Late Night Software on Mark Alldritt

bodyQuiz 1.0 Released

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 17:04:23 -0700

bodyQuiz is a new game I developed in collaboration with Olav Krigolson, a Neuroscientist at U. Vic. It teaches 1st and 2nd year Neuroanatomy students the structures of the brain.

MacScripter.net

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 13:03:00 -0700

I’m excited to announce that I have become the new host of the MacScripter.net discussion forum. MacScripter has been a long standing resource for information concerning macOS automation using technologies such as AppleScript, Automator, and JavaScript For Automation.

Ray Barber established the site many many years ago and has grown it to the point where it is today with almost 30,000 members and an archive of 175,000 posts. MacScripter is a core piece of the AppleScript and macOS automation landscape. Links to MacScripter articles appear almost everywhere macOS automation is discussed. This is all a testament to Ray’s vision in creating MacScripter.net and to his support of the site over the years. Ray has decided to step down and I’m really pleased to be able to provide the resources needed to keep MacScripter.net going in the future.

I sense we are at a point where automation of Apple products is seeing a resurgence. The release of Shortcuts in iOS 12 suggests that Apple has become serious about automation on its mobile devices. I feel this change will spur people to look for more opportunities to automate their Macs as well. All of this represents a great opportunity for MacScripter to grow and become relevant to a new audience.

MacScripter will remain more or less as it is. It will continue to be a place to discuss topics related to macOS and iOS automation in a technology and product agnostic environment.

Script Debugger 6 Released

Thu, 16 Jun 2016 13:29:38 -0700

I’m pleased to announce the release of Script Debugger 6. This release introduces over 25 new features and embraces modern AppleScript, including AppleScriptObjC. To sweeten the deal, Script Debugger’s price has been reduced by 50%!

Product Information | Free Trial | Release Notes

For those unfamiliar with Script Debugger, it is an integraded development environment focused on AppleScript. This focus allows us to deliver a suite of tools that makes AppleScript development amazingly productive. Features like the dictionary explorer allow you to look directly into any application’s live scripting interface and step wise debugging with the ability to see the state of all your variables make AppleScript usable in a way you’ve never experienced before. Of course, this is just a taste of the things Script Debugger does.

Acorn Is Scriptable!

Wed, 01 Jun 2016 23:26:13 -0700

I oscillate between Acorn and Pixelmator on the Mac - its great to have two competent alternatives to Photoshop. Pixelmator is my current fav on the iPad Pro (there’s nothing like using it’s object removal with the Apple Pencil). However, today Acorn has me on the Mac because it is scriptable. Whipped up this little script to generate images for Script Debugger 6 release notes:

use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use scripting additions

on downsampleImage(theFile)
	local destFolderHFSPath
	
	tell application "Finder"
		set destFolderHFSPath to get folder "Web" of desktop as string
	end tell
	
	tell application "Acorn"
		tell (open theFile)
			local imageName, imageWidth, imageHeight
			
			set {imageName, imageHeight, imageWidth} to {name, height, width}
			trim
			
			--	Create 1x down sampled image
			web export width (imageWidth * 0.328) height (imageHeight * 0.328) as PNG in file (destFolderHFSPath & imageName & ".png")
			--	Create 2x down sampled image
			web export width (imageWidth * 0.65) height (imageHeight * 0.65) as PNG in file (destFolderHFSPath & imageName & "@2x.png")
			
			close saving no
		end tell
	end tell
end downsampleImage

on open theFiles
	repeat with aFile in theFiles
		downsampleImage(contents of aFile)
	end repeat
end open

No fuss, it just worked.

Script Debugger 6 Release Notes (6A162)

Wed, 01 Jun 2016 15:57:43 -0700

Here is an updated version of the Script Debugger 6 (build 6A162) release notes. We are very close to completion and this document quite accurately reflects the new features in Script Debugger 6.

DISCLAIMER: Nothing is final until the software ships and there is always the possibility that a feature may have to be removed or altered in the final product.

1. Code Signing

Script Debugger 6 adopts an always-on approach to code signing. Once you enable code signing for a script by selecting a developer ID, Script Debugger signs your script each time you save it. There is no requirement to go through a special Save or Export operation.

2. Improved Bundled Script Resource Editing

The Script Debugger 6 bundled script resource editor has been expanded. You are now able to edit a bundle ID, copyright string, marketing version string and build number. Script Debugger 6 gives you the option of auto-incrementing build numbers each time a script is saved.

Additionally, you are able to identify a Scripting Definition (SDEF) file from your script’s bundle and to select a developer ID to enable always-on code signing for your script.

You are able to specify a default copyright string which is used when creating new bundled scripts and applications. This default copyright string may contain clipping directives which are expanded at the time a new script document is created.

3. Progress Reporting

AppleScript’s progress reporting properties (introduced in Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite) are fully supported in Script Debugger 6. When a script begins reporting progress information by setting any of AppleScript’s progress reporting properties Script Debugger 6 responds by adding a progress bar display above the script’s source:

Script Debugger supports both determinate and indeterminate progress reporting.

Note also that progress information is shown in the window title bar and the script’s document tab. You can elect to dismiss the progress display by clicking the ‘x’ button.

4. Open Quickly

The Open Quickly command, which allows you to easily search for and open scripts containing a particular term in the name or the body of the script, has been heavily revised for Script Debugger 6.

4.1 Improved Search Hit Display

The Open Quickly window highlights the portion of the script’s name, description, Finder comment or script source that matches the search term(s) entered.

4.1 Discontiguous Searching

Discontiguous search matches are reported (when a single search term is entered), similar to the way Xcode’s Open Quickly command behaves when looking up identifiers and source file names. When multiple search terms are entered the Open Quickly command looks for each term within the script name, description, finder comment and script source.

For example, if you have a series of scripts containing the same ‘writeToFile’ handler, you can locate these scripts by entering the search terms ‘write’, ‘writeToFile’ or ‘writeFile’.

5. Editor Improvements

5.1 Code Folding

Script Debugger 6 at long last provides code folding where you can collapse block structures and comments within your code to reduce clutter when editing.

5.2 Autocompletion

Improved code completion to include all matching user defined identifiers, commands from target applications and AppleScript Objective-C identifiers.

5.3 AppleScript Objective-C Autocompletion

AppleScriptObjC code completion covers the main Cocoa frameworks, and automatically handles insertion of current application's where required. The insertion can be either in-line, or in the form of automatically generated properties, with the ability to refactor between the two forms.

5.4 Automatic “it’s” Correction

If you type “it’s " in code, it will be changed to “its “. This avoids the new “– Grammar Police” comment being inserted by the compiler in 10.11 (El Capitan).

5.5 Terminology Clash Avoidance

When using interleaved syntax for handlers, parameters will be escaped with pipe characters if they clash with defined terminology.

5.6 Identifier Case Changing

Script Debugger 6 performs each script compilation in a new AppleScript compiler instance. This avoids a long standing problem where it was impossible to change the case of a variable, property, handler or script object once the script had been compiled.

5.7 Dash Support

If you have Dash installed, you can turn on support so that option-clicking on a word will look it up in Dash. See … in Preferences.

5.7 Application, Script Library and Framework Picker

Script Debugger 6 offers new powers for placeholders referring to applications, script libraries and AppleScript Objective-C framework names when existing clippings, text substitutions and command completions. Script Debugger offers a menu of running and favourite applications for application placeholders, a menu of installed script library names for script placeholders and a menu of commonly used framework names for framework placeholders.

6. Debugging Improvements

6.1 Non-Persistent Global Variables

A new Persistent Global Variables command has been added to the Script menu which allows you to determine if the value of global variables and properties persists from one run to the next. Note that when Code Signing is enabled, this setting is forced off to match the behaviour of signed scripts.

