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Apple Script posts

Filed under: Features, How-tos

AppleScript: Finder commands

Now that you've mastered the tell command, it's time to introduce some of the other AppleScript commands that you may encounter.

Location command
This command will allow you to open a specific location (either on your Mac or on a web server). This command is most often used with the Finder. For instance, if you wanted to open "www.tuaw.com," then you would type:

tell application "Finder" to open location "http://www.tuaw.com"

Remember, when dealing with an application always include quote marks around the application name. When you're typing a URL, be sure to include the prefix (HTTP:, AFP:, FTP:, etc.) and include quote marks around the URL. You can also tell a specific web browser to open the URL:

tell application "Safari" to open location "http://www.tuaw.com"

However, if you use the Finder version of the script, it will open your default browser.

Continue readingAppleScript: Finder commands

Filed under: Features, How-tos

AppleScript: the Script Editor

Before you can build your first AppleScript you need to know some basics: what a script-able application is and how to use the Script Editor.

Script-able Applications
Basically, script-able applications are applications in which the developer has included a set of "instructions" that the Script Editor understands and can use. Some apps are not script-able but most Apple apps are and, of course, Mac OS X itself is script-able.

The Script Editor
The Script Editor is a very simple application, but it allows you to do some very powerful things. The Script Editor is located in your Applications folder (Applications : AppleScript : Script Editor.app) by default. The editor has a simple interface with a prominent text entry area. It also has 5 buttons in the toolbar; for now we will only focus on the "Run" and "Stop" buttons. The run button will run the currently typed script, and the stop button will cancel a running script.

Continue readingAppleScript: the Script Editor

Filed under: Software, Mods

Export Stickies text via Applescript

As you may know, Apple's Stickies isn't directly scriptable via Applescript (technically, you can send a system event). Still, one enterprising soul has discovered a work around, and posted it to Mac OS X Hints. His script creates a new text file, one for each Sticky. Once you've got your text file, you can do whatever you wish with it.

The script's author notes that his script only works on text for the time being; images will not be exported.

As reader Eric notes, this script is for the Stickies application, not the Dashboard widget. Ignore the fact that I used an image of the widget for this post (it just looked so nice).

Tip of the Day

Use Spotlight as a reference tool. Type any word in the Spotlight box and one of the top entries will be a definition. Click on it, and it will bring up the dictionary application to check the word in either the dictionary, thesaurus, Apple database, or Wikipedia.


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