Re: The future for AppleScript [was Re: where are the shell scripts ?]
Re: The future for AppleScript [was Re: where are the shell scripts ?]
- Subject: Re: The future for AppleScript [was Re: where are the shell scripts ?]
- From: Mark Alldritt <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2005 14:39:47 -0800
> I'm not going to respond to the personal aspects of this thread,
> however...
>
> I think Martin's point is fairly clear. If a non-scriptable app is to
> support Automater, then which would be easier:
>
> 1) Build out proper AppleScript support, and then build Automator
> support on that...
> or
> 2) Build Automator support directly, bypassing AppleScript.
>
> The second scenario is what has me somewhat concerned, and I think is
> what Martin is getting at. Why would number 1 be easier than number 2,
> especially for developers who've resisted adding AppleScript support
> already?
>
> I'm not concerned about the difficultly of adding Automator support to
> already-scriptable apps, such as the PowerPoint example.
Discussing Automator is difficult for anyone who has actually used it or
developed an Action because its all still covered by Apple's NDA.
That said, the appearance of Automator signals an interesting time. As has
been discussed at length, a developer has a choice - build Actions or
support AppleScript.
It is impossible to develop an action without some form of inter-process API
in your application. Remember, the action is running within Automator, not
the application. So, in order for the action to get work done, it has to
somehow communicate with the your application. AppleEvents are a natural
choice for this. The are other methods (the various forms of Unix IPC,
Distributed Objects, Web Services, etc.).
Since you have to build this API out before you can begin building actions,
you are going to choose the API that gives you the biggest bang for the
buck. AppleEvents are quite compelling since they opens your app to
AppleScript, perl, ruby, python, and many others, and yes, Automator too.
Further, my view is that Automator 1.0 is going to be one of those products
that shows fantastic promise while at the same time is deeply frustrating to
use due to its limitations. I fully expect users to try Automator and get
far enough to see the significant value in automating their workflow.
However, I also expect many to realize that Automator isn't the right tool
for their job. At that point, AppleScript (and other AppleEvent enabled
tools) comes fully into the picture.
If you've put all your eggs into a private API exposed only to Automator,
you've locked all these folks out.
Cheers
-Mark
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Alldritt Late Night Software Ltd.
Phone: 250-380-1725 Script Debugger 3.0 - AppleScript IDE
WEB: http://www.latenightsw.com/ Affrus 1.0 - Perl Debugging
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