Accessing panes in System Preferences

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
, ,
#1

Dear all,

I am new on this forum and started few days ago to automatize Mac OS X actions with Applescript.

I am currently working on a script which should do some system modifications like:

  • Changing the automatic login user account (System Preferences/Accounts/Login Options/Automatic Login)
  • Modifying the startup and shut down time (System Preferences/Energy Saver/Schedule)

I was able to find resources on the Internet about accessing the panes, it seems that they have different names, of course, but which one would be for Accounts and for Energy Saver?

Panes I found are com.apple.preference.universalaccess for acessing Universal Access, com.apple.preference.sound, for accessing sound, etc… but for others like Accounts and Energy Saver? I did find anything, does a list exists?

For instance the following script show the Universal Access pane

tell application “System Preferences”
activate
set current pane to pane “com.apple.preference.universalaccess”
end tell

So how could I access the Accounts and sub options pane?

Also, do you know some usefull resources or links or online books which may help me for this works?

Thanks a lot for you help and have a great day,
Philippe

Model: Mac Book Pro
AppleScript: 2.1.2
Browser: Firefox 15.0.1
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.8)

#2

Hello and welcome to MacScripter

There are Info.plist files, that specifies the anchors to be used inside the preferencepane.pref files in /System/Library/PreferencePanes. You can open them as packages to get to their contents. Read MacScripter / Exporting a Plist Dict as a string for a better description.

#3

Dear McUser,

Thank you very much for your help :slight_smile:

I would like to know, from now, what would be the best way to define an autologin user?
I think I should have administrator privileges too (how?)

One more question, do you know a very good resources, book, to learn Applescript and tweak system preferences?

Many thanks in advance and have a great day :slight_smile:
Philippe

#4

Hello!

I don’t use autologin users, and now that the keychain is penetrated, I wouldn’t consider having administrators privileges on such an account.

I think you find a way to automatically log in as one particular user in the login preferences pane. I don’t use such a scheme, and doesn’t know anything about it.

The very best resources book for starters, as a reference, is Applescript Language Guide that are delivered with your system with the Developers tools, there are also an abundance of tutorials here, at the “Unscripted”, and the “Kitchen Sink” sections among the forums here.here that are well worth a read as tutorials. But by all means, reading the Applescript Language guide is a must.

To tweak the system preferences isn’t easy, some must be scripted with UI Scripting, with others, you can set values in propertylist files, or other files, to avoid it, it is all up to the preference pane in question.

I belive a lot of values in preferences panes have been set here, so you should really search through this forum.

Good luck with your endeavours!