Great stuff, Nigel – I’ve used it already 
OK. Before knocking this subject on the head altogether, I’d like to offer my “director’s cut” version of the script. Assuming that the user’s most likely to have the target application open already, it asks him/her to choose from a list of running applications rather than to navigate to a file. The text output to TextEdit contains tabbed object specifiers rather than full references, which gives a clearer idea of the structure. For people like me who have TextEdit set up to default to “Wrap to Page”, the script makes the new window “Wrap to Window”. I prefer an ordinary handler to an explicit run handler. It keeps all the variables local and thus non-persistent.
-- By squaline (alias partron22?), emendelson, and Nigel Garvey.
on main()
tell application "System Events" to set appNames to name of application processes whose visible is true
tell application (path to frontmost application as text)
set appChoice to (choose from list appNames with prompt "Which running application?" with title "Choose an application")
if (appChoice is false) then error number -128
set appName to item 1 of appChoice
set setChoice to (choose from list {"Front Window", "Menu Bar"} with prompt "Which UI element set(s)?" with title "Choose an element set" with multiple selections allowed)
if (setChoice is false) then error number -128
set setFlag to ((setChoice contains "Front Window") as integer) + (((setChoice contains "Menu Bar") as integer) * 2)
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell application process appName
set frontmost to true
set {windowExists, menuExists} to {front window exists, menu bar 1 exists}
end tell
end tell
set {winstuff, menustuff} to {"(No window open)", "(No menu!)"}
if ((setFlag is not 2) and (windowExists)) then set winstuff to elementListing(appName, "front window")
if ((setFlag > 1) and (menuExists)) then set menustuff to elementListing(appName, "menu bar 1")
tell application "TextEdit"
activate
make new document at the front
set the text of the front document to item setFlag of {winstuff, menustuff, winstuff & linefeed & "-----" & linefeed & menustuff}
set WrapToWindow to text 2 thru -1 of (localized string "&Wrap to Window")
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "TextEdit"
tell menu item WrapToWindow of menu 1 of menu bar item 5 of menu bar 1
if ((it exists) and (it is enabled)) then perform action "AXPress"
end tell
end tell
end tell
return -- nothing.
end main
on elementListing(appName, elementSet)
-- Get a textual representation of the entire contents of the element set
set stuff to text 2 thru -2 of (do shell script "osascript -e 'tell app \"System Events\" to tell application process \"" & appName & "\" to get entire contents of " & elementSet & "' -s s")
-- If the representation contains chevron codes instead of keywords, create a script containing the representation in its source code, store it in the Temporary Items folder, and run "osadecompile" on it. (This may not be necessary now the representation's obtained with "osascript" instead of the error message hack.)
if (stuff does not contain "application process \"") then
try
set scpt to (run script "script
tell app \"System Events\"
{" & stuff & "}
end
end")
on error errMsg
tell application (path to frontmost application as text) to display dialog errMsg buttons {"OK"} default button 1 with icon caution
return errMsg
end try
set tmpPath to (path to temporary items as text) & "Entire contents.scpt"
store script scpt in file tmpPath replacing yes
set stuff to (do shell script "osadecompile " & quoted form of POSIX path of tmpPath)
set stuff to text from text item 2 to text item -2 of stuff
end if
-- Break up the text, using "\"System Events\", " as a delimiter.
set astid to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "\"System Events\", "
set stuff to stuff's text items
-- Insert a textual "reference" to the root object at the beginning of the resulting list.
