I have an application that runs as an agent and has icon in the top bar. It should be able to run another app with window and icon in the dock. Both should to share same core data. Is there way to do it? How to open one app from another? Thank you.
Create a new cocoa application target, then add Copy Files build phase that embeds your subproject target into main app bundle:
Launch your embedded binary with NSTask class with code like this:
NSString *executablesPath = [[[NSBundle mainBundle] executablePath] stringByDeletingLastPathComponent];
NSBundle *subProjBundle = [NSBundle bundleWithPath:[executablesPath stringByAppendingPathComponent:#"subproject.app"]];
NSTask *subBinaryTask = [[NSTask alloc] init];
subBinaryTask.launchPath = [subProjBundle executablePath];
[subBinaryTask launch];
I have two cocoa apps. Application1 calls Application2(abc.app) as below-
if ([[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] respondsToSelector:#selector(launchApplicationAtURL:options:configuration:error:)])
return nil != [[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] launchApplicationAtURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:#"abc.app" isDirectory:NO] options:NSWorkspaceLaunchDefault configuration:nil error:NULL];
This should open Application2 (abc.app). Now If application 1 calls application 2 again, I want to activate abc.app (If this is minimised in the dock).I want to ensure there is single instance of abc.app running. How can we achieve this?
Not quite sure of your problem. Mac OS X by default only launches one instance of an app. (Unless you have several physical copies of the executable on disk, but even for that case there's an Info.plist key that prohibits launching an app if one with the same bundle ID is already running).
Also, by default, NSWorkspace should bring to front and un-collapse your application if it has no other windows open (it should behave as if you'd double-clicked it again in Finder, or clicked its dock icon when it's already running), and it will call the second app's 'reopen application' handler.
If it doesn't do it, you could try to explicitly un-collapse your main window from the 'reopen' delegate method, or if you don't want this to happen generally (but why wouldn't you?), you could look into sending an Apple Event between the two applications.
Also, you can check if the second application is already running by looking at the runningApplications and looking for an entry with the same bundle ID.
You can check if your second application is running and check if it's the active application (frontmost) with NSRunningApplicationclass.
// check if abc.app is running
NSArray *apps = [NSRunningApplication runningApplicationsWithBundleIdentifier:#"com.youApplication.abc"];
if ([apps count] == 0)
{
// not running, launch it
[[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] launchApplicationAtURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:#"abc.app" isDirectory:NO] options:NSWorkspaceLaunchDefault configuration:nil error:NULL];
}
// check if abc.app is frontmost
NSArray *apps = [NSRunningApplication runningApplicationsWithBundleIdentifier:#"com.youApplication.abc"];
if ([apps count])
{
// abc.app is running, check if active
if (![(NSRunningApplication*)[apps objectAtIndex:0] isActive])
{
// not active, activate it
[(NSRunningApplication*)[apps objectAtIndex:0] activateWithOptions: NSApplicationActivateAllWindows];
}
}
You can´t from App1. You can check if your App2 is launched from App2 with Notifications like here
I'd like to get properties of the currently active app. I understand that this should be possible with ScriptingBridge, however, this seems to require you generate an sdef file and import this in your project for the app you are trying to target. Since I want to target all apps, is there another way to do this?
Example of accessing system preferences:
SystemPreferencesApplication *systemPreferences =
[SBApplication
applicationWithBundleIdentifier:#"com.apple.systempreferences"];
If there's another way to access properties of any active app, please do share. (For example; window title)
Thanks.
I assume you want to run an applescript. The scripting bridge is good if you have a lot of applescript code to run. However if you only have a small amount then a simpler way is with NSApplescript.
For example if you wanted to run this applescript...
tell application "System Events"
set theProcesses to processes
repeat with aProcess in theProcesses
tell aProcess to get properties
end repeat
end tell
Then you can write it this way...
