[ANN] PreFab UI Actions Public Beta 2
[ANN] PreFab UI Actions Public Beta 2
- Subject: [ANN] PreFab UI Actions Public Beta 2
- From: Bill Cheeseman <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 06:21:22 -0400
PreFab Software, Inc. and Bill Cheeseman are pleased to announce the second
public beta test of their new product, PreFab UI Actions. UI Actions
implements "universal attachability" for AppleScript in Mac OS X 10.3
Panther and newer.
Download UI Actions public beta 2 now at
http://www.prefab.com/uiactions/.
With UI Actions, you attach an AppleScript script to a native Mac OS X
application. From then on, the script will be triggered automatically every
time the user performs the actions you specify in the target application. A
UI Action script can respond to all manner of user actions, such as opening
or closing a window, selecting a menu item, editing a text field and many
others.
An attached UI Action script can even query the target application for
useful information about the user action that triggered it. The information
available to a UI Action script includes a reference to the UI element that
was affected by the user's action, as well as all of its attributes, such as
position, size, title, role and value. Using this information, every UI
Action script can draw upon the full capabilities of AppleScript, including
Apple's new GUI Scripting, to amplify and enhance the power of the target
application.
PreFab UI Actions is universal. While Apple's Folder Actions and Digital Hub
Actions are specialized tools that let your scripts respond when the user
performs narrowly defined tasks, UI Actions goes much further. It allows any
accessible user interface element in any application to trigger a script in
response to any user action. UI Actions opens up whole new worlds of
possibilities.
Power users now have completely new ways to customize their Macintosh.
Technical staff and consultants can tailor off-the-shelf applications in
ways never before possible. Developers can target their products to specific
vertical markets without touching existing code. Individual users can make
their Mac even easier to use and more powerful.
What's Fixed in Public Beta 2:
1. Public Beta 1 did not reliably launch the UI Actions utility. This has
been fixed.
2. In Public Beta 1, UI Actions Setup could not add role and title filters
to a UI Action script. This has been fixed.
3. Public beta 1 did not go out of its way to remind you to turn on
accessibility in the Universal Access pane of System Preferences. UI Actions
Setup now checks when it is launched to see whether accessibility is turned
on and, if not, presents an alert telling you to turn it on.
Download UI Actions public beta 2 now at
http://www.prefab.com/uiactions/.
Send comments, suggestions and bug reports to email@hidden, and
mention "UI Actions public beta 2" in the subject line. UI Actions public
beta 2 is free of charge and fully functional, but it will expire on
September 1, 2004 or 30 days after first use, whichever comes first. Version
1.0 is scheduled for release by the end of August. UI Actions comes with
complete instructions and dozens of example UI Action scripts. Let us know
how you use UI Actions so we can expand our growing collection of tips.
PreFab Software, Inc. has unmatched experience controlling the GUI via
scripts, releasing PreFab Player in 1994 with continued sales and support
today for Mac OS 9 and earlier. In 2003, PreFab entered the world of Mac OS
X with PreFab UI Browser, a popular utility to support Apple's new GUI
Scripting technology and a useful companion to UI Actions. You can download
a fully-functional 30-day trial version of UI Browser at
http://www.prefab.com/uibrowser/. UI Actions and UI Browser are both based
on Bill Cheeseman's custom Cocoa framework for working with Apple's
accessibility API.
--
Bill Cheeseman - email@hidden
PreFab Software, Inc. - www.prefab.com/scripting.html
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