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " of "
set beginning of stuff to (text from text item 2 to -1 of item 1 of stuff) & "\"System Events\""
-- Reduce the remaining "reference" fragments to object _specifiers, tabbed according to the number of elements in the references.
set tabs to tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab
set tabs to tabs & tabs
repeat with i from 2 to (count stuff)
set thisLine to item i of stuff
set lineBits to thisLine's text items
-- Make sure any " of "s in element names aren't mistaken for those of the reference!
set elementCount to 0
set nameContinuation to false
repeat with j from 1 to (count lineBits)
set thisBit to item j of lineBits
if ((not ((nameContinuation) or (thisBit contains "\""))) or ((thisBit ends with "\"") and (thisBit does not end with "\\\"")) or (thisBit ends with "\\\\\"")) then
-- thisBit is either a complete nameless-element _specifier or it ends the right way to be either a complete named one or the completion of a name.
set nameContinuation to false
set elementCount to elementCount + 1
if (elementCount is 1) then set _specifier to text 1 thru text item j of thisLine
else
-- The next "bit" will be the continuation of a name containing " of ".
set nameContinuation to true
end if
end repeat
set item i of stuff to (text 1 thru (elementCount - 3) of tabs) & _specifier
end repeat
-- Coerce back to a single text, inserting line feeds between the items.
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to linefeed
set stuff to stuff as text
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to astid
return stuff
end elementListing
main()
Edit: A couple of minor changes in the light of the comments below.
Edit 2: Text representations of the UI element lists now obtained using “osascript” with the -s option instead of the error-message hack. Subsidiary handler renamed to reflect the modified script layout. Length of tab string doubled. McUsr’s choice-of-element-set suggestion incorporated.
Edit 3: ‘linefeed’ instead of ‘return’ in the TextEdit code, to match the linefeeds inserted by the other handler. It makes a difference if you decide to use TextWrangler instead of TextEdit for the display.
Edit 4: Here’s an alternative elementListing() handler which uses “sed” instead of vanilla AppleScript to produce the indented text. It’s very much shorter, though not very much faster. The line endings in the shell script should all be linefeeds.
on elementListing(appName, elementSet)
return text 1 thru -2 of (do shell script ("osascript -e 'tell app \"System Events\" to tell application process \"" & appName & "\" to get entire contents of " & elementSet & "' -s s |
sed -E 's/\\\"System Events\\\", /\\\"System Events\\\"\\'$'\\n''/g ; # Put each ''list item'' on its own line.' |
sed -E '# Make two lines from the first: the first with the root reference and the second with the indented first child specifier.
1 s/^{(.+) of ((window |menu bar [^i]).+)$/\\2\\'$'\\n'$'\\t''\\1/ ;
1 !{ # Extract and indent the specifiers from the remaining lines:
s/ of ((window |menu bar [^i]).+$)?/'$'\\t''/g ; # Substitute tabs for the root reference and all '' of ''s.
:tillDone
s/(\\\"[^'$'\\t''\\\"]+)'$'\\t''([^\\\"]*)/\\1 of \\2/g ; # Reinstate '' of ''s between quotes.
t tillDone
s/'$'\\t''[^'$'\\t'']+/'$'\\t''/g ; # Zap the stuff after each tab, leaving the current specifier & trailing tabs.
s/^([^'$'\\t'']+)(['$'\\t'']+)$/\\2\\1/ ; # Swap round the specifier and the tabs.
} ;'") without altering line endings)
end elementListing
Nigel,
That is really superb. The tabbed output is beautifully clear. The whole script is a model of intelligence and efficiency. Thank you again.
For reasons I haven’t sorted, the final script compiles beautifully in the Script Editor (under Lion), but will not compile in Script Debugger 4.5 giving several “access not allowed” errors. It will not compile in SD4.5 in Snow Leopard either, btw, so I don’t think it’s Lion; it’s SD4.5 that’s baulking. In either case when I run it in the Script Editor is says “s” is undefined
Hi, Adam.
There is no variable ‘s’, so maybe one of the apostrophe-s-es has come adrift. Just guessing, but do you have an OSAX or something with the keyword ‘stuff’? I seem to remember having one on my old 4400 which used the StuffIt engine.
On the other hand, the ‘stuff’ variable is in the previous version of the script and didn’t cause you any trouble. 
The conflict with Script Debugger 4.5 is the word specifier as a variable – it’s a dictionary word in SD4.5. Changing it to “spec” does the trick for both compilation AND operation. Works a treat, Nigel.
