Re: AutoType
Re: AutoType
- Subject: Re: AutoType
- From: email@hidden (Michael Sullivan)
- Date: Tue, 5 Mar 2002 12:14:08 -0500
- Organization: Society for the Incurably Pompous
Thomas England writes:
>
Arthur Knapp reported:
>
> I've recently had great success with a scripting addition called AutoType,
>
> for emulating keystrokes
>
Have you had such success in OS X? AutoType has not worked for me in X in my
>
very limited tests.
>
Where it does work for me (in OS 9x) I see a lot of screen blinks while it
>
activates an already active application. So it is not quite as smooth,
>
seamless or quick as I would hope for.
>
Which brings me to my underlying question: I read this & other scripting
>
sources trying to learn. Most of what I see is too esoteric for my simple
>
needs. I want to be able to use Applescript primarily to trigger everyday
>
menu commands to place on DragThing Docks, or to react to key commands.
>
That's why I've been trying to find a reliable method to simulate typing,
>
since so many of the menu commands have keyboard equivalents.
>
Could anybody explain to me why this is so tricky? If Applescript is ever
>
going to achieve real popularity & widespread usage, shouldn't such simple
>
needs be easy to accomplish?
>
I may as well admit it now: I am a refugee from OneClick's EasyScript, now
>
in the Brave New World of OS X and longing for some of the customs of the
>
Old World.
I know where you're coming from. The biggest problem is that the model
is completely different. OneClick drove the interface, which is what
you're used to working with as a user.
Applescript on the other hand, is more like programming in that it works
with the internal object model of the program. If the software
scripting is well designed, then usually the general paradigm of he
object model will be familiar to you as a user. Unfortunately, my
experience is that all the various little inconsistencies, bugs and
annoyances are different when scripting from what you experience as a
user.
So learning to script a program in applescript is like learning to use
it all over again (this is much less true when scripting with OneClick,
because you are driving the actual interface, which has quirks with
which you are already familiar)
My experience is that development time is generally longer in
applescript, though it depends on the project. OC takes care of a lot
of things for you, so many things that are trivial to write in OC are a
bear to implement in a script. OTOH, some things which are difficult to
make work in OneClick (due to non-standard resource setups, etc.) can be
made to work robustly and easily in scripts.
Basically, a lot of those 10 second EasyScript scripts, are going to
take you 15 minutes in applescript. The consolation for the
applescripter is that you can consider taking on projects that you never
would have expected to make work in OneClick.
Michael
--
Michael Sullivan
Business Card Express of CT Thermographers to the Trade
Cheshire, CT email@hidden
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| References: | |
| | >AutoType (From: Thomas England <email@hidden>) |