Simply, is it possible to change a "static text" field in an Apple system dialog box? Specifically I am looking into changing some label text of a password popup. I have tried using AppleScript via GUI scripting:
tell application "System Events"
try
tell window 1 of process "loginwindow"
repeat until not (value of static text 4 is equal to "")
set value of static text 4 to "this is a test"
delay 0.5
end repeat
end tell
end try
end tell
Although this does not seem to work at all. Any other methods? Perhaps Scripting Bridge or other? I'd prefer not to code my own dialogs from scratch (not for difficulty reasons, I could easily do it, I'd just prefer to interface rather than emulate.)
Thanks!
Here's an idea... I don't think you can change the login window text itself but you can change the background picture of the login window. Therefore you may be able to setup some images, and then use those images during the login process to display what you want.
I never tried it but this post shows how to do this... here.
After much research, I'm not sure that this is possible - it would be best to write a screen saver, implement it's own password protection, and enable that dialog to be modified from behind the screen saver.
Related
I try to make a code assembly to create my own applescript to create an image in Photoshop but unfortunately I have an error and I can't find where it comes from.
The first part of the script works, the random image is well copied to the clipboard but the rest is problematic.
-- Select random image
tell application "Finder"
set bg_img to file (random number from 1 to (count files of folder "HD:Works:Club:LAYERS:0-BG")) of folder "HD:Works:Club:LAYERS:0-BG"
end tell
tell application "Preview"
activate
open bg_img
end tell
-- Select and copy image to clipboard
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Preview"
keystroke "a" using command down
keystroke "c" using command down
end tell
end tell
-- Quit Preview Application
tell application "Preview" to quit
tell application "Adobe Photoshop 2022"
-- Create a new document
set docRef to make new document with properties {width:1200, height:1200, resolution:72}
tell docRef
-- Unlock the background layer and fill it with gray color
set background layer of layer 1 of docRef to false
fill selection with contents {class:RGB color, red:200, green:200, blue:200}
end tell
end tell
-- Paste image to new layer
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Adobe Photoshop 2022"
set newLayer to make art layer with properties {name:"LayerA"}
keystroke "v" using command down
end tell
end tell
Ok, a compilation error; I got it now. Try this:
-- Paste image to new layer
tell application "Adobe Photoshop 2022"
activate
set newLayer to make art layer with properties {name:"LayerA"}
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell process "Adobe Photoshop 2022"
keystroke "v" using command down
end tell
end tell
Remember, you use a tell application "NAME" … end tell block to 1. tell AppleScript which app to send commands to, and 2. the app from which to get the custom terminology (keywords) for commands and objects.
Thus your tell application "System Events"…end tell block uses SE terminology and commands. The tell process "Photoshop"…end tell block inside it is still addressed to System Events. process is an SE-defined keyword for an SE-specific object. Likewise keystroke is an SE-specific command.
To make a new art layer in Photoshop, you have to put that command inside its own tell application block which is targeted at PS.
Yeah, AppleScript is often confusing. And System Events is 10× more confusing than that, thanks to it being not-obvious what is GUI Scripting and what isn’t. Good luck.
--
p.s. I’ve a feeling the tell process block is totally redundant, and is only necessary when using GUI Scripting to manipulate an app’s windows. IIRC the keystroke command doesn’t know or care what app receives those keys, in which case what’s important is that you activate Photoshop before you start “pressing” keys. I’ll leave it to you to determine if you can discard the tell process.
p.p.s. AppleScriptable apps usually don’t include cut and paste commands, usually ’cos they already provide far better ways of getting and setting content. Photoshop, however, does. So if you’ve not already tried it, try inserting a paste command at the end of your “tell Photoshop” block, then comment out the “tell System Events” block, and see if that works for you. If so, you can get rid of that System Events block entirely!
p.p.p.s. It’s also worth investigating PS’s dictionary further, to see if it can open and place your “bg_file” directly. If so, you can eliminate the “tell Preview” and the rest of that System Events horridness too!!
I may not be explaining myself the best with the question, I'm usually bad at that. But I'll try my best.
This to me seems like something that would be fairly simple, I'm builing a program in Visual Basic and it has a Splash Screen. While I like the clean splash screen, some users might not and I want to give them a simple way to disable it using a defined setting in the program.
This setting when false would disable the splash screen, when true the splash screen would show up (default).
The easiest way to do this is either on the splash screen itself, on the bottom left or right, put a checkbox that says "Don't show again" and if they check it, save the setting and next time you load the application check that and decide accordingly. Or alternatively, you can put it under the settings/options of the application too. Some do it in both areas to ensure that if the user ever wants it back, they can get it without manually editing the setting for it. Any further suggestions or examples, let me know and I can whip something up for you but this should be pretty self explanatory.
I was wondering how to create a sort of auto clicker using VB.NET.