This is a very impressive script and will help me greatly!
I did have an execution error and needed to add several ‘& tab’ pairs to the ‘set tabs’ line.
Bill
Hi. Welcome to MacScripter.
Thanks for the feedback. I’ve edited the script above in the light of your and Adam’s comments. Twelve tabs weren’t enough?! :o
Hello! 
I got some Internal Table overflow errors, so I tinkered the Brilliant script to just give one chunk of output at a time, either window or menu.
I hope you forgive me!
property ScriptTitle : "UI Properties"
-- By squaline (alias partron22?), emendelson, and Nigel Garvey.
-- http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=37674
on main()
try
tell application "System Events"
set appNames to name of application processes whose visible is true
set curApp to name of first application process whose frontmost is true
end tell
tell application curApp
set appChoice to (choose from list appNames with prompt "Which running application?" with title "Choose an application")
if (appChoice is false) then error number -128
try
set outputType to button returned of (display dialog "Choose output" with title ScriptTitle buttons {"Cancel", "Menu", "Window"} default button 2 cancel button 1 with icon 1)
on error
error number -128
end try
end tell
set appName to item 1 of appChoice
tell application "System Events"
tell application process appName
set frontmost to true
set {windowExists, menuExists} to {front window exists, menu bar 1 exists}
set {winstuff, menustuff} to {"(No window open)", "(No menu!)"}
if outputType is "Window" then
if (windowExists) then
set winstuff to my listToText(entire contents of front window)
else
error number 3000
end if
else
if (menuExists) then
set menustuff to my listToText(entire contents of menu bar 1)
else
error number 3001
end if
end if
end tell
end tell
on error e number n
tell application "System Events" to set frontmost of application process curApp to true
tell application curApp to activate
if n = 3000 then
tell application curApp to display alert "No windows to gather data from!"
else if n = 3001 then
tell application curApp to display alert "No menu to gather data from!"
end if
error number -128
end try
tell application "TextEdit"
activate
make new document at the front
if outputType is "Window" then
set the text of the front document to winstuff
else
set the text of the front document to menustuff
end if
set WrapToWindow to text 2 thru -1 of (localized string "&Wrap to Window")
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "TextEdit"
tell menu item WrapToWindow of menu 1 of menu bar item 5 of menu bar 1
if ((it exists) and (it is enabled)) then perform action "AXPress"
end tell
end tell
end tell
tell application curApp to activate
do shell script "open -b \"com.apple.textedit\""
end main
on listToText(entireContents) -- (Handler specialised for lists of System Events references.)
try
|| of entireContents -- Deliberate error.
on error stuff -- Get the error message
end try
-- Parse the message.
set astid to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"{", "}"} -- Snow Leopard or later.
set stuff to text from text item 2 to text item -2 of stuff
-- If the list text isn't in decompiled form, create a script containing the list in its source code, store it in the Temporary Items folder, and run "osadecompile" on it.
if (stuff does not contain "application process \"") then
try
set scpt to (run script "script
tell app \"System Events\"
{" & stuff & "}
end
end")
on error errMsg
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to astid
tell application (path to frontmost application as text) to display dialog errMsg buttons {"OK"} default button 1 with icon caution
return errMsg
end try
set tmpPath to (path to temporary items as text) & "Entire contents.scpt"
store script scpt in file tmpPath replacing yes
set stuff to (do shell script "osadecompile " & quoted form of POSIX path of tmpPath)
set stuff to text from text item 2 to text item -2 of stuff
end if
-- Break up the text, using "\"System Events\", " as a delimiter.
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "\"System Events\", "
set stuff to stuff's text items
-- Insert a textual "reference" to the root object at the beginning of the resulting list.
