Make Cocoa app scriptable

[tneison]

I’d like to add one simple script command to a Cocoa/Swift app. However all the example tutorials are 1) really old 2) far more complicated than what I have in mind.

This is what I have in mind:

--I'd like my app to respond to this command:
tell application "MyApp"
	performMyCocoaClassMethod
end tell

That’s it. I know I need to build a sdef file and enable scriptability in xcode, but since I skipped learning ObjC and went straight to Swift, the rest of the process is very confusing.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

[tneison]

Okay I’ve got it. I was able to dig up an Apple document (https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/samplecode/SimpleScriptingVerbs/Listings/ReadMe_txt.html) and find an example in Swift (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25605805/swift-nsscriptcommand-performdefaultimplementation). My example isn’t that useful since desktop notifications are easily implemented using ASOC, but it’s a clear way to illustrate an Applescript command with arguments.

The sdef file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!-- use XInclude to include the standard suite -->
<xi:include href="file:///System/Library/ScriptingDefinitions/CocoaStandard.sdef" xpointer="xpointer(/dictionary/suite)"/>


<!-- specific suite(s) for the application follow... -->
<suite name="Simple Desktop Notification" code="Nofy" description="A test creating a simple Applescript command with 2 arguments.">
    
    <command name="notiphy" code="NofyParm" description="Choose text values of the notiphication">
        <cocoa class="NotiphyCMD.NotiphyWithParams"/>
        
        <parameter name="with title" code="NTle" type="text" optional="no"
            description="a title parameter.">
            <cocoa key="NotiphyTitle"/>
        </parameter>
        
        <parameter name="and subtitle" code="NTSl" type="text" optional="yes"
            description="a subtitle parameter.">
            <cocoa key="NotiphySubtitle"/>
        </parameter>
        
        <result type="boolean" description="The result of the invocation. True if it succeeds, False if it does not"/>
    </command>
</suite>

The Swift class instantiated by the Applescript command:

import Cocoa

class NotiphyWithParams: NSScriptCommand, NSUserNotificationCenterDelegate {

var notiphy = NSUserNotification()
var notiphyCtr = NSUserNotificationCenter.defaultUserNotificationCenter()

override func performDefaultImplementation() -> AnyObject? {
    let parms = self.evaluatedArguments
    var aTitle = ""
    var aSubTitle = ""
    if let args = parms {
        if let title = args["NotiphyTitle"] as? String {
            aTitle = title
        }
        if let subtitle = args["NotiphySubtitle"] as? String {
            aSubTitle = subtitle
        }
    }
    
    notiphy.title = aTitle
    notiphy.subtitle = aSubTitle
    notiphyCtr.deliverNotification(notiphy)
    
    if aTitle == "" && aSubTitle == "" {
        return false
    }
    
    return true
}

func userNotificationCenter(center: NSUserNotificationCenter, shouldPresentNotification notification: NSUserNotification) -> Bool {
    return true
}

}

Finally, the Applescript command:

tell application "NotiphyCMD"
	notiphy with title "Hello" and subtitle "world!"
end tell

A few notes:

in the sdef file, [format]NotiphyCMD.NotiphyWithParams[/format] is peculiar in that in ObjC [format]NotiphyWithParams[/format] is all that’s needed to refer to the class, but in Swift the dot notation is needed to resolve the path from the application to the class.

[format]NotiphyWithParams[/format] is a subclass of [format]NSScriptCommand[/format]. This is what does all the work. To get our subclass to respond to a scripting command, we use [format]override func performDefaultImplementation()[/format] This allows us to add ‘notiphy’ as our custom command. Expected arguments are added in the sdef file using <parameter. They are accessible inside the override func as a dictionary called [format]evaluatedArguments[/format]