6.2 AppleScript Objective-C Value Exploring

Script Debugger’s various explorers now support AppleScript Objective-C object references. Instead of seeing AppleScript Objective-C object references shown as «class ocid» id «data optr00000000F0FB3885FC7F0000», Script Debugger 6 shows you details of the object:

As this screen shot illustrates, you are even able to explore into container objects to examine their contents.

6.3 AppleScript Objective-C Value Viewers

Script Debugger 6’s support for AppleScript Objective-C objects extends to displaying “native” viewers for dates and images.

6.4 Breakpoint Dragging

Breakpoints, which allow you mark specific lines of your script where execution will pause in debugging mode, can now be moved by dragging them within the script’s gutter. Additionally, you can delete a breakpoint by dragging it out of the script’s gutter.

Double-clicking on a breakpoint in the script’s gutter allows you to edit a breakpoint in a popover window. You can also summon this popover window using the breakpoint contextual menu or the Edit Breakpoint command in the Script menu.

6.6 Remove All Breakpoints

The Remove All Breakpoints command now confirms with you before removing all your breakpoints to avoid accidental breakpoint removal.

6.7 Remove All Disabled Breakpoints

A new Remove All Disabled Breakpoints command has been added to remove all disabled breakpoints. Like the Remove All Breakpoints command, this new command confirms with you before removing all your disabled breakpoints to avoid accidental breakpoint removal.

6.8 Improved Current Statement Highlighting

Like Script Debugger 5, Script Debugger 6 moves the current text selection to the current statement as you step through code or pause at breakpoints. However, Script Debugger 6 does not select the current statement’s trailing newline. This avoids some visibility problems which occurred for some users with Script Debugger 5 when their current statement highlight color preference was too similar to the system text selection color.

7. AppleEvent Logging Improvements

7.1 Added Close and Clear Buttons

Added a Clear and a Close button to the Event Log bar within the script window.

8. Dictionary Improvements

8.1 Open Application Dictionary

When the PrefChooseAppsUsingChooser expert preference is true, the dictionary chooser presented by Script Debugger when opening dictionaries lists scripting additions and script libraries just as the Script Editor does.

8.2 Better Application Scriptability Detection

Script Debugger 6 improves the way it determines if an application is scriptable. For example, Apple’s Preview application is not recognized as scriptable.

9. Features Removed

9.1 Mac OS X Version Support

Script Debugger 6 supports Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or later and Mac OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) is recommended.

9.2 Script Debugger Libraries

Script Debugger 5’s library inclusion mechanism is no longer supported in Script Debugger 6. This means that Script Debugger 5’s Libraries pane has been removed along with the Flatten Script command found in the Export submenu of the File menu.

Script Debugger 6 provides a conversion service that translates Script Debugger 5 references into AppleScript use script statments.

Script Debugger 6 Release Notes (6A121)

Thu, 10 Mar 2016 18:32:02 -0700

I’m posting this in-progress document publicly as a bit of an experiment. Given that it has been several years since the release of Script Debugger 5, I hope that the appearance of this information will give people confidence that Script Debugger 6’s release is imminent.

Beta testing of Script Debugger 6 is on going and I will update this post as changes are made to the application.

DISCLAIMER: Nothing is final until the software ships and there is always the possibility that a feature may have to be removed or altered in the final product.

1. Code Signing

2. Improved Bundled Script Resource Editing

Additionally, you are able to identify a Scripting Definition (SDEF) file from your script’s bundle and to select a developer ID to enable always-on code signing for your script.

You are able to specify a default copyright string which is used when creating new bundled scripts and applications. This default copyright string may containing clipping directives where are expanded at the time a new script document is created.

3. Progress Reporting

AppleScript’s progress reporting properties (introduced in Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) are fully supported in Script Debugger 6. When a script begins reporting progress information by setting any of AppleScript’s progress reporting properties Script Debugger 6 responds by adding a progress bar display above the script’s source:

Script Debugger supports both determinate and indeterminate progress reporting.

Note also that progress information is shown in the window title bar and the script’s document tab. You can elect to dismiss the progress display by clicking the ‘x’ button.

4. Open Quickly

The Open Quickly command has been heavily revised for Script Debugger 6.

4.1 Improved Search Hit Display

The Open Quickly window highlights the portion of the script’s name, description, Finder comment or script source that matches the search term(s) entered.

4.1 Better Searching

5. Editor Improvements

5.1 Code Folding

While not yet fully complete, Script Debugger 6 at long last provides code folding where you can collapse block structures and comments within your code to reduce clutter when editing.

5.2 Autocompletion

Improved code completion to include all matching user defined identifiers. Additional improvements to autocompletion are planned to better support AppleScript Objective-C development.

5.3 Identifier Case Changing

5.4 Automatic “it’s” Correction

If you type “it’s " in code, it will be changed to “its “. This avoids the new “– Grammar Police” comment being inserted by the compiler in 10.11 (El Capitan).

5.5 Terminology Class Avoidance

When using interleaved syntax for handlers, parameters will be escaped with pipe characters if they clash with defined terminology.

5.6 Dash Support

If you have Dash installed, you can turn on support so that option-clicking on a word will look it up in Dash. See … in Preferences.

5.7 Application, Script Library and Framework Picker

5.8 …more coming

6. Debugging Improvements

6.1 Non-Persistent Global Variables

6.2 AppleScript Objective-C Value Exploring

As this screen shot illustrates, you are even able to explore into container objects to examine their contents.

6.3 AppleScript Objective-C Value Viewers

Script Debugger 6’s support for AppleScript Objective-C objects extends to displaying “native” viewers for dates and images.

6.4 Breakpoint Dragging

You can move breakpoints by dragging them within the script’s gutter. Additionally, you can delete a breakpoint by dragging it out of the script’s gutter.

6.6 Remove All Breakpoints

The Remove All Breakpoints command now confirms with you before removing all your breakpoints to avoid accidental breakpoint removal.

6.7 Remove All Disabled Breakpoints

6.8 Improved Current Statement Highlighting

7. AppleEvent Logging Improvements

7.1 Added Close and Clear Buttons

Added a Clear and a Close button to the Event Log bar within the script window.

8. Dictionary Improvements

8.1 Open Application Dictionary

8.2 Better Application Scriptability Detection

Script Debugger 6 improves the way it determines if an application is scriptable. For example, Apple’s Preview application is not recognized as scriptable.

Script Debugger Pricing

Fri, 05 Dec 2014 14:24:27 -0700

A comment appeared on my Script Debugger 20th Anniversary post asking a question that has arisen many times over the years:

I don’t know how many times I’ve downloaded demos of SD over the years, but I’ve never actually jumped the hurdle of that $199 price tag to purchase it. I wouldn’t hesitate to pay $50 or so, and even with AppleScript getting less attention these days, I can’t believe I’m alone.

I’m not (just) complaining here, I’m really interested in your thinking in setting such a high price point. It’s hard to believe you wouldn’t have made more money over time if you were willing to target more casual scripters. Did you make a deliberate choice to cater only to the most hardcore and/or professional users, or was it really a profit-maximizing decision based on real market analysis? Or am I missing something? (Of course I understand that you put a lot of work into it and that the scripter universe is a relatively small market overall.)

I have resisted answering this type of question publicly because it seems like a no-win for me. Yes, Script Debugger is expensive. Yes, I could have lowered the price but I have not. Am I missing an opportunity - maybe - we’ll never know. I thought I would turn my response to this question into a post so it won’t be overlooked.

I see Script Debugger as a tool that makes professional developers money by saving them a lot of time. Those that really need Script Debugger know it and would pay much more because of this simple equation. In fact, if I had more courage I would raise the price even further.

