AppleScript Info

Signing Off

Sun, 20 Apr 2003 16:58:49 GMT

As some of you may or may not know, until recently I was a member of the MacScripter.net team. As a result of my daily duties there, I had access to a lot of news and information related to AppleScript. MacScripter.net didn't have RSS feeds so I created AppleScript Info in an attempt to reach out to those who prefer to get their AppleScript news via syndication. Now that they've filled the gap, I don't see the need to continue to publish AppleScript Info. Thanks to everyone who has visited and offered feedback. I've enjoyed it while it lasted!

Now head on over to MacScripter.net - "Your best source for all things AppleScript"

Signing off with best regards to you and yours,
Rob

P.S. AppleScript Info's content will be available as long as UserLand chooses to leave it on the server.

Congratulations MacScripter.net!

Sun, 20 Apr 2003 15:31:22 GMT

The MacScripter.net crew has rolled out a new version of the web site with several changes aimed at enhancing and expanding the resources which are available to their guests. In addition to all of the goodies that scripters have come to rely on, they've added Code Exchange, for sharing script tips, and Scriptable Applications, a list of scriptable applications with downloadable PDFs of their AppleScript dictionaries. Last but not least, the News and ScriptBuilders sections now have RSS feeds! [News feed] [ScriptBuilders feed]

Thanks and congrats to my buddies on the MacScripter crew!

Martin's Sony Ericsson Clicker Scripts 1.0

Sun, 20 Apr 2003 15:10:40 GMT

Martin Fenner, of osaxen.com fame, offers this small collection of SEC scripts that allows users to control RealOne Player. The collection also includes a script that adds a stop function for Keynote presentations. [d/l]

Ibis 2.4

Sun, 20 Apr 2003 03:42:32 GMT

Ibis is an AppleScript droplet that will auto-post files via drag and drop to newsgroups using Thoth for OS X. Release notes: Fixed an error that, in extremely rare circumstances, would cause the path to the user's preferences to return an error. Ibis requires OS X 10.2 or later.

Safari Window Sizing

Sun, 20 Apr 2003 00:53:21 GMT

Annoyed that Safari sometimes forgets your preferred window size? Here's an AppleScript (great for ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/Safari) and a bookmarklet that will resize your browser windows for you. [NSLog();]

iUpdate 0.1.1

Sat, 19 Apr 2003 21:06:28 GMT

iUpdate is an open source (GPL) application that uses AppleScript and Perl to check the version of local OS X applications and then contact the iUpdate server to find which apps are out of date.

View Browser Source 1.2

Sat, 19 Apr 2003 16:14:24 GMT

This set of OS X AppleScript scripts allows users to easily view the HTML source code of a browser page in an external text editor. Browsers supported: Camino 0.7, Chimera 0.6, IE 5.2.2, Mozilla 1.0.1, Netscape 7, Opera 6 and Safari 1.0b. Editors supported: BBEdit, emacs, PageSpinner, pico, TextEdit and vi. Release notes: Added support for Camino. Cursor is now placed at the beginning of file in BBEdit. Fixed Safari line feed issues with BBEdit.

FastScripts 1.0.2

Sat, 19 Apr 2003 05:01:57 GMT

FastScripts is a replacement script menu that offers a number of features that are not provided by Apple's systemwide Script Menu. It requires OS X 10.1 or greater and registration is $10. Release notes: FastScripts can now recognize and launch script content from AppleScript applets/droplets without launching the applet.

PDF U 1.2

Fri, 18 Apr 2003 23:54:15 GMT

PDF U allows users to easily activate the PDF services menu in OS X 10.2.4 and higher. Release notes: Added a new feature to only copy the scripts to a currently existing PDF Services folder. Added a new "Save PDF to Folder" script. Bug fixes and better error reporting.

ZDNet: Music-swapping software makes comeback

Fri, 18 Apr 2003 17:40:47 GMT

iCommune, software that allow iTunes users to share their music over a network, and software that drew fire from Apple, now uses "a combination of little-known features in iTunes along with code written in AppleScript, the Mac's built-in scripting language." The latest open source release is available from sourceforge.net.

Bill Cheeseman turns 60 today

Thu, 17 Apr 2003 14:29:04 GMT

Happy Birthday Bill!