I would basicly have the click coordinates pre-defined and the clicks, which would have to be separated by delays I guess since I want more than one to happen periodically, would happen outside of the application window (I read this envolves extra system hooks?).
The only code I have been able to find is related to clicks on the application window, which is not what I am looking for.
In short: I want to click a button on the app window, which would initiate a number of clicks on certain pre-defined screen coordinates.
Thanks in advance :)
See this discussion on social.msdn: Simulate a mouse click in a program.
Uses winapi: SetCursorPos, GetCursorPos and mouse_event.
I believe you need to P/Invoke into Windows to accomplish this.
Have a look at the SendInput function.
If you are using automate the program,that program have some tabindex in order to relevant control.then you can use;
SendKeys.Send("{TAB}");
SendKeys.Send("{ENTER}");
it is more accurate on desktop application
I picked vb.net for this question since it's the only prgramming language I am fairly familair with, but if C++ or something else is more suited for this, I am willing to learn something new.
What I am trying to do is:
Retrieve text from database (this already works in vb.net) and copy it to clipboard
Switch primary screen to the external application I want to work with (example: word or open office)
Emulate key-press Enter
Paste text and hit Enter again
Emulate key-press Ctrl and then emulate a click on a pre-defined spot on the screen (like 500pixels from left, 740pixels from top).
Save screenshot, using a second value from the database as the filename (the naming part should be easy)
Emulate another click on another pre-defined spot
Repeat for next text in database.
I wouldn't know where to start, though. I guess the most important part of what I'm trying to achieve is; switching focus to an external application and emulate keypresses and mouse clicks on it.
use http://www.autohotkey.com/
write a console app to get the value from the database
1 - get autohotkey to run the console app and put the return into the clipboard
then continue as described in your list.
Is there a way to programmatically turn on and off the Bluetooth connection on OSX in a way that will be accepted by the Mac App Store?
From my previous question, I've found about blueutil, but it uses private APIs.
It would be somewhat surprising if Apple approved an app that modified the user's antenna settings. It sounds like the kind of thing they typically frown on, no matter how you do it. But then, sometimes I get surprised.
You can definitely do it through Applescript:
tell application "System Preferences"
set current pane to pane "com.apple.preferences.Bluetooth"
tell application "System Events"
tell process "System Preferences"
set isOnCheckbox to checkbox "On" of window "Bluetooth"
if value of isOnCheckbox is 0 then
click isOnCheckbox
end if
end tell
end tell
quit
end tell
Note that this will take over System Preferences and at the end close it even if the user was running it. That's not the best user experience, and I definitely wouldn't do it without first warning the user. But of course, I wouldn't recommend modifying the bluetooth settings without warning the user.
EDIT
Because you asked, I'll take a moment to rant here....
Regarding how to learn to read and write the above, first note that it, like most AppleScript I write professionally, was cobbled together from google searches and experimentation. I'm a purist programmer at heart, and I believe in really understanding the technology you use. Even I cobble together things in AppleScript until they "kind of work."
I wish there were a really good document. Of course there's the language guide, but it's kind of like learning Cocoa from the ObjC language definition. My current recommendations are Beginning AppleScript and then AppleScript: The Definitive Guide. Neuburg in particular does not sugarcoat the language or pretend that it makes sense. Applescript, even worse than the original COBOL (ADD X TO Y GIVING Z), is very hard to write because it tries so hard to be easy. I love and respect many languages. AppleScript is crap.
It is, however, the most supported way to interact with most of the Mac system functions, so a good Mac developer needs to at least be able to get by in it. Even if you use the new ScriptingBridge via ObjC (or MacRuby), the underlying object model is still AppleScript based. In my experience, to get ScriptingBridge code to work well, you generally have to write it first in AppleScript and then translate it into Cocoa.
This worked for me in 10.15.6, I might have over complicated my solution which is running script 1 (turn bluetooth off) and then script 2 (turn bluetooth on).
Script 1. This is for turning bluetooth OFF
tell application "System Events" to tell process "SystemUIServer"
tell (menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1 where description is "bluetooth")
click
click menu item "Turn Bluetooth Off" of menu 1
end tell
tell window 1
click button "Turn Bluetooth Off"
end tell
end tell
Script 2. This is for turning bluetooth ON
tell application "System Events" to tell process "SystemUIServer"
tell (menu bar item 1 of menu bar 1 where description is "bluetooth")
click
click menu item "Turn Bluetooth On" of menu 1
end tell
end tell
So I execute one command which will run one script after the other, the sleep is for the UI to update properly.
osascript bluetooth_off.scpt && sleep 3s && osascript bluetooth_on.scpt
You can just save the command in a file and execute it using: (they have to be in the same directory).
~ bash <fileName>
Note: You will need to give access to the terminal on Preferences > Security & Privacy