The problem with the make-it-up-on-volume model is that the market for AppleScript tools (development tools in general) is very small and fragmented. I don’t believe that simply lowering the price by 3/4 on its own would generate 4x+ sales volume because I don’t think 4x+ customers ready to buy at $50 exist. I would have to market more to reach those customers that do exist and that costs. I would have to become involved in justifying and marketing AppleScript (as I once was) to create new customers which costs. Then there are the added costs of supporting a 4x+ user community. And finally, it lowers the perceived value of my software. I have developed many spreadsheets trying to model this over the years.

There is presently a rant raging on the AppleScript User’s mailing list regarding AppleScript’s future. It is clear that for those that have discovered AppleScript and tamed it, it is powerful weapon. However, the days of AppleScript being the only game in town (as it was before Mac OS X) are long gone. Many alternatives exist that better AppleScript in lots of ways. AppleScript remains the best tool for controlling scriptable Mac applications, but its a bear to master – hence the need for Script Debugger. Apple’s moves to improve AppleScrpt in Mavericks and Yosemite are somewhat encouraging. However, any marketing effort I might mount is never going to move the needle on AppleScript’s presence in the automation market place and Apple’s view of it. Apple’s priorities lie elsewhere so I’m not likely to get any cover from them.

As for maximizing profit, no. I’ve made a living over the years from Script Debugger, but its a base-hit at best. It makes enough money to keep me working on it, but not enough for me to retire or even hire any help. I could have earned more money from consulting but I enjoy being an indie developer and accept the financial consequences.

Back in the 1.0 days, we aggressively pursued sales volume. We had a lower price then, and signed up as many sales channels as we could. We purchased ads in MacTech and MacWorld. Our sales volume steadily rose, but our net revenue started to fall.

OSAID Leaks Cause Crashes

Thu, 04 Dec 2014 09:59:16 -0700

As a followup to my Getting Yosemite AppleScript Progress Information post I would like to offer this PSA.

There an AppleScript crashing bug that you may encounter when using the OSAGetProperty() call.

If you fail to call OSADispose() to release the OSAID values you receive from OSAGetProperty() you have an OSAID leak. If you begin to see difficult to reproduce crashes that look like this then you have an OSAID leak in your application:

#0  0x00007fff97a6a827 in CFRelease ()
#1  0x00000001054fb6b6 in UASMakeIDTable(unsigned long) ()
#2  0x00000001054fb81b in UASNewID(TUASScript*) ()
#3  0x00000001054c0f9d in ASGetPropertyLocal(int, unsigned int, AEDesc const*, unsigned int*) ()
#4  0x00000001054b7aad in AppleScriptComponent ()
#5  0x00007fff95704b73 in OSAGetProperty ()

I filed a Radar bug with Apple over 10 years ago but the issue appears to have gone unresolved. It seems to me that when the available OSAIDs have been exhausted, OSAGetProperty() (and all other OSA calls) should return some sort of error instead of crashing.

UPDATE

If, like me, you wrap your OSAIDs in an Objective-C object, make sure your autorelease pool(s) drain properly. You’re call to OSADispose() probably happens when your object is dealloced and that may not happen when you expect.

Script Debugger's 20th Anniversary

Thu, 04 Dec 2014 01:34:15 -0700

While I was distracted with my late wife’s illness, Script Debugger’s 20th anniversary came and went.

Script Debugger 1

Development on Script Debugger 1.0 started in 1993. Version 1.0 was released in late 1994 and was introduced publicly at MacWorld in San Francisco in January 1995. We shared a booth with FrontMost (later renamed FaceSpan) by Software Designs Unlimited.

Here’s how Script Debugger looked back then.

Interestingly, Script Debugger 1 may never have been a product. I was very uncertain about how to market and sell what was really a $129 piece of shareware. BBEdit was the only model of how this could be done by an independent developer. Remember, the Internet was not as it is today. Software was shrink wrapped in boxes containing floppy disks and printed manuals. It took serious cash to produce product. I had 2000 copies made at a cost of CDN$20,000 (1994 $s). The packing boxes filled an entire room in my basement. Software was sold through mail order outlets (MacTech, Apple’s Developer Central, and others) and trade shows like MacWorld and WWDC. The Mac had no presence in computer stores at that time.

I vividly recall standing outside the MacTech booth at WWDC 1995 in San Jose watching people walk up and purchase Script Debugger. I just could’t believe it was actually happening after all the work that had gone into getting those shrink-wrapped packages onto the MacTech shelves. I developed such an appreciation for how things as mundane as a can of soup get onto a store shelf.

Our daughter was born in 1995, and Gerry left her job to work full time with me. We were so naive. We had no idea what we were signing up for.

Script Debugger 2

Script Debugger 2.0 was introduced in 2000, and went on to win the Mac World Eddy for best development tool (we were up against BBEdit that year - I think Rich and the guys promised Gerry a bottle of champaign - I was at home looking after our 4 year old daughter). I was bummed because I later discovered the presenter that year was John de Lancie who played one of my favourite Star Trek Next Generation characters “Q”.

Here’s a little of how Script Debugger 2 looked at the time:

The big advancement in Script Debugger 2 was the object model explorer which let you see an application’s live scripting interface. This was huge at the time, and to this day, sets Script Debugger apart.

After Script Debugger 2 was released, Apple had its near death experience and our business simply stopped (literally went to zero) in the space of 3 weeks.

During the period that followed, we developed an Adobe Illustrator plugin that made Illustrator scriptable from the Mac with AppleScript and from Windows with Visual Basic. Adobe later purchased this code from us and this went on to form the genesis for the scriptability found in Illustrator, PhotoShop and Acrobat (InDesign had its own killer scripting implementation before we arrived on the scene). The product, named ScripZ, was demoed by Sal Soghoian at that year’s MacWorld Jobs led keynote. We were in meetings with Adobe to conclude the sale of the software right behind the black curtain beside the stage as the keynote was taking place - crazy.

Script Debugger 3

In 2002 we released Script Debugger 3.0. Script Debugger 3 had pretty much the same look and feel as 2.0. We went on to be the runner up for that years MacWorld Eddy for best development tool (I think CodeWarrior got it that year).

The big news for Script Debugger 3 was native Mac OS X support and the integration of our JavaScript scripting system into the product.

Script Debugger 4

In 2006, Script Debugger 4.0 was released. Script Debugger 4 became a Cocoa/Objective-C/C++ application (previously it was a THINK Class Library/C++ application) and received a UI overhaul which adopted the Mac OS X look and feel, and introduced concurrent script execution where scripts open in different windows could be debugged at the same time.

Script Debugger 4.5

Then in 2009 we released Script Debugger 4.5. Like Script Debugger 3, this was an evolutionary released which built on Script Debugger 4.

Script Debugger 5

And finally, in 2012 we released Script Debugger 5.0. Yet another UI overhaul. JavaScript was dropped (irony). Tabbed windows were introduced. Yet another rewrite of many internal components to make the product more maintainable and drop legacy Mac OS stuff, much dating back to the Classic Mac OS days.

Along the way there were other products: ScripZ (the Adobe Illustrator scriptability plugin acquired by Adobe), TagOn (an Adobe InDesign plugin for importing QuarkXPress documents), Affrus (A Perl IDE/Debugger) and of course the ill-fated FaceSpan 5. Then there were the freeware items: XML Tools, XSLT Tools, Plist Tools, Record and List Tools, JavaScript OSA and others I cant remember. All in all there have been more than 40 Script Debugger releases (major and maintenance releases).