NSString* cmd = #"tell application \"System Events\"\nset theProcesses to processes\nrepeat with aProcess in theProcesses\ntell aProcess to get properties\nend repeat\nend tell";
NSAppleScript* theScript = [[NSAppleScript alloc] initWithSource:cmd];
NSDictionary* errorDict = nil;
NSAppleEventDescriptor* result = [theScript executeAndReturnError:&errorDict];
[theScript release];
if (errorDict) {
NSLog(#"Error:%# %#", [errorDict valueForKey:#"NSAppleScriptErrorNumber"], [errorDict valueForKey:#"NSAppleScriptErrorMessage"]);
return;
}
// do something with result
NSLog(#"result: %#", result);
You can get a list of every currently running Application with
NSWorkSpace.sharedWorkspace.runningApplications;
Each object in that array should be an NSRunningApplication, which you can query and manipulate freely.
I'm trying to open the app Spotify, and move it to the background. I can easily open Spotify with
SpotifyApplication *Spotify = [SBApplication applicationWithBundleIdentifier:#"com.spotify.client"];
[Spotify activate];
But Spotify goes to the foreground, covering my windows. With iTunes, I can use
iTunesApplication *iTunes = [SBApplication applicationWithBundleIdentifier:#"com.apple.iTunes"];
[iTunes run];
However it's an iTunes specific method. Is this possible?
Would you be willing to use NSAppleScript to do it?
NSAppleScript *script = [[NSAppleScript alloc]
initWithSource:#"tell app \"Spotify\" to launch"];
NSDictionary *errorInfo;
[script executeAndReturnError:&errorInfo];
if (errorInfo) {
NSLog(#"error: %#", errorInfo);
}
You have to use the application name, not its bundle ID.
I'm working on an app where using global key-down events will be a requirement for its operation. Additionally, I plan on distributing this strictly via the App Store. (It's a Mac app, not iOS.) I've gotten an example of listening for the global events working via addGlobalMonitorForEventsMatchingMask, but with caveats.
Note: I am making the choice to use the modern API's and not rely on the earlier Carbon hotkey methods. In the event that they are deprecated eventually, I don't want to have to figure this problem out later.
The principle issue is that the app has to be trusted in order for global events to be detected. Otherwise, accessibility has to be enabled for all apps. When I enable accessibility, events are detected successfully. This requirement is documented here, https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/EventOverview/MonitoringEvents/MonitoringEvents.html.
I would prefer that for my users, they will not have to enable accessibility. From other research I've done, you can get an application to be trusted by calling AXMakeProcessTrusted, then restarting the application.
In the code that I'm using, I do not get an authentication prompt. The app will restart, but is still not trusted (likely because I don't get an authentication prompt). Here's my code for this part:
- (void)applicationDidFinishLaunching:(NSNotification *)aNotification
{
if (!AXAPIEnabled() && !AXIsProcessTrusted()) {
NSString *appPath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] bundlePath];
AXError error = AXMakeProcessTrusted( (CFStringRef)CFBridgingRetain(appPath) );
[self restartApp];
}
}
- (void)restartApp{
NSTask *task = [[NSTask alloc] init];
NSMutableArray *args = [NSMutableArray array];
[args addObject:#"-c"];
[args addObject:[NSString stringWithFormat:#"sleep %d; open \"%#\"", 3, [[NSBundle mainBundle] bundlePath]]];
[task setLaunchPath:#"/bin/sh"];
[task setArguments:args];
[task launch];
[NSApp terminate:nil];
}
Further, I've looked at the documentation for Authorization Service Tasks here https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Security/Conceptual/authorization_concepts/03authtasks/authtasks.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000995-CH206-BCIGAIAG.
The first thing that worries me that pops out is this info box, "Important The authorization services API is not supported within an app sandbox because it allows privilege escalation."
If this API is required to get the authentication prompt before restarting the app, it seems that I may not be able to get global events without the accessibility feature enabled.
In summary, my specific questions are:
Is there an error in my sample code about how to get the
authentication prompt to appear?
In order to get the authentication prompt to appear, am I required
to use the Authorization Services API?
Is it possible, or not possible, to have a sandboxed app that has
access to global events?
First of all, there is no way you can automatically allow an app to use accessibility API which would work in a sandbox environment and thus in app store. The recommended way is to simply guide users so they can easily enable it themselves. The new API call AXIsProcessTrustedWithOptions is exactly for that:
NSDictionary *options = #{(id) kAXTrustedCheckOptionPrompt : #YES};
AXIsProcessTrustedWithOptions((CFDictionaryRef) options);
Now, to your first and second question (just for the sake of completeness - again it won't work in sandbox):
The idea behind AXMakeProcessTrusted was that you actually create a new auxiliary application that you run as root from the main application. This utility then calls AXMakeProcessTrusted passing in the executable of the main application. Finally you have to restart the main app. The API call has been deprecated in OSX 10.9.
