(Remember that you can drag the document proxy icon from a window title in Xcode into Terminal and it will paste in the path to the file.)Ī single app-defined suite is usually best, though not mandated: you could have more than one when it makes sense. If it just displays the XML, without errors or warnings, then it’s fine. Once you’ve finished editing, use the command-line xmllint program - xmllint path/to/noteland.sdef - to make sure your XML is okay. To re-indent, select all the text and choose the Editor > Structure > Re-Indent command.) (Tip: Xcode does a good job indenting XML. Noteland isn’t document-based and doesn’t print, so we removed the open and save commands, the document class, and everything to do with printing. Then, in your sdef file, go through and delete everything that doesn’t apply. Paste it right below the dictionary element in your sdef. To add it to your sdef file, copy and paste from the canonical copy of the standard suite at /System/Library/ScriptingDefinitions/CocoaStandard.sdef. It includes quitting, closing windows, making and deleting objects, querying objects, and so on. The standard suite defines classes and commands all applications should support. If you choose one - iTunes, for instance - you’ll see the classes, properties, and commands that iTunes understands.) (Tip: open AppleScript Editor and choose File > Open Dictionary… You’ll see a list of apps with scripting dictionaries. Inside the dictionary you'll find one or more suites. The top-level item is a dictionary - “dictionary” is AppleScript’s word for a scripting interface. (Speculation: Apple events survived because so many print publishers relied on AppleScript, and publishers were among Apple’s most loyal customers during the 'dark days,' in the middle and late ’90s.)Īn sdef file always starts with the same header: Additionally, it’s been around since System 7 in the early ’90s, and has survived the transition to OS X. It’s an interesting technology on its own, and has uses outside of scripting support. An Apple event is the low-level message that AppleScript generates, sends, and receives. The original name of the resource points to a matter worth noting. In fact, there was a plist version for a while, but it required two different plists that you had to keep in sync. You might think you’d prefer JSON or a plist, but XML is a decent match for this - beats an aete resource hands-down, at least. In the past, we’d create and edit an aete resource (“aete” stands for Apple Event Terminology.) These days it’s much easier: we create and edit an sdef (scripting definition) XML file. h file for scripters, but in a format that AppleScript understands. The first step is to define the scripting interface - it’s conceptually like creating a. We want users to be able to create, edit, and delete notes and tags, and to be able to access and change all of their properties, with the exception of any that are read-only. NLTag.h declares two scriptable properties: uniqueID and name. NLNote.h declares several properties: uniqueID, text, creationDate, archived, tags, and a read-only title property. There may be multiple notes, and a note may have multiple tags. We initially tried to use Swift and Xcode 6 Beta 2, but ran into snags, though it’s entirely likely they were our own fault, since we’re still learning Swift. It’s written in Objective-C in Xcode 5.1.1. It supports AppleScript (and JavaScript on 10.10). You can find it on GitHub and follow along. Noteland is an app without any UI except for a blank window - but it has a model layer, and it’s scriptable. But it doesn’t hurt that the effort is worth the reward. Overall, the best reason to add scripting support is that it’s a matter of professionalism. They can be your app’s biggest evangelists. They blog and tweet about apps, and people listen to them. While that’s usually a small minority of users, they’re power users - the kind of people who recommend apps to friends and family. Scripting isn’t a matter of automating button clicks it’s about exposing the model layer to people who could use your app in their workflows. When adding AppleScript support - which is also JavaScript support, as of OS X 10.10 - it’s best to start with your app’s data.
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