While I did all the development on Script Debugger, it was not me alone. Gerry was there throughout the ups and downs running the business, executing the marketing and sales plans. She and I worked together in the same office for most of these 20 years. Matt Neuburg has been there throughout producing all our documentation (amazingly taking over from our first tech writer and creating the SD1 manual in 3 weeks!) and serving as my sounding board for so many years. Other lesser known individuals include Frances Hunter (she produced the original Script Debugger 1.0 printed manual), Lorin Rivers doing marketing and Bryan Bell did all the icons starting with Script Debugger 3. Adrian Ruigrok developed much of FaceSpan 5 and went on to work for Apple on some of the cool iThingies we all love today. And of course the invaluable support of other developers like Rich Siegel, Jon Pugh, Stephan Somogyi and many many others.

And finally, there are all the relationships that developed with customers through all these years, many dating back to the initial release of Script Debugger 1 (Shane, Ray, Jon, Chuck).

Wow, 20 years of my life involved in developing Script Debugger. My daughter is 19 now and attending college.

I hope I have all these dates more or less correct.

P.S. Here are some interesting facts:

The impetus for Script Debugger came from difficulty I experienced trying to automate Claris FileMaker and Claris MacProject Pro using Apple’s Script Editor. Oddly, these two Claris applications were very scriptable at that time.
Script Debugger 1.0 was developed on a Mac SE/30 with 4MB RAM using Think C
Script Debugger 1.0 easily fit on 1 800K floppy disk. Script Debugger 5 is a 14MB download.
Script Debugger was ported from Think C/TCL/C++/Classic Mac OS Toolbox to Symantec C++, then to CodeWarrior, then to Carbon on Mac OS X, then to Cocoa/Objective-C using Project Builder and now Xcode. Along the way, the TCL (Think Class Library) had to be ported to Carbon. Parts of the TCL are still in use in Script Debugger 5 (CFile/CResFile/CDataFile).
Script Debugger has out lived several of the products used to build it (THINK C, Symantec C++ and CodeWarrior). Only BBEdit continues to flourish.

LNSYearView

Thu, 03 Apr 2014 12:16:57 -0700

I’ve always quite liked how GitHub displays a summary of ones activity over the past year.

I have been working on a side project for the last while which needs a view like this so I decided to create my own. I ended up spending a lot of time in the NSCalendar and NSDateComponents classes which I had never used before. Here’s how it turned out:

The code is available here.

Script Debugger 5.0 Released

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:54:48 -0700

I’m pleased to announce that I have finally completed Script Debugger 5.0. After an extremely long development period, it is finally done and I can take a breath.

Blog Reorganization

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:52:08 -0700

With the release of Script Debugger 5 I am splitting my blog into two parts. Late Night Software announcements and Script Debugger related postings are available on a new blog hosted at www.latenightsw.com. All of my development and personal postings will remain here.

FaceSpan 5 (Mark's Misadventure)

Sat, 05 May 2012 21:38:48 -0700

Back in May 2009 I made the difficult decision to abandon FaceSpan 5. This was a wrenching period in my life and it has taken a long time to recover. The failure of this project seriously stressed my relationship with a couple of good friends and cost me a lot of money and time. At last I feel like I have enough distance to begin to talk about what was accomplished and the mistakes I made.

I am a self-funded Indie (lone) developer. I made a number of classic business blunders on the FaceSpan 5 project. I broke the golden rule: never (never!) rewrite a software product. I massively underestimated the effort required to complete the product. I set off without having sufficient resources to complete the project. Because I took so long to complete my work, the market moved on – AppleScript’s importance to the customers I intended to target declined. Some may argue that the market was never really there to provide a return for a product of this complexity. Finally, I didn’t pull the plug soon enough. Hindsight its great.

Not all was lost. Some of the code I developed for FaceSpan 5 found a home in Script Debugger 5.

##A Little History

Many years previously I developed FaceSpan 3 under contract for its owner. As part of that effort I became impressed with FaceSpan’s power and simplicity. FaceSpan 3 was successful, for a development tool, and even received an Apple Design Award at that year’s Worldwide Developers Conference. Sadly, after my involvement with the product ended, FaceSpan fell into disrepair and did not make the leap to Mac OS X. FaceSpan’s developer finally produced FaceSpan 4 which was to little to late and not as successful as hoped for.

I acquired FaceSpan 4 in 2006 and, after a period where I tried to fix the most serious issues with the product, I concluded that FaceSpan 4’s dependance on AppleScript Studio was its core problem. FaceSpan 4 had great integration of a visual UI bilder and coder editor, but lacked a good runtime environment and debugging.

Work on FaceSpan 5 began in 2007 with the aim of freeing FaceSpan from AppleScript Studio and restoring the classic FaceSpan’s attractiveness. By the time I stopped FaceSpan’s development I believe I was well on my way to achieving my aims. Two great Mac developers helped me with the project:

Adrian Ruigrok, who now works for Apple, developed much of the FaceSpan 5 IDE code.
Matt Neuburg acted as a sounding board for my ideas and developed the initial FaceSpan 5 documentation.

The project turned out to be too ambitious given my resources. Additionally, FaceSpan revealed a number of AppleScript issues and problems in Apple’s Cocoa Scripting framework which I was ultimately unable to overcome.

##What Is (Was) FaceSpan?

FaceSpan 5 was an integrate tool for building Cocoa applications using AppleScript. Many people saw similarities to Apple’s HyperCard. FaceSpan provided a visual UI builder, an AppleScript editor, an AppleScript debugger and a runtime environment designed to take the best advantage of AppleScript’s strengths and provide a collection services and UI widgets out of which applications can be built. Matt wrote this description of FaceSpan 5 back when the project was active.

The FaceSpan 5 runtime environment wrapped Apple’s Cocoa Frameworks in a sanitized and simplified AppleScript focused programming interface. This allowed one to build fully Cocoa-native applications using AppleScript without having to learn anything about Cocoa. The intent was for Cocoa to be an implementation detail rather than the programming interface.

We’ll never know if the FaceSpan 5 approach was actually better than the AppleScript Studio interface offered by Apple. My hope was that FaceSpan’s approach was actually simpler, and not simply a substitution of one complicated programming interface for another.

Since FaceSpan 5 was abandoned there have been several developments in the area of AppleScript GUI tools. Firstly, Apple transitioned from AppleScript Studio to AppleScriptObjC. Shane Stanley has released his ASObjC Runner which can display progress dialogs. And then there is the long lived Appearance OSAX from 24U Software.

##The Last Build

When I stopped developing FaceSpan 5, a lot of people came out of the woodwork looking for a copy of the software. I was not willing to make the software available at that time, but I am now. I’m doing this now because I think it might be interesting for those of you who were/are curious about what I was working on to get a chance to play with the product.

Keep in mind that this build predates the release of Xcode 4 and there are some interesting similarities. Apple had to be developing parts of Xcode 4 during the same period so its fascinating to me how common ideas arrise in different places.

Before you download the software, please keep the following conditions in mind:

This is Alpha-Stage software. This means that it is buggy and its not feature or UI complete. Expect it to crash and fail. If you stick to the examples included with the documentation, you should be okay.
THE FACESPAN SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS-IS FOR EVALUATION PURPOSES ONLY. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
PLEASE DO NOT FILE BUG REPORTS. I’m not going to produce another build.
PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME TO OPEN SOURCE THE PROJECT. This product shares a lot of code with my Script Debugger product and I’m not willing to release the code.
RTFM. Seriously, you are on your own.
The software should run on Snow Leopard (10.6) or Lion (10.7). I have no idea if it will work on Mountain Lion (10.8) or beyond.

View Matt Neuburg’s Alpha Documentation.

I have withdrawn the FaceSpab 5 download as Mac OS X 10.9 (Yosemite) broke it - apologies

Have Fun!

