File: ReadMe.txt
Abstract: readme file for the SBSystemPrefs sample.
Version: 1.0
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Introduction
This file details the steps involved in putting together a project that uses
Scripting Bridge to send Apple events to the System Preferences application.
The following are the steps used to create this sample.
1. Start with a new Cocoa application.
In this sample we're going to use the System Preferences application so we'll
call the sample 'SBSystemPrefs'. The techniques we are demonstrating in this
sample can be used in any Cocoa Application. We used a simple one window Cocoa
application for this sample to keep it simple.
This project comes with the Interface Builder .nib file and the Controller
object to support that already set up. It is assumed that the reader is
familiar with those parts of Cocoa programming so the mechanics of putting those
parts together are not discussed in this readme.
2. Add a Scripting Bridge build rule to the project.
The first thing to do is to set up Xcode to automatically generate the
Scripting Bridge source for the application you would like to target. The
following steps describe how you can do that:
(a) Turn down the "Targets" tab in the "Groups & Files" list on the left hand
side and select the main target. In this sample, select the "SBSystemPrefs"
target.
(b) With the "SBSystemPrefs" target selected, open the information panel (by
clicking on the Info icon, or by control- or right-clicking on the target name
and selecting "Get Info" from the pop-up menu).
(c) In the info window, click on the Rules tab and then click on the + button
at the bottom to add a new rule.
(d) Set up the new rule as follows:
Process 'Source files with names matching:' *.app
using: 'Custom Script'
set the script field to:
sdef "$INPUT_FILE_PATH" | sdp -fh -o "$DERIVED_FILES_DIR" --basename
"$INPUT_FILE_BASE" --bundleid `defaults read "$INPUT_FILE_PATH/Contents/Info"
CFBundleIdentifier`
click on the "+" icon below the 'with output files:' field, and then set the
field to contain:
$(DERIVED_FILES_DIR)/$(INPUT_FILE_BASE).h
NOTE: if you're typing this rule in by hand, note that it should all be one
one line, and it must be typed exactly as shown above. If you have difficulty
entering the above command, then copy and paste the command from the readme into
the rule.
(e) All done. You can close the info window. Xcode is now set up to
automatically generate Scripting Bridge source for any applications you add to
your project.
NOTE: this rule uses the sdef and sdp command line tools. To learn more about
these tools, use the following commands in the Terminal window:
man sdp
man sdef
3. Select a target application.
To do this, drag and drop the application you would like to target into the
project files group inside of the "Groups & Files" list in the project window.
You can drop the application among the source files you are using for your
application. Because of the build rule we added in step 2, Xcode will treat the
System Preferences application as if it were one of the source files during the
build.
You should uncheck the 'Copy items into destination group's folder (if needed)'
option so the application is not copied into your project directory. In this
sample we have selected 'Absolute Path' as the reference type so we can easily
move the project around from machine to machine without invalidating the
reference (so long as the System Preferences application is present in the
System/Library/CoreServices folder, Xcode will be able to find it).
In this case, we are adding the System Preferences to our project. The System
Preferences application is located in the /System/Library/CoreServices folder.
4. Add the target application to the Compile Sources.
After you have added the target application to your project, you must also add
it to the main target's Compile Sources. You can do that by adding the
application to the 'Compile Sources' build phase under the main target. In the
"Groups & Files" list, open the "Targets" and the "SBSystemPrefs" target and
the Compile Sources build phase items by clicking on the arrows to the left of
them. Then, drag the System Preferences.app from the project files group into
the Compile Sources.
5. Add the Scripting Bridge framework to your project.
Turn down the "Frameworks" group in the Groups & Files area, and then
control-click (or right click) on the "Linked Frameworks" sub-group. Select
"Add > Existing Frameworks..." from the pop-up menu. Then, add the
"ScriptingBridge.framework"
(/System/Library/Frameworks/ScriptingBridge.framework) to the project.
6. Add a minimum system version Info.plist key.
Since the ScriptingBridge.framework is necessary for this application to run
and that framework is not present on previous system versions, you should add
the following key/value pair to the Info.plist file for the application. If
someone tries to run this application on a system earlier than Mac OS X 10.5,
then they will receive a notice from launch services letting them know that the
application is meant to be run on a later version of Mac OS X.
<key>LSMinimumSystemVersion</key>
<string>10.5</string>
You can edit the Info.plist file by either clicking on its icon in the
resources section, or by clicking on the SBSystemPrefs target, clicking on the
Info icon, selecting the Properties tab, and then clicking on "Open Info.plist
as File".
7. Make sure the Target SDK is set to Mac OS X 10.5
You won't have to change this setting for this project, but if you are adding
Scripting Bridge to another project that you started an earlier version of the
Mac OS than Mac OS X 10.5, then you will need to update the Target SDK for the
project. In the Groups & Files view, select the SBSystemPrefs project icon at
the top of the list and then open the information window. Under the General
tab, change the Cross-Develop Using Target SDK: setting to Mac OS X 10.5.
8. Build the project.
If you have followed the steps above, Xcode will generate the Scripting Bridge
source for your project. They will be put inside of your build folder in a
place where the linker and compiler can find them.
The build rule that we installed will create a .h file with the same name as
the application. For example, if you added System Preferences to our project,
then the build rule will create System Preferences.h. The files will be created
inside of the build directory in the DerivedSources directory where the compiler
can find them.
