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Mac Script Library

Automating the User Interface

Unfortunately, not every Mac app has scripting support, and those that do may not always have scripting support for every task you want to automate. You can often work around such limitations, however, by writing a user interface script, commonly called a UI or GUI script. A user interface script simulates user interaction, such as mouse clicks and keystrokes, allowing the script to select menu items, push buttons, enter text into text fields, and more.

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Enabling User Interface Scripting

User interface scripting relies upon the OS X accessibility frameworks that provide alternative methods of querying and controlling the interfaces of apps and the system. By default, accessibility control of apps is disabled. For security and privacy reasons, the user must manually enable it on an app-by-app (including script apps) basis.

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  1. Launch System Preferences and click Security & Privacy.

  2. Click Accessibility.

  3. Choose an app and click Open.

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When running an app that requires accessibility control for the first time, the system prompts you to enable it. See Figure 37-1.

Attempting to run an app that has not been given permission to use accessibility features results in an error. See Figure 37-2.

Note

To run a user interface script in Script Editor, you must enable accessibility for Script Editor.

Admin credentials are required to perform enable user interface scripting.

Targeting an App

User interface scripting terminology is found in the Processes Suite of the System Events scripting dictionary. This suite includes terminology for interacting with most types of user interface elements, including windows, buttons, checkboxes, menus, radio buttons, text fields, and more. In System Events, the process class represents a running app. Listing 37-1 shows how to target an app using this class.

APPLESCRIPT

Listing 37-1AppleScript: Targeting an app for user interface scripting
  1. tell application 'System Events'
  2. tell process 'Safari'
  3. -- Perform user interface scripting tasks
  4. end tell
  5. end tell

To control the user interface of an app, you must first inspect the app and determine its element hierarchy. This can be done by querying the app. For example, Listing 37-2 asks Safari for a list of menus in the menu bar.

APPLESCRIPT

Listing 37-2AppleScript: Querying an app for user interface element information
  1. tell application 'System Events'
  2. tell process 'Safari'
  3. name of every menu of menu bar 1
  4. end tell
  5. end tell
  6. --> Result: {'Apple', 'Safari', 'File', 'Edit', 'View', 'History', 'Bookmarks', 'Develop', 'Window', 'Help'}

Accessibility Inspector (Figure 37-3) makes it even easier to identify user interface element information. This app is included with Xcode. To use it, open Xcode and select Xcode > Open Developer Tool > Accessibility Inspector.

Once you know how an element fits into an interface, you target it within that hierarchy. For example, button X of window Y of process Z.

Clicking a Button

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Use the click command to click a button. Listing 37-3 clicks a button in the Safari toolbar to toggle the sidebar between open and closed.

APPLESCRIPT

Listing 37-3AppleScript: Clicking a button
  1. tell application 'System Events'
  2. tell process 'Safari'
  3. tell toolbar of window 1
  4. click (first button where its accessibility description = 'Sidebar')
  5. end tell
  6. end tell
  7. end tell
  8. --> Result: {button 1 of toolbar 1 of window 'AppleScript: Graphic User Interface (GUI) Scripting' of application process 'Safari' of application 'System Events'}

Choosing a Menu Item

Menu items can have a fairly deep hierarchy within the interface of an app. A menu item generally resides within a menu, which resides within a menu bar. In scripting, they must be addressed as such. Listing 37-4 selects the Pin Tab menu item in the Window menu of Safari.

APPLESCRIPT

Listing 37-4AppleScript: Choosing a menu item
  1. tell application 'System Events'
  2. tell process 'Safari'
  3. set frontmost to true
  4. click menu item 'Pin Tab' of menu 'Window' of menu bar 1
  5. end tell
  6. end tell
  7. --> Result: menu item 'Pin Tab' of menu 'Window' of menu bar item 'Window' of menu bar 1 of application process 'Safari' of application 'System Events'

Note

Scripting the user interface of an app can be tedious and repetitious. To streamline the process, consider creating handlers to perform common functions. For example, Listing 37-5 shows a handler that can be used to choose any menu item of any menu in any running app.

APPLESCRIPT

MacListing 37-5AppleScript: A handler that chooses a menu item
  1. on chooseMenuItem(theAppName, theMenuName, theMenuItemName)
  2. try
  3. -- Bring the target app to the front
  4. tell application theAppName
  5. activate
  6. end tell
  7. -- Target the app
  8. tell application 'System Events'
  9. tell process theAppName
  10. -- Target the menu bar
  11. tell menu bar 1
  12. -- Target the menu by name
  13. tell menu bar item theMenuName
  14. tell menu theMenuName
  15. -- Click the menu item
  16. click menu item theMenuItemName
  17. end tell
  18. end tell
  19. end tell
  20. end tell
  21. end tell
  22. return true
  23. on error
  24. return false
  25. end try
  26. end chooseMenuItem

Listing 37-6 calls the handler in Listing 37-5 to select the Pin Tab menu item in the Window menu of Safari.

APPLESCRIPT

Script
Listing 37-6AppleScript: Calling a handler to choose a menu item

Choosing a Submenu Item

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Some menus contain other menus. In these cases, it may be necessary to select a menu item in a submenu of a menu. Listing 37-7 demonstrates how this would be done by selecting a submenu item in Safari.

APPLESCRIPT

Listing 37-7AppleScript: Selecting a submenu item
  1. tell application 'System Events'
  2. tell process 'Safari'
  3. set frontmost to true
  4. click menu item 'Email This Page' of menu of menu item 'Share' of menu 'File' of menu bar 1
  5. end tell
  6. end tell
  7. --> Result: {menu item 'Email This Page' of menu 'Share' of menu item 'Share' of menu 'File' of menu bar item 'File' of menu bar 1 of application process 'Safari' of application 'System Events'}

Television Scripts Library

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Generally, most scripts are written in Script Editor documents. Scripts can also be written in Xcode, but this is typically for scripts that require advanced user interfaces.

  1. Launch Script Editor in /Applications/Utilities/.

  2. If the script isn’t configured for the correct language, choose the language in the navigation bar.

    Tip

    If you always use the same language, set it as the default language in the General pane of Script Editor preferences. See General Preferences.

  3. Write your script code in the editing area. Newly written code is uncompiled and formatted as new text.

  4. Click the Compile button () to compile the script and check for syntax errors.

    If a syntax error occurs, an alert is displayed.

    If the script compiles, code formatting is applied at this time.

Tip

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You can change the formatting attributes, such as font and color, of uncompiled and compiled text in the Formatting pane of Script Editor preferences. See Formatting Preferences.