Script Debugger 4.5.7

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 08:08:34 -0700

I’m pleased to announce the release of Script Debugger 4.5.7. Script Debugger 4.5.7 is a free maintenance release that addresses a series of issues that came to light following the release of Script Debugger 4.5.

Download

Release Notes

Among the changes in the Script Debugger 4.5.7 maintenance release is a fix for crashing bug when opening or creating documents on Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion).

A big thank you to all the folks who downloaded the various Script Debugger 4.5.7 Beta builds. I really appreciate all the great feedback and bug reports I received.

Script Debugger 4.5.7b4

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 19:04:27 -0700

I am preparing another Script Debugger 4.5 maintenance release.

UPDATE: Script Debugger 4.5.7 has been released.

As was the case with Script Debugger 4.5.5 and 4.5.6, I am struggling to resolve some stability problems that appeared following the release of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Resolving these issues has been very difficult as I am not been able to reproduce the crashes on my own systems.

To help me determine if I’ve resolved the stability issues (or at least improved things), please allow Script Debugger to submit ALL crash reports. I know that this may slow you down a little, but it will help me as I work to resolve the stability problems.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
Intel or PowerPC Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.6, 10.5, 10.4

##Download

Script Debugger 4.5.7b4 (12MB)

##Installation

Quit Script Debugger if it is running
Mount the ScriptDebugger4.5.7 disk image
Copy the Script Debugger 4.5 application from the disk image to your Applications folder (or any other place on your disk)
Restart your Macintosh to ensure all caches are flushed

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.6 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this BETA build expires on October 1, 2011.

##Script Debugger 4.5.7b4 Changes

15112 [Crash] Script Debugger co-exists with installations of the forthcoming Script Debugger 5.0.
15101 [Crash] Script Debugger no longer crashes when creating new documents on Lion (Mac OS X 10.7).

##Script Debugger 4.5.7b3 Changes

15108 Addressed a problem where the Dictionary/Explorer control in the Dictionary window was not updated to ‘Dictionary’ following a search.
14862 Added support for ASObjC scripts by allowing ‘class “ClassName”’ constructs to compile.

Script Debugger 4.5.7b2 Changes

Script Debugger 4.5.7b2

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 09:58:07 -0700

I am preparing another Script Debugger 4.5 maintenance release.

UPDATE: Script Debugger 4.5.7 has been released.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
Intel or PowerPC Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.6, 10.5, 10.4

##Download

Script Debugger 4.5.7b2 (12MB)

##Installation

Quit Script Debugger if it is running
Mount the ScriptDebugger4.5.7 disk image
Copy the Script Debugger 4.5 application from the disk image to your Applications folder (or any other place on your disk)
Restart your Macintosh to ensure all caches are flushed

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.6 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this BETA build expires on July 1, 2011.

##Script Debugger 4.5.7b2 Changes

15107 Script Debugger no longer attempts to compile scripts when saving changes to an existing Text (.applescript) document.
15106 Script Debugger no longer causes AppleScript to convert “reference” to “specifier” when compiling scripts.
14862 Added support for ASObjC scripts by allowing ‘class “ClassName”’ constructs to compile.

Script Debugger 4.5.7b1 Changes

Script Debugger 4.5.7b1

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 08:45:48 -0700

I am preparing another Script Debugger 4.5 maintenance release.

UPDATE: Script Debugger 4.5.7 has been released.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
Intel or PowerPC Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.6, 10.5, 10.4

##Download

no longer available

##Installation

Quit Script Debugger if it is running
Mount the ScriptDebugger4.5.7 disk image
Copy the Script Debugger 4.5 application from the disk image to your Applications folder (or any other place on your disk)
Restart your Macintosh to ensure all caches are flushed

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.6 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this BETA build expires on May 1, 2011.

##Script Debugger 4.5.7b1 Changes

15090 [CRASH] Resolved a bug in the Balance command that could result in crashes if compound AppleScript statements (tell x to y, if x then y) appear within a block style comment.
15094 [CRASH] Another attempt to resolve the intermittent crashes which began with the release of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).
15093 Resolved a problem where the Dictionary window fails to display dictionary descriptions for multiple items selected from the browser.
15092 Resolved a problem where application bundles saved as 32-bit appear as PowerPC applications in the Finder.
15091 Fixed a typo in the property definition clipping.

A Better Text Find & Replace User Interface

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 16:20:24 -0700

I have never been happy with the Text Find & Replace panel in my applications (Script Debugger and Affrus). I started with a version of the Find panel that first appeared in Apple’s Text Edit and many other early Mac OS X applications. Here’s an example from the currently shipping version of Script Debugger 4.5:

The problem here is that the user has to switch their focus away from the text they are editing to the Find & Replace panel. They have to manage the Find panel window by summoning it, closing it, and moving it out of the way if the text they search for lies behind the window.

Then, Xcode came along with its Find & Replace panel integrated directly into the text editor window (similar to how Safari integrated its text search directly into the web browser window):

I came to admire this UI in my day-to-day development and copied it for Affrus 2. However, very quickly my Tech Writer and collaborator Matt Neuburg complained that he didn’t like it because he could not easily see or control the find options (Regular Expressions, Match Words, Ignore Case, etc.). I had a search field popup menu that provided access to these features, but it was not obvious and was clumsy to use. To solve this problem I expanded the inline find panel a little to make these options visible and easily changed. Here’s how this appears in Affrus 2 Alpha:

The problem here is that the inline Find & Replace panel is starting to use up too much valuable vertical space in the window and there are a lot of tightly packed small controls that are difficult to use.

As I was working on a related problem in Script Debugger 5, I came across an idea. Script Debugger 4.5’s dictionary window has a search field in its toolbar. This search field includes a popup menu where the user can control the scope of the search:

This UI was a total failure. The users who were lucky enough to discover these search options found the menu difficult to use as they had to make several trips through the menu to configure the search.

I came across Matt Gemmell’s MAAttachedWindow NSWindow implementation which gave me the idea of placing the search options in a window that only appears when keyboard focus is in the search field:

While I still am not totally happy with the popup window’s appearance and reability, its functionally is dramatically better than the Script Debugger 4.5 approach. The problem of users failing to discover these options totally goes away.

Applying this design to the inline Text Find & Replace, I came up with this:

This design seems to allow one to have a minimalist Find & Replace panel within an editing window while still offering a usable and discoverable range of search options to the user.

Script Debugger 5: Dictionary Redesign Prototype

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:01:41 -0700

I have been plugging away at a redesign of the Script Debugger 5 dictionary window, and by extension the value viewer that appears throughout the Script Debugger user interface.

The focus of the redesign is to remove the need for multiple windows unless you want them, to simplify navigation between dictionaries and through large dictionaries/object models, and to take better advantage of wide-screen displays. I’ve also tried to modernize Script Debugger’s appearance and make the presentation of dictionary information more consistent.

Rather than say too much more I’ll leave you to check out the screencast and just say that this is a very rough cut at what may or may not appear in Script Debugger 5. All icons are placeholders, etc, etc.

Best viewed full-screen at 720p

I realize that you may not be able to say too much without being able to actually use the software, but I’m very interested in feedback on the changes. In particular, are there obvious omissions/problems? Am I heading in the right direction or is this the wrong thing.

Affrus 2.0 Alpha

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 09:07:32 -0700

I’m pleased to announce that the first Affrus 2.0 Alpha build is ready for testing. For those unfamiliar with this software, Affrus 2.0 is an editing and debugging environment that makes Perl and Ruby script development productive by keeping things simple.