For the Debug build, the System Preferences.h file will be located in this sub
folder of the build directory:
/build/SBSystemPrefs.build/Debug/SBSystemPrefs.build/DerivedSources/System
Preferences.h
For the Release build, the System Preferences.h file will be located in this
sub folder of the build directory:
/build/SBSystemPrefs.build/Release/SBSystemPrefs.build/DerivedSources/System
Preferences.h
A convenient way for you to open and inspect these files is to use the 'Open
Quickly' command in the file menu. For most purposes, the .h file will contain
most of the interesting information so to view that file you open the 'System
Preferences.h' file.
In some cases, depending on what frameworks are in your project, the 'Open
Quickly' command may open the system's 'System Preferences.h' file that includes
constants and definitions used by the file system and the System Preferences
application. If that happens for you, then you will need to navigate into the
build folder to find the correct header file.
9. Add in the System Preferences's Scripting Bridge header.
In the file Controller.m, we have added the import statement '#import "System
Preferences.h"' (note the space in the include file name). This will include
all of the Scripting Bridge definitions for accessing the System Preferences
application with Scripting Bridge.
Here is the imports section in our Controller.m file:
#import "Controller.h"
#import "System Preferences.h"
In your own application, of course, you would import the System Preferences.h
file in the file where you intend to call it from. In this sample, we are using
the Scripting Bridge interface inside of three methods in our Controller class
so that is why we are importing it into Controller.m.
10. code for displaying a specific preference pane
So far, the preceeding steps have described how to set up a project to use
Scripting Bridge to target the System Preferences application. In this
section, we'll talk about the code in the -displaySpecificPane: method of the
Controller class.
Here is the method itself:
- (IBAction)displayUniversalAccess:(id)sender {
/* allocate a System Preferences Scripting Bridge object */
SystemPreferencesApplication *systemPreferences =
[SBApplication
applicationWithBundleIdentifier:@"com.apple.systempreferences"];
/* bring the System Preferences in front */
[systemPreferences activate];
/* display the Universal Access pane */
systemPreferences.currentPane = (SystemPreferencesPane *)
[[systemPreferences panes]
objectWithID:@"com.apple.preference.universalaccess"];
}
In this method, we create the Scripting Bridge object, activate the System
Preferences application, and set the current pane to the Universal Access pane
using it's unique id value.
Note that when selecting the Universal Access pane, the ID property is used
rather than the name. This is the preferred method for referencing a preference
pane as it will work across different localizations when the user has chosen a
different language.
11. code for allowing selection from a list
The following method is called in response to a click on the "Choose from
List..." button:
- (IBAction)selectPaneForDisplay:(id)sender {
/* allocate a System Preferences Scripting Bridge object */
SystemPreferencesApplication *systemPreferences =
[SBApplication
applicationWithBundleIdentifier:@"com.apple.systempreferences"];
/* add all of the preference panes to the list */
NSMutableArray *listOfPreferencePanes = [NSMutableArray
arrayWithCapacity:100];
for ( SystemPreferencesPane *nthPane in [systemPreferences panes] ) {
[listOfPreferencePanes addObject: nthPane];
}
/* set the array. The array controller takes care of the display */
self.prefPanes = listOfPreferencePanes;
/* display the window */
[self.selectionWindow makeKeyAndOrderFront:self];
/* interact until a selection is made or the user cancels. */
NSInteger modalResult = [NSApp runModalForWindow:self.selectionWindow];
/* hide the window */
[self.selectionWindow orderOut:self];
/* if a row was selected, display the selected pane */
if ( NSNotFound != modalResult ) {
/* retrieve the selected one. */
SystemPreferencesPane *selectedPane =
(SystemPreferencesPane *) [[prefPanesController arrangedObjects]
objectAtIndex: modalResult];
/* bring the System Preferences app in front */
[systemPreferences activate];
/* ask the System Preferences to display the pane. */
systemPreferences.currentPane = selectedPane;
}
/* reset the array (releases the array of SystemPreferencesPanes
managed by the array controller) */
self.prefPanes = nil;
}
Important aspects of this call include:
(a) We store an array of SystemPreferencesPane objects in the prefPanes
instance variable and Cocoa bindings set up in the .nib file take care of
displaying the items in the table in the window. It's worth noting that in the
binding between the table column and the array controller, we have chosen to
display the localizedName property of the SystemPreferencesPane object. This
will ensure proper names being displayed across different localizations.
(b) If a preference pane has been selected, then the selected
SystemPreferencesPane Scripting Bridge object is retrieved from the array
controller, the system preferences application is brought to the front, and then
the current pane is set to the selected item. Note that the array controller is
linked to the prefPanes array that we populated earlier in the method. By using
arrangedObjects we are able to retrieve the item selected in the GUI without
having to worry about the order they are being displayed in the list (which,
more than likely, will not be the same as the order they appear in the prefPanes
array).
12. Where to next?
Documentation for Scripting Bridge can be found in the Scripting Bridge Release
Note at this address:
http://developer.apple.com/releasenotes/ScriptingAutomation/RN-ScriptingBridge/index.html
There are man pages available for the Scripting Bridge command line tools. To
access those pages, enter the following commands into the Terminal window:
man sdp
man sdef
There are some other Scripting Bridge samples available including SBSendEmail,
SBSetFinderComment, ScriptingBridgeiCal and ScriptingBridgeFinder showing how to
use Scripting Bridge together with the Apps named in their titles.
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