My friends and I are currently writing a “butler” script, simply because we just recently discovered applescript, and though it would be cool to be able to control the entire computer via speech commands. We’ve gotten a lot done so far, and have made some progress. However, there are still a lot details that need to be ironed out. We are also working collaboratively on the script through our shared dropbox folder. So pieces of it get added at a time. It’s a work in progress, but in order for it to work, the speech recognition server is vital. And, for some reason, we can’t get it to work!
This is the butler script we have so far, without my latest addition. Essentially what this does is tell the user the time, date, and current weather. It also notify’s the user of any new mail, and explains the user’s calendar events in great detail for events of that day and in the nearby future. At the end, it asks if it would like to open one of my three favorite websites via speech. (My addition that the others can change to what they want). This all works well. Now, see below this applescript.
tell application "Mail"
check for new mail
end tell
--This starts the get weather script
--you will need to set the web address below for your city, I live in Bakersfield, CA, so it's currently set to the weather there.
set weather to "curl " & quote & "http://weather.yahooapis.com/forecastrss?w=12796826&u=f" & quote
set postWeather to "grep -E '(Current Conditions:|F<BR)'"
set forecast to do shell script weather & " | " & postWeather
set voiceweather to (characters 1 through -8 of paragraph 2 of forecast) as string
--This starts the get date script
set CalendarDate to date string of (current date)
set CurrentDateHours to hours of (current date)
if CurrentDateHours is greater than or equal to 0 and CurrentDateHours is less than 12 then
set CurrentDateGreeting to "Good morning sir." as string
end if
if CurrentDateHours is greater than or equal to 12 and CurrentDateHours is less than 18 then
set CurrentDateGreeting to "Good afternoon sir." as string
end if
if CurrentDateHours is greater than or equal to 18 and CurrentDateHours is less than 24 then
set CurrentDateGreeting to "Good evening sir." as string
end if
if CurrentDateHours is greater than 12 then
set CurrentDateHours to CurrentDateHours - 12 as string
set CurrentDateAMPM to "PM" as string
else
set CurrentDateAMPM to "AM" as string
end if
set CurrentDateMinutes to minutes of (current date) as string
if CurrentDateMinutes is less than 10 then
set CurrentDateMinutes to "0" & CurrentDateMinutes as string
end if
if CurrentDateHours is equal to 0 then
set CurrentDateHours to 12 as string
end if
--New Message Script
tell application "Mail"
set UnreadCount to 0
set res to {}
set res to unread count of every mailbox
repeat with i in res
set UnreadCount to UnreadCount + i
end repeat
set alist to every account whose enabled is true
repeat with af in alist
set UnreadCount to UnreadCount + (unread count of mailbox "INBOX" of af)
end repeat
end tell
set MessagesPlural to " new messages."
if UnreadCount is equal to 1 then
set MessagesPlural to " new message."
end if
if UnreadCount is equal to 0 then
set UnreadCount to "no" as string
tell application "Mail"
quit
end tell
--Matt added a quit if no new mail
end if
--And this is where the magic happens
say CurrentDateGreeting & " Today is " & CalendarDate & ". It is " & CurrentDateHours & ":" & CurrentDateMinutes & " " & CurrentDateAMPM & ". The weather currently is a " & voiceweather & "degrees. You have " & UnreadCount & MessagesPlural
if UnreadCount is not "no" then
quit application "Mail"
say "I will open your inbox for you now"
try
tell application "Mail"
activate
tell the front message viewer
set unreadMessages to (the messages whose ¬
read status is false) as list
if (count of unreadMessages) is not 0 then
set selected messages to {the first item of unreadMessages}
else
beep
end if
end tell
end tell
on error error_message
beep
display dialog "Error looking for next unread message: " & ¬
return & return & error_message buttons {"OK"} default button 1
end try
end if
--This is the iCal script
set Now to current date
set TodaysDate to date string of Now
set MidnightToday to (date TodaysDate)
set MidnightTomorrow to (date TodaysDate) + (1 * days)
tell application "iCal"
set AllCalendars to every calendar
repeat with EachCalendar in AllCalendars
set CalendarName to name of EachCalendar
set TodaysEvents to (every event of EachCalendar ¬
whose (start date is greater than MidnightToday and ¬
start date is less than MidnightTomorrow) or ¬
(start date is MidnightToday and allday event is true))
repeat with EachEvent in TodaysEvents
if contents of EachEvent is not missing value then
set TheEvent to contents of EachEvent
set EventProperties to properties of TheEvent
set EventName to summary of EventProperties
set EventLocation to location of EventProperties
set EventDescription to description of EventProperties
if not (allday event of EventProperties) then
set EventTime to "at " & time string of start date of EventProperties
if start date of EventProperties comes before Now then
set EventStillToCome to false
else
set EventStillToCome to true
end if
else
set EventTime to ", All Day"
set EventStillToCome to true
end if
if EventStillToCome then
set EventAttendees to attendees of TheEvent
set AttendeeNames to ""
repeat with EachAttendee in EventAttendees
set AttendeeName to display name of EachAttendee
set AttendeeNames to AttendeeNames & " ," & AttendeeName
end repeat
--Me trying to remove the seconds from the message (Success btw!)