In recognition of your patience and invaluable input, Affrus 2.0 Alpha builds are initially available only to our existing Affrus 1.0 customers. In order to join the Affrus 2.0 testing program you will need an Affrus 1.0 registration number and a Macintosh that runs Mac OS X 10.6 or later. Affrus 2.0 presently supports Perl versions 5.8.9 and 5.10.0, as shipped by Apple with Mac OS X 10.6. To join the Affrus 2.0 testing program, send your request, along with your Affrus 1.0 registration number, to support@latenightsw.com.

While I set out on this journey to primarily make Affrus 2.0 compatible with Snow Leopard, I could not resist adding a whole host of new features to really take things up a few notches. Some of these include:

Fully native Mac OS X user interface
Many Script Debugger 4.5 derived text editor features
Split pane editing
Viewing options
Editing aids
Simplified debugger window layout (less wasted space)
Edit while debugging
Inline Find/Replace with Regular Expression support
Debugger Console accepts user input (In Affrus 1.0, the Console could only display script output; in Affrus 2.0 you can type into the Console when a script requests input.)
Debugger Console can appear in a separate window (frequent Affrus 1.0 feature request)
Regular Expression Tester window
Multi-languages including Perl, Ruby, and others in future (frequent Affrus 1.0 feature request)

Keep in mind that this is an Alpha build so while it’s certainly functional, it’s not complete. Expect bugs and missing features. I ask that you decide if you can cope with the inevitable inconveniences that using an Alpha build presents before you download it. You may also notice that certain Affrus 1.0 features are missing. This is temporary. Missing features will be added back as I work towards a Beta version of Affrus 2.0. In exchange for this inconvenience, you get a chance to influence Affrus 2.0 as it nears completion.

I really appreciate the support you’ve all shown during the development of this new version of Affrus. I’ve always been focused on the needs of my fellow developers and strive to make the best tools possible. I believe that Affrus 2.0, when complete, will not disappoint.

Script Debugger 4.5.6

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 21:59:49 -0700

UPDATE: I have released Script Debugger 4.5.6 which resolves a license limit exceeded error that effected some users. In all other ways, 4.5.6 is identical to 4.5.5.

I’m pleased to announce the release of Script Debugger 4.5.5. Script Debugger 4.5.5 is a free maintenance release that addresses a series of issues that came to light following the release of Script Debugger 4.5.

Download

Release Notes

This maintenance release attempts to resolve the stability problems that some Script Debugger users have experienced on Snow Leopard. While I have made progress improving stability, there is still more to be done. This maintenance release addresses a number of other important issues so I decided to make these fixes available now rather than hold the release back while I continue resolving the stability problems.

A big thank you to all the folks who downloaded the various Script Debugger 4.5.5 Beta builds. I really appreciate all the great feedback and bug reports I received.

Scripting Additions Updated

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:18:43 -0700

After an extremely long gestation in Beta I’ve released 64-Bit Intel compatible versions of the following Scripting Additions:

XML Tools 2.9.4

Property List Tools 1.0.7

List & Record Tools 1.0.6

Script Debugger 4.5.5b6

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:13:29 -0700

UPDATE: Script Debugger 4.5.5 has been released.

I am preparing another Script Debugger 4.5 maintenance release.

I have been struggling to resolve some stability problems ever since the release of Script Debugger 4.5. Resolving these issues has been very difficult as I’ve not been able to reproduce several of the crashes on my own systems. The Script Debugger 4.5.5b3, b4 and b5 releases have resolved several crashes, but some problems remain. The Script Debugger 4.5.5b6 build addresses some additional problems that I hope will further improve stability.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
Intel or PowerPC Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.6, 10.5, 10.4

##Download

Script Debugger 4.5.5b6 (11.4MB)

##Installation

Quit Script Debugger if it is running
Mount the SD4.5.5 disk image
Copy the Script Debugger 4.5 application from the disk image to your Applications folder (or any other place on your disk)
Restart your Macintosh to ensure all caches are flushed

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.4 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this BETA build expires on September 1, 2010.

##Script Debugger 4.5.5b6 Changes

14907 [Crash] Improved the Explorer to protect against some more instances where the UI thread may be accessing data while background threads are altering the data.
14927 The Script Debugger 4.0 OSA component is removed if it is still present to avoid the possibility of memory corruptions that might destabilize Script Debugger 4.5.
14928 Script Debugger auto-saves documents each time they are compiled. This may slow things down slightly, but it will improve Script Debugger’s ability to recover the contents of open documents in the event of a crash. Previously, Script Debugger auto-saved only before a document was executed.
14926 When exporting a Run-Only script over an existing file, Script Debugger ensures that pre-eisting recovery and QuickLook preview data is removed.
14925 This change addresses a regression in bug 14881. Script Debugger no longer reports 32-bit scripting addition warnings for StandardAdditions.osax when saving on 32-bit machines as StandardAdditions.osax will always be fully compatible with the host hardware. Script Debugger now only does 32-bit scripting addition checking when running on Mac OS X 10.6 or later.
14885 FontSyncScripting.app is no longer mistaken as a Scripting Addition.

Script Debugger 4.5.5b5 Changes

Script Debugger 4.5.5b5

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:00:23 -0700

UPDATE: Script Debugger 4.5.5b6 has been released.

I am preparing another Script Debugger 4.5 maintenance release.

I have been struggling to resolve some stability problems ever since the release of Script Debugger 4.5. Resolving these issues has been very difficult as I’ve not been able to reproduce several of the crashes on my own systems so I’m debugging in the blind. The Script Debugger 4.5.5b3 and b4 releases have resolved several crashes, but some problems remain. The Script Debugger 4.5.5b5 build addresses two additional crashes.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
Intel or PowerPC Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.6, 10.5, 10.4

##Download

Script Debugger 4.5.5b5 (11.4MB)

##Installation

Quit Script Debugger if it is running
IMPORTANT Delete all copies of Script Debugger.component and Script Debugger 4.5.component from your ~/Library/Components folder
Mount the SD4.5.5 disk image
Copy the Script Debugger 4.5 application from the disk image to your Applications folder (or any other place on your disk)
Restart your Macintosh to ensure all caches are flushed

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.4 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this BETA build expires on September 1, 2010.

##Script Debugger 4.5.5b5 Changes

14907 [Crash] Improved the Explorer to protect against some more instances where the UI thread may be accessing data while background threads are altering the data.
14899 [Crash] Resolved a bug that caused Script Debugger to crash when AppleScript reports error text ranges that lie beyond the end of the script. This happens most commonly when you have an unclosed quoted string within a block comment.

Script Debugger 4.5.5b4 Changes

Script Debugger 4.5.5b4

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 11:29:15 -0700

UPDATE: Script Debugger 4.5.5b5 has been released.

I am preparing another Script Debugger 4.5 maintenance release.

I have been struggling to resolve some stability problems ever since the release of Script Debugger 4.5. The rate of crash reports has diminished significantly with the Script Debugger 4.5.5b3 beta build, but I’m still getting a few crashes. This new beta build contains fixes for a few more instances where AppleScript may be causing crashes.

To help me determine if I’ve actually solved the stability issues (or at least improved things), please allow Script Debugger to submit all crash reports. I know that this may slow you down a little, but it will help us all as I work to finally resolve the stability problems.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
Intel or PowerPC Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.6, 10.5, 10.4

##Download

Script Debugger 4.5.5b4 (11.4MB)

##Installation

Quit Script Debugger if it is running
IMPORTANT Delete all copies of Script Debugger.component and Script Debugger 4.5.component from your ~/Library/Components folder
Mount the SD4.5.5 disk image
Copy the Script Debugger 4.5 application from the disk image to your Applications folder (or any other place on your disk)

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.4 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this BETA build expires on September 1, 2010.