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " of "
set beginning of stuff to (text from text item 2 to -1 of item 1 of stuff) & "\"System Events\""
-- Reduce the remaining "reference" fragments to object specifiers, tabbed according to the number of elements in the references.
set tabs to tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab
set tabs to tabs & tabs
set tabs to tabs & tabs -- 32 tabs should be enough!
repeat with i from 2 to (count stuff)
set thisLine to item i of stuff
set lineBits to thisLine's text items
-- Make sure any " of "s in element names aren't mistaken for those of the reference!
set elementCount to 0
set nameContinuation to false
repeat with j from 1 to (count lineBits)
set thisBit to item j of lineBits
if ((not ((nameContinuation) or (thisBit contains "\""))) or ((thisBit ends with "\"") and (thisBit does not end with "\\\"")) or (thisBit ends with "\\\\\"")) then
-- thisBit is either a complete nameless-element specifier or it ends the right way to be either a complete named one or the completion of a name.
set nameContinuation to false
set elementCount to elementCount + 1
if (elementCount is 1) then set spec to text 1 thru text item j of thisLine
else
-- The next "bit" will be the continuation of a name containing " of ".
set nameContinuation to true
end if
end repeat
set item i of stuff to (text 1 thru (elementCount - 3) of tabs) & spec
end repeat
-- Coerce back to a single text, inserting line feeds between the items.
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to linefeed
set stuff to stuff as text
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to astid
return stuff
end listToText
main()
I’ve made a few improvements to the script in post #17. Details at the bottom of the post.
In the latest version of Lion (10.7.5) and Script Debugger 5.0.4 the line (which is fine in AppleScript Editor):
if (elementCount is 1) then set specifier to text 1 thru text item j of thisLine
fails because specifier is a key word in SD’s dictionary. Changing specifier to _specifier everywhere solves that problem for SD users.
Further of course, users of this script must have a copy of Nigel’s Insertion Sort script or the line loading it will fail. Here’s my copy:
(* Insertion sort
Algorithm: unknown author.
AppleScript implementation: Arthur J. Knapp and Nigel Garvey, 2003.
Parameters: (list, range index 1, range index 2)
*)
on insertionSort(theList, l, r)
script o
property lst : theList
end script
-- Process the input parmeters.
set listLen to (count theList)
if (listLen > 1) then
-- Negative and/or transposed range indices.
if (l < 0) then set l to listLen + l + 1
if (r < 0) then set r to listLen + r + 1
if (l > r) then set {l, r} to {r, l}
-- Do the sort.
set u to item l of o's lst -- The highest value sorted so far!
repeat with j from (l + 1) to r
-- Get the next unsorted value.
set v to item j of o's lst
if (v < u) then
-- If it's less than highest sorted value, initialise the insertion location to the beginning of the range. This will usually be changed below when a more suitable slot's found.
set here to l
-- Work back through the already sorted items, moving up those with greater values than this one, until a lesser or equal value or the beginning of the range is reached.
set item j of o's lst to u
repeat with i from (j - 2) to l by -1
tell item i of o's lst
if (it > v) then
-- Greater value. Move it up one position.
set item (i + 1) of o's lst to it
else
-- Lesser or equal value. Set the vacated slot after it as the insertion location.
set here to i + 1
exit repeat
end if
end tell
end repeat
-- Insert the value for insertion at the appropriate location.
set item here of o's lst to v
else
-- The value's greater than or equal to the highest sorted so far. It's now the highest itself.
set u to v
end if
end repeat
end if
return -- nothing.
end insertionSort
property sort : insertionSort
(* Demo:
set l to {}
repeat 1000 times
set end of my l to (random number 1000)
end repeat
sort(l, 1, -1)
l
*)
Thanks, Adam. I’d regard the ‘specifier’ thing as a fault in Script Debugger. Its own keywords shouldn’t get in the way of the scripts it’s running or editing. But I’ve changed ‘specifier’ to ‘_specifier’ in the posted code.
The sort is just a cosmetic nicety from my own copy of the script and I’ve now cut it from the posted version.
What’s interesting about “specifier” is that it works in OS X 10.8, but not in 10.7 or 10.6. What happens is that the word specifier is changed to the word reference by the compiler. For some reason the AppleScript Editor deals with that, but Script Debugger does not. The author of SD is looking into it.
