I toyed with the idea of making a much improved Spaces menu for turning Spaces on and off, assigning apps to a particular Space, and switching between Spaces but I just don’t have the time to finish it now. However, I did develop a small library of routines (they require Mac OS X 10.5, naturally) that would be helpful in all of the above and, perhaps, someone else can take this and develop the utility themselves… Happy new year!
Jon
--my get_spaces_enabled()
--my set_spaces_enabled(enable_spaces)
--my toggle_spaces_enabled()
--my get_spaces_rows()
--my set_spaces_rows(row_count)
--my get_spaces_columns()
--my set_spaces_columns(column_count)
--my get_spaces_count()
--my show_all_spaces()
--my get_spaces_application_bindings()
--my set_spaces_application_bindings(new_bindings)
--my collect_application_in_current_space(application_bundle_id)
--my set_spaces_application_binding_for_application(application_bundle_id, chosen_space)
--my get_space_binding_for_application(application_bundle_id)
--my choose_space_for_current_application()
--my choose_space_for_application(application_bundle_id)
--my remove_spaces_application_binding(application_bundle_id)
--my get_spaces_arrow_key_modifiers()
--my get_spaces_numbers_key_modifiers()
--my switch_to_space(space_number)
--my open_spaces_preferences()
--my display_spaces_not_enabled_error()
if (my choose_space_for_current_application()) then my show_all_spaces()
-- ****************************************************************************************************************************** --
-- ****************************************************************************************************************************** --
on get_spaces_enabled()
tell application "System Events" to tell spaces preferences of expose preferences to return (get spaces enabled)
end get_spaces_enabled
on set_spaces_enabled(enable_spaces)
tell application "System Events" to tell spaces preferences of expose preferences to set spaces enabled to enable_spaces
end set_spaces_enabled
on toggle_spaces_enabled()
my set_spaces_enabled(not (my get_spaces_enabled()))
end toggle_spaces_enabled
on get_spaces_rows()
tell application "System Events" to tell spaces preferences of expose preferences to return (get spaces rows)
end get_spaces_rows
on set_spaces_rows(row_count)
tell application "System Events" to tell spaces preferences of expose preferences to set spaces rows to row_count
end set_spaces_rows
on get_spaces_columns()
tell application "System Events" to tell spaces preferences of expose preferences to return (get spaces columns)
end get_spaces_columns
on set_spaces_columns(column_count)
tell application "System Events" to tell spaces preferences of expose preferences to set spaces columns to column_count
end set_spaces_columns
on get_spaces_count()
return ((my get_spaces_rows()) * (my get_spaces_columns()))
end get_spaces_count
on show_all_spaces()
try
tell application "Finder" to set spaces_app_path to (application file id "com.apple.spaceslauncher") as string
do shell script "open " & quoted form of POSIX path of spaces_app_path
end try
end show_all_spaces
on get_spaces_application_bindings()
tell application "System Events" to tell spaces preferences of expose preferences to return (get application bindings)
end get_spaces_application_bindings
on set_spaces_application_bindings(new_bindings)
tell application "System Events" to tell spaces preferences of expose preferences to set application bindings to new_bindings
end set_spaces_application_bindings
on collect_application_in_current_space(application_bundle_id)
set application_bundle_id to my make_lowercase(application_bundle_id)
set app_bindings to my get_spaces_application_bindings()
my set_spaces_application_bindings((run script "{|" & application_bundle_id & "|:65544}") & app_bindings)
my set_spaces_application_bindings(app_bindings)
end collect_application_in_current_space
on set_spaces_application_binding_for_application(application_bundle_id, chosen_space)
set application_bundle_id to my make_lowercase(application_bundle_id)
if chosen_space is in {0, "None"} then
my remove_spaces_application_binding(application_bundle_id)
else
if chosen_space = "All" then set chosen_space to 65544
my set_spaces_application_bindings((run script "{|" & application_bundle_id & "|: " & chosen_space & "}") & (my get_spaces_application_bindings()))
end if
end set_spaces_application_binding_for_application
on get_space_binding_for_application(application_bundle_id)
set application_bundle_id to my make_lowercase(application_bundle_id)
set app_bindings to my get_spaces_application_bindings()
try
get app_bindings as string
on error error_string
set app_bindings to my string_to_list(text 13 thru -20 of error_string, ", ")
end try
repeat with i from 1 to (count app_bindings)
if item i of app_bindings starts with ("|" & application_bundle_id & "|:") then return (item 2 of (my string_to_list(item i of app_bindings, ":"))) as number
end repeat
return 0
end get_space_binding_for_application
on choose_space_for_current_application()