##Script Debugger 4.5.5b4 Changes

14898 More changes that attempt to resolve Script Debugger’s stability issues (Please ensure you have deleted all old copies of Script Debugger.component and Script Debugger 4.5.component from your ~/Library/Components folder).

Script Debugger 4.5.5b3 Changes

Affrus 2.0 Status Update

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 05:59:32 -0700

The release of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) has rendered Affrus 1.0 unusable. Over the last few years I’ve done little with the Affrus Perl debugger and I get regular queries about what is happening with the product.

After several attempts to make Affrus 1.0 work on later Snow Leopard, I gave up. Affrus 1 was built using CodeWarrior and Carbon and the transition to Xcode and modern versions of Carbon proved too difficult. However, I can report that over the last few months, work has resumed on Affrus 2.0 which is a re-implementation of Affrus using Xcode and Cocoa.

Here’s a screenshot of the work to date running on Snow Leopard:

I am being deliberately circumspect about describing the product’s features and system requirements to avoid breaking any promises when the product is finally released.

I am not yet at a point where I feel comfortable inviting Beta testers to use the product, but it won’t been too much longer.

UPDATE: Affrus 2.0 has gone Alpha

Script Debugger 4.5.5b3

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 23:42:09 -0700

UPDATE: Script Debugger 4.5.5b4 has been released.

I am preparing another Script Debugger 4.5 maintenance release.

I have been struggling to resolve some stability problems ever since the release of Script Debugger 4.5. I thought I had these problems resolved a couple of times, but they persist. With the release of Mac OS X 10.6 they seem to have gotten worse.

For the Script Debugger 4.5.5 maintenance release I want to try and resolve these stability issues once and for all. The difficulty is that I cannot reproduce any of these crashes here on my systems, and the crash reports that I receive don’t point to any obvious causes.

I had a bit of luck and was able to find and resolve some memory management errors in Script Debugger which may have contributed to the problem. I’ve also identified a problem in AppleScript that may also be contributing to the stability issues.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
Intel or PowerPC Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.6, 10.5, 10.4

##Download

Script Debugger 4.5.5b3 (11.4MB)

##Installation

Quit Script Debugger if it is running
IMPORTANT Delete all copies of Script Debugger.component and Script Debugger 4.5.component from your ~/Library/Components folder
Mount the SD4.5.5 disk image
Copy the Script Debugger 4.5 application from the disk image to your Applications folder (or any other place on your disk)

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.4 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this BETA build expires on September 1, 2010.

##Script Debugger 4.5.5b3 Changes

14898 Several changes that attempt to resolve Script Debugger’s stability issues and reduce memory leakage when closing documents (Please ensure you have deleted all old copies of Script Debugger.component and Script Debugger 4.5.component from your ~/Library/Components folder).
14886, 14151 Corrected a series of issues that prevented the Manifest command from properly detecting AppleEvents sent to applications. Note that these fixes also restore Script Debugger’s ability to detect which applications will be launched when opening scripts.
14885 FontSyncScripting.app is no longer mistaken as a Scripting Addition.
14884 Script Debugger’s logic for opening scripts with incorrect filename extensions has been improved. For instance, compiled scripts carrying a ‘.applescript’ extension will open correctly (.applescript normally indicates a plain text file).
14881 A new 32-Bit Only option has been added to the Save As panel allowing you to create 32-Bit applets directly from Script Debugger (this avoids having to visit the Finder’s Get Info window to select the 32-Bit Only execution option).
14853 Script Debugger can now open the iCal dictionary and any other application dictionaries which make use of xinclude directives.
14883 Script Debugger now reports error information in the AppleEvent Log window.

Script Debugger 4.5.4

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:07:14 -0700

I’m pleased to announce the release of Script Debugger 4.5.4. Script Debugger 4.5.4 is a free maintenance release that addresses a series of issues that came to light following the release of Script Debugger 4.5.

Download

Release Notes

Snow Leopard vs My Scripting Additions, Part 3

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:15:52 -0700

In a previous post I released beta builds of Snow Leopard versions of 3 out of 4 of my AppleScript Scripting Additions.

The remaining Scripting Addition, XSLT Tools, has proved to be a difficult problem to solve. XSLT Tools makes heavy use of Carbon APIs that are not available to 64-bit builds on Snow Leopard. However, even the existing 32-bit version crashes on Snow Leopard systems.

Here is a new 32-bit Snow Leopard/Intel only build of XSLT Tools that no longer crashes:

XSLT Tools 2.1.3b1

In order to use this version of XSLT Tools, you need to run the AppleScript Script Editor, applets and droplets in 32-bit mode. This is done by modifying these files using the Finder’s Get Info panel and then checking the 32-bit mode checkbox.

Script Debugger 4.5.4b4

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:05:01 -0700

I am preparing another Script Debugger 4.5 maintenance release. This maintenance release addresses Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) compatibility and some remaining stability issues in Script Debugger 4.5.3. Here is another BETA build of Script Debugger 4.5.4 for testing.

UPDATE: Script Debugger 4.5.4 has been released.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
PowerPC or Intel Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5, 10.6

##Download

Script Debugger 4.5.4b4 (11.4MB)

##Installation

Expand the SD4.5.4 archive
Quit Script Debugger if it is running
Move the Script Debugger 4.5 application to your Applications folder (or any other place on your disk)

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.3 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this BETA build expires on February 1, 2010.

##Script Debugger 4.5.4b4 Changes

14870 Corrected a problem that caused the insertion point to be in wrong place when dragging items to the last line of a script.
14869 Corrected a series of parsing bugs that sometimes caused parts of scripts to be omitted from the Table Of Contents menu.

Script Debugger 4.5.4b3 Changes

Snow Leopard vs My Scripting Additions, Part 2

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:40:44 -0700

UPDATE: Final versions of these Scripting Additions have been released.

In a previous post I described how my Scripting Additions were incompatible with Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6).

I am developing new versions of XML Tools, Property List Tools and List & record Tools which are 64-bit native and take full advantage of the new capabilities of Snow Leopard (multi-threading). The problem is that my Intel hardware is 32-bit Core Duo based (Original MacBook Pro) so I cannot fully test the 64-bit part. If you have scripts that use these scripting additions on 64-bit Intel hardware running Snow Leopard, please download and test these beta builds and report any problems:

XML Tools 2.9.4b1

Property List Tools 1.0.7b1

List & Record Tools 1.0.6b1

IMPORTANT NOTE: Due to bugs in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), it is not possible to make a Scripting Addition that takes full advantage of Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and also be backward compatible with Mac OS X 10.5. As a result, these builds are Intel only, and should only be used with Mac OS X 10.6.

For those who use my XSLT Tools scripting addition, I’m finding that the underlying XML and XSLT libraries make heavy use of Carbon APIs that are not available on 64-Bit Mac OS X 10.6. As a result, I’m still not sure if I’ll be able to create an upgraded version of this Scripting Addition.

Script Debugger 4.5.4b3

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:35:08 -0700

UPDATE: Script Debugger 4.5.4b4 has been released.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
PowerPC or Intel Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5, 10.6

##Download

Script Debugger 4.5.4b3 (11.4MB)

##Installation

Expand the SD4.5.4 archive
Quit Script Debugger if it is running
Move the Script Debugger 4.5 application to your Applications folder (or any other place on your disk)

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.3 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this BETA build expires on December 1, 2009.

##Script Debugger 4.5.4b3 Changes

14848 Corrected a crashing bug that occurred when code completion was used with JavaScript OSA.
14866 Corrected a crashing bug that occurred when using Find Next/Previous Handler commands in scripts with inconsistent line endings.
14864 Corrected a parsing error that prevented the compilation of code that uses statements like ‘tell (… to …)’ when debugging is enabled.
14863 Script Debugger now offers to install its self in /Applications after it has been run directly from the installation disk image.

