I often use TextEdit docs to provide feedback about the progress of an AppleScript application (the app periodically writes to the TextEdit doc), but it sometimes interferes when I am working with other TextEdit docs. LIkewise, I want to run other scripts while my app is running, so I can’t use AppleScript Editor’s Event Log window. Can I give my app its own window (without AS Studio)? AppleScript Runner seems to know everything about windows, but I can’t figure out how to make one. Scripting addition?
It only takes a little effort to learn enough AppleScript-Objective C to be able to create Applescript’s with windows and such using Xcode. You really don’t need to learn much C (obj or otherwise) to get things to work, Most of what you write will still be in Applescript. Xcode’s Interface builder, where you make windows, buttons, menus and such and connect them up to your script, can be a little intimidating to start with, but the book AppleScriptObjC Explored http://www.macosxautomation.com/applescript/apps/book.html is well enough written that it should get a total neophyte through the learning curve without too much pain. (Not sure what the update status is on this book, or how it relates to the EveryDay AppleScriptObjC title)
You’ll like your scripts much better when they start acting less script-like and more Mac App like.
I’d say a viable alternative is to make your app write its output to a file residing in ~/Library/Logs, and the file should end with log (yourapp.log).
Then you have the output available in Console.app (the log file should automatically be visible from the sidebar in the Console app window).
I’m sure this is true. I started learning AS Studio a few years ago. I tried to come back to it recently only to discover that Apple has dropped it (right?). That quashed my enthusiasm for trying to learn AppleScript-Objective C. Guess it’s time to give it a try. If only I could get by without sleeping.
I took a look at the book you recommended. Looks interesting but I wish I could read a few pages, like on Amazon, so I could better judge for myself. (Didn’t find it on Amazon.)
Thanks McUsrII, I’ll give this a try to use while I learn AppleScript-Objective C.
UPDATE: I’ve decided to use Google Chrome instead of Console. I never use it to surf the Web so it can run quietly in the background. I’ll write updates directly to the .txt file, then, on idle, tell Chrome to reload. That way, if I start typing furiously while the wrong program is active, I won’t break anything.