Apple-Script

Overview

With Apple-Script you can execute AppleScript commands in Java.

The result can be parsed into an AppleScriptObject. This represents an object in AppleScript. The AppleScript classes are converted to Java classes as follows:

AppleScript class	Java classs	Object getter	Comment
alias	String	getAlias()	The return value is a HFS path string. You have to do the conversion to a POSIX path yourself.
boolean	boolean	getBoolean()	-
date	Date	getDate(format)	You must specify the date format in the getter. See the description about AppleScript dates below.
file	String	getFile()	The return value is a HFS path string. You have to do the conversion to a POSIX path yourself.
integer	int	getInteger()	-
list	AppleScriptList	getList()	Stored internally as a Java ArrayList. You can use the normal List methods.
number	int or double	getInteger() or getDouble()	The abstract class number can represent an integer or a real.
POSIX file	String	getString()	Because there is no visual difference in the output of a POSIX file and a text, the POSIX file is identified and stored as a string. You have to do the conversion to a Java File yourself.
POSIX path	String	getString()	Because there is no visual difference in the output of a POSIX path and a text, the POSIX path is identified and stored as a string. You have to do the conversion to a Java Path yourself.
real	double	getDouble()	-
record	AppleScriptMap	getMap()	Stored internally as a Java HashMap. You can use the normal Map methods.
text	String	getString()	-

How to use

Execute an AppleScript file

try {
	File file = new File("/Users/phillip/Example.applescript");
	AppleScript as = new AppleScript(file);
	as.execute();
} catch (AppleScriptException e) {
	e.printStackTrace();
}

Execute an AppleScript command

try {
	String command = "tell application \"iTunes\" to pause";
	AppleScript as = new AppleScript(command);
	as.execute();
} catch (AppleScriptException e) {
	e.printStackTrace();
}

Execute an AppleScript multi-line command

try {
	String command[] = new String[3];
	command[0] = "tell application \"iTunes\"";
	command[1] = "get name of item 1 of selection";
	command[2] = "end tell";
	AppleScript as = new AppleScript(command);
	as.execute();
} catch (AppleScriptException e) {
	e.printStackTrace();
}

Execute an AppleScript command and get the result as a string

try {
	String command = "tell application \"iTunes\" to pause";
	AppleScript as = new AppleScript(command);
	String result = as.executeAsString();
	System.out.println(result);
} catch (AppleScriptException e) {
	e.printStackTrace();
}

Execute an AppleScript command and get the result as an AppleScriptObject

try {
	String command = "tell application \"iTunes\" to get name of item 1 of selection";
	AppleScript as = new AppleScript(command);
	AppleScriptObject result = as.executeAsObject();
	System.out.println(result.getString());
} catch (AppleScriptException e) {
	e.printStackTrace();
}

AppleScript dates

The date format of an AppleScript date depends on the user's region setting. In Mac OS, each user can configure his own date format. I have not found a way to read out this format from the system settings. That's why the date format must be given with every call of getDate(). With the enum AppleScriptDateFormat I collected some default formats. You can either use one of them or define your own as SimpleDateFormat.

Example with an AppleScriptDateFormat

try {
	...
	object.getDate(AppleScriptDateFormat.GERMAN);
} catch ( AppleScriptException e ) {
	e.printStackTrace();
}

Example with a custom format

try {
	SimpleDateFormat format = new SimpleDateFormat("EEEE, d. MMMM y 'um' hh:mm:ss", Locale.GERMAN);
	object.getDate(format);
} catch ( AppleScriptException e ) {
	e.printStackTrace();
}