DonkeyHelper 1.2

Thu, 17 Apr 2003 02:31:42 GMT

This free, open source script allows users to automatically add files to the download list of MLdonkey by clicking on a file URL that begins with 'ed2k://' for eDonkey2000 and 'fha://' for Overnet. The script requires OS X 10.2 or later and MLdonkey 2.00 or later. Release notes: Detection of sites that don't send complete URLs. Better handling of special characters. Updated browser compatibility list. The script is a little bit smaller. Now works correctly with the multinet version of mldonkey.

Virex 7.2.1 available from .Mac

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 22:35:50 GMT

This isn't related to AppleScript but it's noteworthy for many .Mac subscribers who use Fink and Virex (I don't know about Virex releases from other sources). Virex 7.2 has hosed many Fink installations and here's what the Virex 7.2.1 ReadMe has to say about it:

During the installation of Virex 7.2, the Virex installer will copy a number of files into the /sw/lib directory. Fink software installations that are residing on the machine may then fail to work as their libraries will have been overwritten with the Virex 7.2 libraries. Virex 7.2.1 resolves this issue by installing the libraries to the /usr/local/vscanx/lib directory.

We now return to our regularly scheduled AppleScript news and information.

Address Book Importer 1.0

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 18:15:08 GMT

Address Book Importer is a free utility that uses AppleScript to import data from tab-delimited files into Apple's Address Book application on Mac OS X.

Folder Action Manager 1.0.2

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 18:06:04 GMT

Folder Action Manager is a free utility to easily manage folder actions as well as their associated scripts on Mac OS X 10.1.2 or later. No release notes were found.

Mac OS X Hints: Open Safari to multiple tabbed pages

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 17:36:18 GMT

skatz13: "I wrote this script to allow the opening of multiple pages in tabs as the startup homepage. It may not be pretty, but it works." ...

Cool! MacInTouch has a RSS feed!

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 17:08:53 GMT

Macintouch: "We have been experimenting with providing a requested MacInTouch RSS feed , and we hope to continue it as long as there are no major performance problems (e.g. server overload from masses of people hitting the website simultaneously). You can paste the URL: http://www.macintouch.com/rss.xml into NetNewsWire or an equivalent application." [blog.scriptdigital.com]

PDF U 1.0

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 02:34:35 GMT

PDF U is a utility that allows users to quickly turn on the PDF Services menu that Apple has hidden in the OS 10.2 print dialog boxes. Normally, users must go to a special folder on the system, create a folder called "PDF Services" and then add AppleScript scripts. PDF U automates this procedure and provides a few scripts to get things started. PDF U is DonationWare and requires Mac OS X 10.2 or higher.

Apple: Safari Beta II Script Collection

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 00:12:33 GMT

Apple has updated their Safari script collection with scripts that take advantage of features found in the most recent beta release of Safari. Some of the scripts also take advantage of Apple's UI Scripting beta software. For instance, one of the UI scripts will combine the open browser windows into a single tabbed window.

Apple: Safari, AppleScript and JavaScript

Tue, 15 Apr 2003 20:20:32 GMT

As noted yesterday, the latest version of Safari includes the 'do JavaScript' command in its AppleScript dictionary. By using the command, users can create AppleScript scripts that interact with the Safari JavaScript DOM (Document Object Model). Apple provides sample scripts along with links to Safari Developer FAQ, Safari JavaScript DOM Part 1 and Safari JavaScript DOM Part 2.

QuickTime Broadcaster 1.0.1 available via Software Update

Tue, 15 Apr 2003 19:32:28 GMT

QuickTime Broadcaster is Apple's scriptable live encoding software that lets users produce live events for online delivery. Sample scripts are available from Apple to demonstrate the use of a qualified Bluetooth cell phone and Sony Ericisson Clicker to remotely control Broadcaster. Version 1.0.1 provides improvements to live broadcast recording and streaming as well as UI enhancements. Update: It appears that this version was likely released prior to today, indicating that Software Update might have suffered from a brain fart on my machine.

iPhoto Library Manager 2.0

Tue, 15 Apr 2003 19:04:11 GMT

iPhoto Library Manager is a fully AppleScriptable application that allows users to split photos up into any number of separate libraries, share a common photo library with multiple users, store them on any disk connected to the computer, and easily switch back and forth between them. Mac OS X 10.1.2 or higher and iPhoto 1.x or 2.0 are required. Among the many changes in this release is the inclusion of sample AppleScript scripts.