Lock Screen?

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
#1

Hey guys, i noticed in keychain that theres a option to activate a screen lock is there anyway to activate this in a applescript, i searched the dictonary but couldnt find anything on it.

#2

hi sem,

here’s a neat way to access that kind of functionality:


set normalCommand to "/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu\\ Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession -suspend"

set theQuestion to "Do you really want to lock the screen?"

set theAnswer to button returned of (display dialog theQuestion buttons {"OK", "Cancel"} default button "Cancel" with icon note)

if theAnswer is "OK" then
	do shell script normalCommand
end if

you could compile this script and set it as a “keyboard shortcut” if you wanted. you could also remove the warning, but i feel it needs that so that you don’t accidentally log out. what’s neat about this is that it does not close your open applications, but just locks the screen. i also don’t believe you need to have, “fast user switching” enabled in order to do this.

here’s where i found the command (for further reading):

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031102031045417

EDITED: to add the “?” to my question.

#3

Thanks that works great, its kinda of like fast user switching but not since i dont have it :S

#4

If you have a password required to wake from screen saver, running the screen saver wil work.


do shell script "open /System/Library/Frameworks/Screensaver.framework/Versions/A/Resources/ScreenSaverEngine.app"

I think you can also script menu extras, like if you had the keychain menu extra shown.

#5

It is simpler (and faster) to start the screensaver this way:

activate application "ScreenSaverEngine"
#6

Thanks Adam. I had found similar code but it wasn’t quite right and didn’t work.

#7

Note that, if the user attempts to dismiss the screen saver immediately after the activate command has been sent, a Process Manager error number -609 [connectionInvalid] may occur: “ScreenSaverEngine got an error: Connection is invalid.”

This can usually be avoided by using the launch command, instead:

launch application "ScreenSaverEngine"
#8

Excellent!! I occasionally get that error when I’ve touched the space bar or a key after invoking a script with “activate” in it and then I do indeed get “Connection is invalid” and hadn’t a clue why. The script is changed. Thanks.