I assume you meant to include a “not” in there, but what you’re asking for is probably impossible given the way AS works. Here’s a counter example:
set language to 5
That compiles fine in Script Debugger 5, with language as a variable, but it won’t compile in ASE because language is one of its keywords. I don’t think there’s anyway around that sort of thing, other than having a minimal dictionary and using multi-word terms as much as possible. (Earlier versions of Script Debugger used to offer the option of turning the dictionary off to avoid the problem, but I don’t know that that is practical with Cocoa scripting.)
The problem with specifier stems in part from the decision at some stage to change the terminology used in AS dictionaries. Where once, for example, the move command would specify a direct parameter of type reference, it now specifies type specifier. But the specifier type isn’t actually defined anywhere, so it’s a type that’s a bit in no-man’s land.
Script Debugger has actually defined the specifier type in its dictionary, and I suspect that’s a sensible thing to do. Making it a synonym for reference was required to avoid the term reference compiling as specifier because they both point to the same thing (Cocoa’s NSScriptObjectSpecifier).
Probably more than anyone wanted to know…
Oops. Yes. I was concentrating so hard on trying to get “its” and “it’s” right, I missed that. Now corrected.
Thanks for the background. I hadn’t noticed the ‘language’ thing before.
In sd-talk today, Matt Neuburg points out that on p. 331 of his “AppleScript: The Definitive Guide” (which I have) in the chapter on Dictionaries and wildcards, he points out:
Just for interest, I’ve had a go a “sed” alternative to the vanilla AppleScript formatting code in my script. It’s not appreciably faster and is noted separately in Edit 4 at the bottom of post #17.
I added memory - when this script is saved and runs as an applet, it remembers and re-selects from the list (if that is still running) the app you previously chose.
property ScriptTitle : "UI Properties"
property appName : ""
-- By squaline (alias partron22?), emendelson, and Nigel Garvey.
-- http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=37674
on main()
try
tell application "System Events"
set appNames to name of application processes whose visible is true
set curApp to name of first application process whose frontmost is true
end tell
tell application curApp
if length of appName is not 0 and appNames contains appName then
set appChoice to (choose from list appNames with prompt "Which running application?" with title "Choose an application" default items {appName})
else
set appChoice to (choose from list appNames with prompt "Which running application?" with title "Choose an application")
end if
if (appChoice is false) then error number -128
try
set outputType to button returned of (display dialog "Choose output" with title ScriptTitle buttons {"Cancel", "Menu", "Window"} default button 2 cancel button 1 with icon 1)
on error
error number -128
end try
end tell
set appName to item 1 of appChoice
tell application "System Events"
tell application process appName
set frontmost to true
set {windowExists, menuExists} to {front window exists, menu bar 1 exists}
set {winstuff, menustuff} to {"(No window open)", "(No menu!)"}
if outputType is "Window" then
if (windowExists) then
set winstuff to my listToText(entire contents of front window)
else
error number 3000
end if
else
if (menuExists) then
set menustuff to my listToText(entire contents of menu bar 1)
else
error number 3001
end if
end if
end tell
end tell
on error e number n
tell application "System Events" to set frontmost of application process curApp to true
tell application curApp to activate
if n = 3000 then
tell application curApp to display alert "No windows to gather data from!"
else if n = 3001 then
tell application curApp to display alert "No menu to gather data from!"
end if
error number -128
end try
tell application "TextEdit"
activate
make new document at the front
if outputType is "Window" then
set the text of the front document to winstuff
else
set the text of the front document to menustuff
end if
set WrapToWindow to text 2 thru -1 of (localized string "&Wrap to Window")
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "TextEdit"
tell menu item WrapToWindow of menu 1 of menu bar item 5 of menu bar 1
if ((it exists) and (it is enabled)) then perform action "AXPress"
end tell
end tell
end tell
tell application curApp to activate
do shell script "open -b \"com.apple.textedit\""
end main
on listToText(entireContents) -- (Handler specialised for lists of System Events references.)
