the most straightforward would probably be to create a script that executes all steps you need (i.e. save the document and refresh the window) and bind that to the Cmd+S keyboard combo in the triggering application.
What you need for this approach to work, is, in order:
a method to bind a key combo to a script effective only in a specific application. OS X’ Automator Services fit that bill: their scope can be restricted to a single application (select it in the “only in” drop down at the top of the workflow actions), and they can be assigned a shortcut in the Keyboard preference pane of System Preferences.
a way to relay your commands to the applications they target. AppleScript can help you in two different ways, depending on the fact if your applications are scriptable, i.e. if they have a scripting dictionary you can inspect in the AppleScript editor:
if they do, and their terminology includes the saving action for the editor on one side (most scriptable document based apps do so in the form save <document>), the page refreshing for the browser(s) on the other (Chrome has reload <tab>, Safari gets the same result via a JavaScript detour, i.e. do JavaScript "window.location.reload()" in <document> – I don’t use Firefox), you are set.
if they do not, GUI Scripting might help, i.e. simulating a click on the right UI element (menu or toolbar) via tell application "System Events" to tell process <your process> to click item x of menu y.
That script can then be embedded into the Automator workflow (in an “Run AppleScript” action, to be precise).
As you can see, a lot depends on the exact software you are using. if you are new to AppleScript and the above baffles you, I’d suggest spending a bit of time on the AppleScript pages of Mac OS X Automation (where you’ll also find example scripts which will kick start you into things like GUI Scripting).
One final note: as of this writing, sandboxed applications do not honor key combos assigned to them in the Keyboard Preference pane (they do honor global key combos set there – just not those specifically targeting them). This means you cannot, for instance, currently override TextEdit’s Cmd+S shortcut for saving in Lion. As long as your editor is not sandboxed (easily checked in Activity Monitor), you should have no issue with this.
One solution would be to create a folder action to refresh the current tab when a new file is saved in the folder.
on adding folder items to theFolder after receiving theFiles
tell application "Google Chrome"
activate
tell window 1 to tell active tab
set URL to (get URL)
end tell
end tell
end adding folder items to

AppleScript Editor record doesn't work

I have opened the AppleScript Editor and pressed Record button.
Then I run TextEdit, create a file and put some text there.
When I click the Stop button in AppleScript Editor, nothing was recorded, the window is blank.
What is the problem?
You can use the Record feature of the Automator to record the UI interaction steps needed to do the relevant workflow. Then you can then literally select and copy the recorded steps in automator and paste them into a new Applescript Editor window. This will give you applescript which may or may not work. You'll probably want/need to edit the resulting script, but at least it should help give an idea what is needed to achieve your workflow programatically. This method is usable regardless of whether or not the target application has an applescript dictionary or supports the AppleScript Editor Record button, as it is the interaction with the underlying UI elements which is recorded.
Steps:
Open Automator
Start a new "Workflow"
Start recording
Perform whatever steps you require with your app (in this case typing into textedit)
Stop recording
This will create a list of actions in Automator like:
Select all these and copy (CMD+c)
Open the Applescript Editor app
Paste (CMD+v). The result will be valid applescript to perform the actions you just recorded:
Note that as is generally the case with UI automation, the automator records steps exactly and the script plays them back exactly. This my not be exactly what you want - e.g. if a different application were active, the text could get typed in there instead. The generated applescript should be used as a guide to the final applescript.
The problem is that applications need to explicitly support AppleScript recording in order for it to work, but almost no applications actually do. Finder still supports it a bit, and maybe a couple other apps (BBEdit comes to mind), but for the most part, AppleScript recording has been pretty useless for quite some time.
Not all apps are recordable (in fact, only a small handful are). Recordablity is something each app needs to implement, and I guess TextEdit isn't recordable.

How can I change the main display via AppleScript?

From the Displays pane in System Preferences, I can manually change the main monitor by dragging the menu bar from one display to the other. I'd like to automate this and make it part of an AppleScript.
The tool I wrote, displayplacer, does this.
Configure your screens how you like, drag the "white bar" to your primary screen in the macOS system settings, and then execute displayplacer list. It will output the command to run to put your screens in their current configuration. The screen with origin:(0,0) is the main display with the "white bar". Run this terminal command through a script, Automator, BetterTouchTool, etc.
Example profile 1 puts the white bar on the menu bar on the left monitor.
displayplacer "id:<leftScreenId> res:1920x1080 scaling:on origin:(0,0) degree:0" "id:<rightScreenId> res:1920x1080 scaling:on origin:(1920,0) degree:0"
Example profile 1 puts the white bar on the menu bar on the right monitor.
displayplacer "id:<leftScreenId> res:1920x1080 scaling:on origin:(1920,0) degree:0" "id:<rightScreenId> res:1920x1080 scaling:on origin:(0,0) degree:0"
Also available via Homebrew brew tap jakehilborn/jakehilborn && brew install displayplacer
The displays are controlled by the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist preference file:
A flag controls whether the main display is the onboard screen the DisplayMainOnInternal key.
The DisplaySets key contains the list of the display sets. The first set is the one used (fact to check).
In the set, each item contains the screen properties. The IOFlags key seems to indicate if the display is the main one (value of 7) or not (value of 3).
Before going Apple Script, you may change the display configuration by hand, and save a copy of the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist file to study it.
Note that the following procedure has not been tested !!!
With AppleScript, the keys in the plist file are changed individually, in order to change the main display:
Make a backup of the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist (in case of)
Alter the display set the select the main display (DisplaySets and IOFlags keys) by using the defaults command
Restart the Window Server: killall -KILL SystemUIServer
You should see if you can do it via AppleScript's User Interface Scripting. It allows you to manipulate an application's GUI elements; useful when the app doesn't support scripting directly. I'd test it myself but I don't have any extra displays lying around.
Here's a pretty good overview by MacTech.
Much like you can tell System Events.app to sleep your Mac, you can tell Image Events.app to mess with your displays. The Image Events application provides a "displays" collection. Each display has a "profile" with lots of goodies. However, everything I just mentioned is read-only, so I don't have a good way to do it from within script.
You might have better luck in Automator – Hit record, run System Preferences, go to Displays, drag the menu bar to the other screen, and hit stop. I bet something will work.
Using AppleScript, you can invoke default to write the setting to change the main monitor.

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