Re: Javascript for automation quastions
Re: Javascript for automation quastions
- Subject: Re: Javascript for automation quastions
- From: has <email@hidden>
- Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 19:36:06 +0000
2551 wrote:
> Deivy's thread got me interested in looking at JXA. I don't know if
you guys have seen this, but looks like a good bootstrap into JXA for
AppleScripters:
>
> https://github.com/dtinth/JXA-Cookbook/wiki
The Cocoa-related info is probably fine. I've not tried that bit myself
so can't say for sure, but the basic principles are much the same for
all <language>-ObjC bridges, so anyone who knows a bit of Cocoa can
should be able to figure it out okay. OTOH, the info on application
scripting is contributed by folk with no real understanding of how
application scripting actually works, so while well-intentioned don't
expect much depth or accuracy as it's essentially the blind leading the
blind.
Also, the wiki doesn't tell you which bits of JXA work and which are
defective or missing, or how to untangle the intentionally obfuscated
parts. e.g. I saw an example there that uses `appObj.elements[varName]`
syntax, which should *never* be used for by-name references as it's
dangerously broken. I start writing up a list of JXA defects over on a
MacScripter thread a while back
(http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=43257) which might be some
help, but if you want more then you'll really have to bug me as it's a
non-trivial amount of work to go through it all.
Incidentally, post-WWDC I urged Sal to provide an AS-to-JS conversion
feature similar to that provided by the ASTranslate tool I wrote for
appscript. Appscript users absolutely *adored* ASTranslate because they
could copy-paste almost any existing AS command and instantly get the
equivalent Python/Ruby/ObjC syntax. Incredibly useful, and takes only an
hour or two to implement via existing OSA functionality. As with other
things I got ignored on this, but it would've answered a lot of user
questions absolutely for free.
For existing AppleScripters, I'd suggest getting a good book on the
JavaScript language, getting up to speed on that, then figuring out how
your existing application scripting knowledge translates (or not) to JXA
from there. Not sure what's best these days (there's a lot of snake oil
about), but Doug Crockford's "JavaScript: The Good Parts"[1] might be a
good option: like Matt N's AppleScript: The Definitive Guide, JS:TGP
isn't afraid to point out the language's many problems as well as the
bits that are competent.
Also, feel free to play with my JavaScript OSA component if you like[2].
It's buggy, crashy, inadequately documented, and officially unsupported,
so caveat emptor, but it's nearly feature-equivalent to AS and may
provide some insights. Plus the bundled JABDemo tool provides a crude
JS-to-AS command translator which should be good fun trying to defeat
(it doesn't like Finder and ignores osax commands, but otherwise largely
works).
Regards,
has
[1]
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockford/dp/0596517742
[2] http://sourceforge.net/projects/appscript/files
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