return my choose_space_for_application(bundle identifier of (info for (path to frontmost application)))
end choose_space_for_current_application
on choose_space_for_application(application_bundle_id)
set application_bundle_id to my make_lowercase(application_bundle_id)
if (not my get_spaces_enabled()) then if (not my display_spaces_not_enabled_error()) then return false
try
tell application "Finder" to set app_path to (application file id application_bundle_id) as string
set app_name to short name of (info for (app_path as alias))
set the_choices to {"None", "All"}
repeat with i from 1 to (my get_spaces_count())
set end of the_choices to i
end repeat
set default_space to my get_space_binding_for_application(application_bundle_id)
if default_space = 0 then
set default_space to "None"
else if default_space = 65544 then
set default_space to "All"
end if
set chosen_space to (choose from list the_choices default items {default_space} with title "Spaces Assigner" with prompt "Assign " & app_name & " to Space:" OK button name "Assign" without multiple selections allowed and empty selection allowed)
if chosen_space = false then return false
my set_spaces_application_binding_for_application(application_bundle_id, item 1 of chosen_space)
return true
on error e number n
log "choose_space_for_application (" & application_bundle_id & ") Error (" & n & "): " & e
return false
end try
end choose_space_for_application
on remove_spaces_application_binding(application_bundle_id)
set application_bundle_id to my make_lowercase(application_bundle_id)
set app_bindings to my get_spaces_application_bindings()
try
get app_bindings as string
on error error_string
set app_bindings to my string_to_list(text 13 thru -20 of error_string, ", ")
end try
set new_bindings to {}
repeat with i in app_bindings
set i to contents of i
if i does not start with "|" & application_bundle_id & "|:" then set end of new_bindings to i
end repeat
my set_spaces_application_bindings(run script "{" & (my list_to_string(new_bindings, ", ")) & "}")
end remove_spaces_application_binding
on get_spaces_arrow_key_modifiers()
tell application "System Events" to tell spaces preferences of expose preferences to return (get key modifiers of (get properties of arrow key modifiers))
end get_spaces_arrow_key_modifiers
on get_spaces_numbers_key_modifiers()
tell application "System Events" to tell spaces preferences of expose preferences to return (get key modifiers of (get properties of numbers key modifiers))
end get_spaces_numbers_key_modifiers
on switch_to_space(space_number)
if not my gui_scripting_check() then return
set key_modifiers to my get_spaces_numbers_key_modifiers()
tell application "System Events"
set key_modifier_list to {}
if key_modifiers contains command then set end of key_modifier_list to "command down"
if key_modifiers contains control then set end of key_modifier_list to "control down"
if key_modifiers contains option then set end of key_modifier_list to "option down"
if key_modifiers contains shift then set end of key_modifier_list to "shift down"
set key_modifier_list to my list_to_string(key_modifier_list, ", ")
if key_modifier_list ≠"" then set key_modifier_list to " using {" & key_modifier_list & "}"
end tell
run script ("tell application \"System Events\" to keystroke \"" & space_number & "\"" & key_modifier_list)
end switch_to_space
on open_spaces_preferences()
tell application "System Preferences"
activate
tell pane id "com.apple.preference.expose" to reveal anchor "Spaces"
end tell
end open_spaces_preferences
on display_spaces_not_enabled_error()
beep
activate
if ((button returned of (display dialog "Spaces is not enabled. Would You like to enable it now?" with title "Spaces Error" buttons {"Keep Disabled", "Enable"} default button 2 with icon 0)) = "Keep Disabled") then return false
my set_spaces_enabled(true)
return true
end display_spaces_not_enabled_error
on list_to_string(l, d)
tell (a reference to my text item delimiters)
set {o, contents} to {contents, d}
set {l, contents} to {"" & l, o}
end tell
return l as Unicode text
end list_to_string
on string_to_list(s, d)
tell (a reference to my text item delimiters)
set {o, contents} to {contents, d}
set {s, contents} to {s's text items, o}
end tell
return s
end string_to_list
on gui_scripting_check()
tell application "System Events" to set gui_scripting_enabled to UI elements enabled
if not gui_scripting_enabled then
tell application "System Preferences"
activate
set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.universalaccess"
display dialog "This application utilizes the built-in Graphic User Interface Scripting architecture of Mac OS X which is currently disabled." & return & return & "You can activate GUI Scripting by selecting the checkbox \"Enable access for assistive devices\" in the Universal Access preference pane." with icon 2 buttons {"OK"} default button 1
end tell
end if
return gui_scripting_enabled
end gui_scripting_check
on make_lowercase(the_string)
return do shell script "echo " & quoted form of the_string & " | /usr/bin/perl -pe 'use encoding utf8; s/(\\w)/\\L$1/gi'"
end make_lowercase
