Xcode Object C App -> Execute Applescript

Scripting Forums AppleScriptObjC and Xcode
#1

Hi there,

i have a pure ObjectC app written with Xcode.
No i’d like to execute an applescript in the sourceBundle with parameters.

I have this solution and it works for
script “testscript.scpt”
handler “test_message”
parameter message

 NSString* path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"testscript" ofType:@"scpt"];
    NSURL* url = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:path];
    NSAppleScript* theScript = [[NSAppleScript alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:url error:nil];
    NSDictionary* theErrorDictionary = nil;
    
    // build Apple event to invoke user-defined handler in script
    NSAppleEventDescriptor* event = [NSAppleEventDescriptor appleEventWithEventClass: kASAppleScriptSuite
                                                     eventID: kASSubroutineEvent
                                            targetDescriptor: NSAppleEventDescriptor.nullDescriptor
                                                    returnID: kAutoGenerateReturnID
                                               transactionID: kAnyTransactionID];
    
    
    // Add positional parameters
    NSAppleEventDescriptor* params = [NSAppleEventDescriptor listDescriptor];
    [params insertDescriptor: [NSAppleEventDescriptor descriptorWithString:@"I am a message"] atIndex: 1];
    
    // Add Subroutine
    [event setDescriptor: [NSAppleEventDescriptor descriptorWithString: @"test_message"]
              forKeyword: keyASSubroutineName];
    [event setDescriptor: params
              forKeyword: keyDirectObject];
    
    NSAppleEventDescriptor* theResult = [theScript executeAppleEvent:event error:&theErrorDictionary];
    NSLog( @"Got result: %@", theResult  );

This is the applescript

on test_message(message)
	display dialog message
end test_message

No i’d like to pass a dictionary (ASrecord) to applescript, but NSAppleEventdescriptors do not support dictionaries or arrays. Any ideas on how to call an applescript handler with a dictionary parameter?

#2

Hi,

they do support dictionaries (record) and arrays (list), you are using one ([NSAppleEventDescriptor listDescriptor])

Consider to write a bridge to AppleScriptObjC, the framework provides to run scripts without the event descriptor dance.

#3

The bridge solution sounds good.

Any good starting point for that? Never done before.

#4

Please search on MacScripter for loadAppleScriptObjectiveCScripts.

There are a few related topics.

#5

Thank you!

I now tried a lot of stuff, but basically this line would not work - throws exception

    [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadAppleScriptObjectiveCScripts];

Full code from main file

#import <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>
#import <AppleScriptObjC/AppleScriptObjC.h>

int main(int argc, const char * argv[]) {
    
    [[NSBundle mainBundle] loadAppleScriptObjectiveCScripts];
    
    return NSApplicationMain(argc, argv);
}

Exception:

[NSBundle loadAppleScriptObjectiveCScripts]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x6000000818b0
2016-11-06 00:16:56.850566 MyApp[2717:77340] *** Terminating app due to uncaught exception 'NSInvalidArgumentException', reason: '-[NSBundle loadAppleScriptObjectiveCScripts]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x6000000818b0'
*** First throw call stack:
(
	0   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fffa92147bb __exceptionPreprocess + 171
	1   libobjc.A.dylib                     0x00007fffbd981a2a objc_exception_throw + 48
	2   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fffa9294d84 -[NSObject(NSObject) doesNotRecognizeSelector:] + 132
	3   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fffa9187fc3 ___forwarding___ + 1059
	4   CoreFoundation                      0x00007fffa9187b18 _CF_forwarding_prep_0 + 120
	5   MyApp                         0x000000010000efea main + 74
	6   libdyld.dylib                       0x00007fffbe25d255 start + 1
)
libc++abi.dylib: terminating with uncaught exception of type NSException
(lldb)

Using Xcode 8, OSX 10.12

#6

OK solved that one. Forgot the binary/framework include.

Thank you for pointing it out!

#7

Add-On:

While the above mentioned way works great for text script files (*.applescript), is there also a possibility to send handler calls (with parameters) to precompiled *.scpt files and return a result?

#8

They’re compiled to .scpt files as part of the build process – starting out as .applescript is irrelevant.

When -loadAppleScriptObjectiveCScripts is called, it attempts to load all the .scpt files in a bundle. But you obviously need a script name and parent defined to be able to use them.

#9

Great! Thank you!