Applescript?

DaveMcG wrote:

Hey folks,

I got an iBook about 2 months ago, and I just noticed a bit of mention about AppleScript, here and there.

Just wondering what's it all about... Is it worth learning? Can the same stuff be done with some other language? Is it difficult?

What kind of things can one do with it? (sell it to me )

I'll take a look at applescripter.com too and see what it has to say

Thanks!

Applescript is an English-like language that is used to control and automate Mac applications. It is very easy to use, and very powerful. To give you an idea what it looks like and what it does, take a look at this simple script: (You can write and run scripts using the Script Editor app that came with your Mac)

tell application "Safari"
activate
set doc to the front document
set the URL of doc to "http://www.apple.com"
set zoomed of the front window to true
delay 10
set myText to the source of the front document
quit
end tell


tell application "BBEdit 6.5"
activate
set the text of the front window to myText
format the front window mode hierarchical
balance tags
set finishedText to the text of the front window
quit
end tell


tell application "Finder"
set outputFile to "Macintosh HD:Users:pa:Desktop:output.html"
set output to (open for access file outputFile with write permission)
write finishedText to output
close access output
end tell

This will open a specified web page in Safari, get the HTML source for it, load it in BBEdit, format it, balance the tags, and save it to a file on the desktop.

To see the sort of functionality any app makes available to Applescript programming, take a look at its dictionary using the "Open Dictionary" command in Script Editor's File menu.