try
set EventTime to (characters 1 thru 8 of EventTime) & " " & (characters 13 thru 14 of EventTime) as string
on error
set EventTime to (characters 1 thru 7 of EventTime) & " " & (characters 12 thru 13 of EventTime) as string
end try
--Start building message
set EventMsg to ""
set EventMsg to EventMsg & EventTime & ", "
set EventMsg to EventMsg & "is the " & EventName
if EventLocation is not in {missing value, ""} then ¬
set EventMsg to EventMsg & ", at " & EventLocation
set EventMsg to EventMsg & ". "
if EventDescription is not in {missing value, ""} then ¬
set EventMsg to EventMsg & "The notes indicate: " & EventDescription & ". "
if EventAttendees is not {} then ¬
set EventMsg to EventMsg & "Expected attendees are " & AttendeeNames & ". "
say EventMsg
end if
end if
end repeat
end repeat
end tell
--This is the goodbyes
--Inserted "Colors" script
set MyApp to {"Yes, Facebook", "Yes, Fox News", "Yes, Life Hacker", "No"}
--This is where Snow Leopard fails. There is no pause for it to listen here. And I can't figure out how to fix it -Scott.
try
tell application "SpeechRecognitionServer"
set YourApp to (listen for MyApp with prompt "Would you like me to open Facebook, Fox News, or Life Hacker?" displaying MyApp giving up after 30)
end tell
on error
delay 10
say "Let me know if I can be of any further assistance. And have a wonderful rest of your day!"
end try
if YourApp is "Yes, Facebook" then
tell application "Safari"
open location "http://www.facebook.com/"
end tell
end if
if YourApp is "Yes, Fox News" then
tell application "Safari"
open location "[url=http://www.foxnews.com]www.foxnews.com[/url]"
end tell
end if
if YourApp is "Yes, Life Hacker" then
tell application "Safari"
open location "[url=http://www.lifehacker.com]www.lifehacker.com[/url]"
end tell
end if
if YourApp is "No" then
say "Alright then"
end if
say "Let me know if I can be of further assistance, and have a wonderful rest of your day!"
This is the latest addition that I’ve been trying to add to it. At the end, instead of simply saying “let me know if you can be of further assistance,” it will actually be a functional question “Do you require further assistance?” and from there the user can respond based on the currently few meager options I’ve put in. This script works fine by itself, but doesn’t work at all when I put it in the other one! Honestly, I have no idea where to put it to make it functional at the end.
set Response1 to {"Yes", "No"}
set Response2 to {"Applications", "Logging out"}
try
tell application "SpeechRecognitionServer"
set chosenanswer to (listen for Response1 with prompt "Do you require further assistance?" displaying Response1 giving up after 15)
end tell
-- if's --
if chosenanswer is "Yes" then
say "Options are: Help opening applications, or Help logging out?"
tell application "SpeechRecognitionServer"
set Chosenanswer2 to (listen for Response2 displaying Response2 giving up after 15)
end tell
-- if's 2.0 --
if Chosenanswer2 is "Applications" then
tell application "SpeechRecognitionServer"
set chosenanswer3 to (listen for Response1 with prompt "to open an application, simply say open, and then the application name. Would you like me to list a few of the applications available via speech launch?" displaying Response1 giving up after 15)
if chosenanswer3 is "yes" then
say "Safari, Mail, Finder, Ichat, and Itunes are all good examples of programs that can be opened via speech."
end if
end tell
end if
if Chosenanswer2 is "Logging out" then
say "this applescript has the potential for functionality!"
end if
end if
if chosenanswer is "No" then
say "Have a wonderful day"
end if
on error
say "Hmm, it appears as if Snow Leopard is sucking at life again."
end try
Also the main problem I’m having with this script is that it doesn’t work in snow leopard! If you answer “yes” to this question, it lists the two options, applications and logging out. But then the speech input bubble disappears and doesn’t let you speak anymore!!! I was frustrated, so I sent it to my friend who has leopard who is working on this with me, and on his computer it worked fine! It didn’t work on my cousin’s snow leopard machine either. So I guess my main questions are: 1) Where should I put this script to make it work, even if it’s just in leopard? & 2) How can I get this script to work in snow leopard like it’s supposed to without the speech bubble shutting down?
Just a tip: My cousin and I found a way to make it work, but it’s ineffective and slow. If you run a shell script to force quit speechrecognitionserver right before you need it to work, and then you tell the application to activate and then you have it listen for a response with a prompt, it works okay. But it’s unreliable and slooooowwww.
Please Help! And thankyou in advance for any responses!
Model: Macbook Pro 15"
Browser: Safari 533.17.8
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.6)