To spawn a new process as a root you have to use launchd using SMJobSubmit. This will prompt a user with an authentication prompt saying that an application is trying to install a helper tool and whether it should be allowed. Concretely:
+ (BOOL)makeTrustedWithError:(NSError **)error {
NSString *label = FMTStr(#"%#.%#", kShiftItAppBundleId, #"mktrusted");
NSString *command = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForAuxiliaryExecutable:#"mktrusted"];
AuthorizationItem authItem = {kSMRightModifySystemDaemons, 0, NULL, 0};
AuthorizationRights authRights = {1, &authItem};
AuthorizationFlags flags = kAuthorizationFlagInteractionAllowed | kAuthorizationFlagPreAuthorize | kAuthorizationFlagExtendRights;
AuthorizationRef auth;
if (AuthorizationCreate(&authRights, kAuthorizationEmptyEnvironment, flags, &auth) == errAuthorizationSuccess) {
// this is actually important - if from any reason the job was not removed, it won't relaunch
// to check for the running jobs use: sudo launchctl list
// the sudo is important since this job runs under root
SMJobRemove(kSMDomainSystemLaunchd, (CFStringRef) label, auth, false, NULL);
// this is actually the launchd plist for a new process
// https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/Manpages/man5/launchd.plist.5.html#//apple_ref/doc/man/5/launchd.plist
NSDictionary *plist = #{
#"Label" : label,
#"RunAtLoad" : #YES,
#"ProgramArguments" : #[command],
#"Debug" : #YES
};
BOOL ret;
if (SMJobSubmit(kSMDomainSystemLaunchd, (CFDictionaryRef) plist, auth, (CFErrorRef *) error)) {
FMTLogDebug(#"Executed %#", command);
ret = YES;
} else {
FMTLogError(#"Failed to execute %# as priviledged process: %#", command, *error);
ret = NO;
}
// From whatever reason this did not work very well
// seems like it removed the job before it was executed
// SMJobRemove(kSMDomainSystemLaunchd, (CFStringRef) label, auth, false, NULL);
AuthorizationFree(auth, 0);
return ret;
} else {
FMTLogError(#"Unable to create authorization object");
return NO;
}
}
As for the restarting, this is usually done also using an external utility to which waits for a main application to finish and starts it again (by using PID). If you use sparkle framework you can reuse the existing one:
+ (void) relaunch {
NSString *relaunch = [[NSBundle bundleForClass:[SUUpdater class]] pathForResource:#"relaunch" ofType:#""];
NSString *path = [[NSBundle mainBundle] bundlePath];
NSString *pid = FMTStr(#"%d", [[NSProcessInfo processInfo] processIdentifier]);
[NSTask launchedTaskWithLaunchPath:relaunch arguments:#[path, pid]];
[NSApp terminate:self];
}
Another option is to hack the /Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db sqlite database add the permissions manually using an auxiliary helper:
NSString *sqlite = #"/usr/bin/sqlite3";
NSString *sql = FMTStr(#"INSERT or REPLACE INTO access values ('kTCCServiceAccessibility', '%#', 1, 1, 1, NULL);", MY_BUNDLE_ID);
NSArray *args = #[#"/Library/Application Support/com.apple.TCC/TCC.db", sql];
NSTask *task = [NSTask launchedTaskWithLaunchPath:sqlite arguments:args];
[task waitUntilExit];
This however will disqualify the app from being app store. More over it is really just a hack and the db / schema can change any time. Some applications (e.g. Divvy.app used to do this) used this hack within the application installer post install script. This way prevents the dialog telling that an app is requesting to install an auxiliary tool.
Basically, MAS restrictions will require you to the route of having tge user turning on AX for all.
I found a potential solution on GitHub.
https://github.com/K8TIY/CW-Station
It has an auxiliary application which would be run at root to request access for the main application. It is a little outdated and is using some functions which have been deprecated so I am working on modernizing it. It looks like a good starting point.