Learn AppleScript: The Comprehensive Guide to Scripting and Automation on Mac OS X, Third Edition
- 20h 12m
- Hamish Sanderson, Hanaan Rosenthal
- Apress
- 2010
AppleScript is an English-like, easy-to-understand scripting language built into every Mac. AppleScript can automate hundreds of AppleScriptable applications, performing tasks both large and small, complex and simple.
Learn AppleScript: The Comprehensive Guide to Scripting and Automation on Mac OS X, Third Edition has been completely updated for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. It’s all here, with an emphasis on practical information that will help you solve any automation problem—from the most mundane repetitive tasks to highly integrated workflows of complex systems.
- Friendly enough for beginners, detailed enough for advanced AppleScripters
- Includes major contributions from expert AppleScripters: Emmanuel Levy, Harald Monihart, Ian Piper, Shane Stanley, Barry Wainwright, Craig Williams, and foreword by AppleScript inventor, William Cook
What you’ll learn
- See how AppleScript represents information as objects—including numbers, strings, lists, and records.
- Learn how to manipulate these objects using commands and operators, and how to store them in variables.
- Organize your code using handlers and script objects.
- Understand how applications describe their objects and commands in dictionaries and how to interpret that information when learning to script applications.
- Manipulate the Mac OS X file system.
- Automate iTunes, Mail, iCal, and other popular lifestyle applications in Mac OS X.
- Discover sophisticated text processing techniques using regular expressions.
- Script professional productivity applications—Apple iWork, Microsoft Office, FileMaker Pro, and Adobe InDesign.
- Harness the power of the Unix command line in Mac OS X.
- Create your own Cocoa applications with the new AppleScriptObjC bridge.
About the Authors
The founder of Custom Flow Solutions, Hanaan Rosenthal developed his first drawing program and published a programming newsletter at the age of 11. He became a digital media and prepress consultant in 1991, specializing in Mac publishing. In 1996 he took on his first full-blown AppleScript automation project and never looked back. Since then he has helped reshape the workflow of numerous publishing companies and departments creating systems that save their owners millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours annually. His clients include Fidelity Investments, Wellington Management, The Boston Globe, and Showtime Networks.
Hamish Sanderson is a ten-year veteran of AppleScript and professional automation developer living and working in the UK. Over the years he has contributed a range of useful libraries and utilities to the AppleScript community and pops up with some regularity on the various AppleScript mailing lists. He is also the author of the highly regarded appscript library, which brings AppleScript-style application scripting support to the Python, Ruby, and Objective-C languages on Mac OS X.
In this Book
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Introducing AppleScript
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AppleScript in Principle
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AppleScript in Practice
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Writing Scripts in AppleScript Editor
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Understanding How Application Scripting Works
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Learning to Work with AppleScript Objects
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Working with Text
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Working with Numbers
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Working with Dates
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Working with Lists and Records
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Storing Objects in Variables
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More on Commands
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More on Operators and Coercions
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Making Decisions Using Conditionals and Loops
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Making Decisions When Dealing with Errors
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Interacting with the User
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Working with Files
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Organizing Your Code with Handlers
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Organizing Your Code with Script Objects
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Scripting the File System
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Scripting Apple Applications
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Extending AppleScript with Scripting Additions
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AppleScript Amenities
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Scripting iWork and Office
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Scripting Data and Databases
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Scripting Adobe InDesign
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Interacting with the Unix Command Line
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Using Smile: The AppleScript Integrated Production Environment
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Tips and Techniques for Improving Your Scripts
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Creating Cocoa Applications with AppleScriptObjC