try
|| of entireContents -- Deliberate error.
on error stuff -- Get the error message
end try
-- Parse the message.
set astid to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"{", "}"} -- Snow Leopard or later.
set stuff to text from text item 2 to text item -2 of stuff
-- If the list text isn't in decompiled form, create a script containing the list in its source code, store it in the Temporary Items folder, and run "osadecompile" on it.
if (stuff does not contain "application process \"") then
try
set scpt to (run script "script
tell app \"System Events\"
{" & stuff & "}
end
end")
on error errMsg
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to astid
tell application (path to frontmost application as text) to display dialog errMsg buttons {"OK"} default button 1 with icon caution
return errMsg
end try
set tmpPath to (path to temporary items as text) & "Entire contents.scpt"
store script scpt in file tmpPath replacing yes
set stuff to (do shell script "osadecompile " & quoted form of POSIX path of tmpPath)
set stuff to text from text item 2 to text item -2 of stuff
end if
-- Break up the text, using "\"System Events\", " as a delimiter.
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "\"System Events\", "
set stuff to stuff's text items
-- Insert a textual "reference" to the root object at the beginning of the resulting list.
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " of "
set beginning of stuff to (text from text item 2 to -1 of item 1 of stuff) & "\"System Events\""
-- Reduce the remaining "reference" fragments to object specifiers, tabbed according to the number of elements in the references.
set tabs to tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab & tab
set tabs to tabs & tabs
set tabs to tabs & tabs -- 32 tabs should be enough!
repeat with i from 2 to (count stuff)
set thisLine to item i of stuff
set lineBits to thisLine's text items
-- Make sure any " of "s in element names aren't mistaken for those of the reference!
set elementCount to 0
set nameContinuation to false
repeat with j from 1 to (count lineBits)
set thisBit to item j of lineBits
if ((not ((nameContinuation) or (thisBit contains "\""))) or ((thisBit ends with "\"") and (thisBit does not end with "\\\"")) or (thisBit ends with "\\\\\"")) then
-- thisBit is either a complete nameless-element specifier or it ends the right way to be either a complete named one or the completion of a name.
set nameContinuation to false
set elementCount to elementCount + 1
if (elementCount is 1) then set spec to text 1 thru text item j of thisLine
else
-- The next "bit" will be the continuation of a name containing " of ".
set nameContinuation to true
end if
end repeat
set item i of stuff to (text 1 thru (elementCount - 3) of tabs) & spec
end repeat
-- Coerce back to a single text, inserting line feeds between the items.
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to linefeed
set stuff to stuff as text
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to astid
return stuff
end listToText
main()
Cool, I’m surprised at how robust this script has proven. Ten plus years, and only minor tweaking needed in a GUI script? That’s practically heresy.
Small correction: I’m Squalene over at Mac OS X Hints, not ‘Squaline’.
Nigel — this UI parsing script is fantastic.
Now…imagine this. Instead of text output, send your parsed list into OmniOutliner. Then you generate a very neat outline which is parseable using Applescript (or Javascript if you prefer).
So in OmniOutliner you might have:
A. Menu Bar 1
1. Menu “File”
a) Menu Item “Quit”
(ignore obvious errors in how UI scripting lists these things…it’s just an example)
Then you click on what you want your UI script to run, selecting it, and run a script which does this:
tell application "OmniOutliner"
tell its document "UI Listing for TextEdit Menubar"
set mySel to selected rows
set myAncestors to (every ancestor of item 1 of mySel)
end tell
set thetext to "CLICK " & name of item 1 of mySel
repeat with x in myAncestors
set thetext to thetext & "OF " & name of x
end repeat
thetext
end tell
If you select ‘a) Menu Item “Quit”’ and run the script, it returns something like: click menu item “Quit” of Menu “File” of Menubar 1
Then you just paste that into your script.