Script Debugger 4.5.4b2 Changes

Snow Leopard vs My Scripting Additions

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:15:26 -0700

My various Scripting Additions (XML Tools, XSLT Tools, Property List Tools and List & record Tools) are compiled for 32-bit Intel and PowerPC machines. With the advent of Snow Leopard, AppleScript Script Editor, applets and droplets run as 64-bit processes which causes my Scripting Additions to fail to load on 64-bit hardware.

In order to continue using my Scripting Additions, you need to run the AppleScript Script Editor, applets and droplets in 32-bit mode. This is done by using the Finder’s Get Info panel and then checking the 32-bit Model checkbox.

My scripting additions make heavy use of Carbon which is 32-bit only, so making 64-bit versions may be difficult. I don’t want to say I’ll never make 64-bit versions, but at this stage its not clear to me how to move forward.

UPDATE: This problem and solution also applies to JavaScript OSA.

Script Debugger 4.5.4b2

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:42:26 -0700

UPDATE: Script Debugger 4.5.4b3 has been released.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
PowerPC or Intel Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5, 10.6

##Download

Script Debugger 4.5.4b2 (11.4MB)

##Installation

Expand the SD4.5.4 archive
Quit Script Debugger if it is running
Move the Script Debugger 4.5 application to your Applicatioons folder (or any other place on your disk)

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.3 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this BETA build expires on November 1, 2009.

##Script Debugger 4.5.4b2 Changes

14840 Corrected a parsing error where # characters appearing within a block comment would cause the parser to fail to parse the remainder of the script in some instances.
14844 The Manifest command once again correctly shows the events generated by a script.
14852 Pressing the Tab key in the dictionary Search Results panel now moves keyboard focus to the description area of the window.
14839 Corrected a terminology conflict that prevented the creation of ‘file’ objects on 10.4 systems. Scripts that use the file property of Script Debugger’s document object must be updated to use the ‘file spec’ property.
14830 Changed the ‘source’ constant to ‘source code’ and changed the ‘raw’ constant to ‘raw code’ to avoid terminology conflicts with scripts that used these terms as variable names.
14858 The Fonts & Colors preferences panel now offers to let you set Snow Leopard’s new AppleScript formatting options. A crashing bug that occurred if you double-click in the blank area below the last formatting option has been resolved.
14855 Corrected a problem where getting the value of the ‘scripts menu folder’, ‘clippings menu folder’ or ‘script libraries folder’ properties of Script Debugger’s application object would fail intermittently.
14850 Dragging text from a script window to another application now includes style information.
14824 The Mail dictionary now shows ‘unicode text’ instead of ‘utf8’ for properties returning a unicode text value.
14860 Bundled compiled scripts exported as Run-Only bundled applications no longer includes Recover/QuickLook data that could reveal the source code for your script.

Script Debugger 4.5.4b1 Changes

Script Debugger 4.5.4b1

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:28:21 -0700

I am preparing another Script Debugger 4.5 maintenance release. This maintenance release addresses Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) compatibility the and some remaining stability issues in Script Debugger 4.5.3. Here is another BETA build of Script Debugger 4.5.4 for testing.

UPDATE: Script Debugger 4.5.4b2 has been released.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
PowerPC or Intel Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5

##Download

Script Debugger 4.5.4b1 (10.8MB)

##Installation

Expand the SD4.5.4 archive
Quit Script Debugger if it is running
Move the Script Debugger 4.5 application to your Applicatioons folder (or any other place on your disk)

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.3 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this BETA build expires on November 1, 2009.

##Script Debugger 4.5.4b1 Changes

14836 Snow Leopard: global variables are once again correctly displayed in the Variables browser on Mac OS X 10.6.x systems.
14806 Tiger: the AppleScript Formatting preferences panel no longer fails to load on Mac OS X 10.4.x systems.
14846 Resolved a crash that occurred after the AppleScript Formatting preferences panel has been used.
14829 Added a new Edit License… command to the Script Debugger menu. This command allows you to enter new software registration information if you should need to re-license Script Debugger.
14828 When Script Debugger detects that too many copies of Script Debugger are using the same license it now names the machines that are using Script Debugger to help identify the cause of the problem.

Viewing Local Variables in Script Debugger

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:05:44 -0700

The issue of how to view local variables (variables declared within an AppleScript handler) in Script Debugger keeps coming up. This problem has been an issue ever since Script Debugger 2.0 when local variable display was introduced. This issue surfaced again recently on the AppleScript-Users mailing list:

Hello, how can I see the value of y in the variables pane of Script Debugger when I run this simple example script in debug mode:

set x to 3

beeping(x)

on beeping(x)
	--local y
	set y to 5
	beep x
	delay 2
	beep y
end beeping

Bert.

Script Debugger requires all local variables be explicitly declared before they are displayed in the variables browser. AppleScript allows you to explicitly declare locals in several ways:

explicitly using the ‘local’ statement
as the loop variable in a ‘repeat with’ statement
as a parameter to a handler
as a parameter to an ‘on error’ statement

The problem arrises when a variable is declared implicitly through an assignment within a handler. In this instance, Script Debugger’s parser is not able to detect the new variable (y), and thus fails to display it in the variables browser.

The solution is the uncomment the ‘local y’ statement.

You can find additional information in the Script Debugger Help Book by searching for ‘local’ from the Help menu.

The AppleScript runtime does not provide public debugging hooks. As a result, Script Debugger must resort to a series of hacks to implement step-wise debugging and variable display. One of the limitations of this approach to AppleScript debugging is that Script Debugger must detect the names of all local variables at compile-time. AppleScript’s support for multi-word identifiers in dictionaries makes parsing AppleScript source a very problematic thing to do, and makes detecting local variables without knowing AppleScript’s internal state impossible.

Script Debugger 4.5.3 On-Line Help as PDF

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:53:55 -0700

Recently I have received several requests for Script Debugger 4.5’s On-Line help as a single PDF file. Matt Neuburg, who writes the Script Debugger 4 documentation, was able to oblige with a nicely hyperlinked PDF file.

Script Debugger 4.5.3 Help Book (PDF, 3.9MB)

Script Debugger 4.5.3

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:43:37 -0700

I’m pleased to announce the release of Script Debugger 4.5.3. Script Debugger 4.5.3 is a free maintenance release that addresses a series of issues that came to light following the release of Script Debugger 4.5.

Download

Release Notes

XML Tools 2.9.3

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:31:38 -0700

I have just uploaded a new version of my freeware XML Tools AppleScript Scripting Addition.

Changes in this release:

The generate XML command now properly escapes " characters appearing within attribute values.

Script Debugger 4.5.3b7

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:09:36 -0700

I am preparing another Script Debugger 4.5 maintenance release. This maintenance release tries to address the remaining stability issues in the Script Debugger 4.5.2 build. Here is another Beta build of Script Debugger 4.5.3 for testing.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
PowerPC or Intel Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5

##Download

Script Debugger 4.5.3b7 (10.8MB)

##Installation

Expand the SD4.5.3 archive
Quit Script Debugger if it is running
Move the Script Debugger 4.5 application to your Applicatioons folder (or any other place on your disk)

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.2 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this Beta build expires on July 1, 2009.

##Script Debugger 4.5.3b7 Changes

14821 Corrected a hanging bug that occurred when a script running in a Script Debugger window told Script Debugger to quit.
14806 Integrated Help Book updates.

Changes in previous Script Debugger 4.5.3 Beta builds

AppleScript Profiling

Wed, 27 May 2009 09:05:03 -0700

An Script Debugger feature that I’ve been pondering for a long time is a profiler. Given that Script Debugger’s debugger has the ability to track each statement executed, I can capture quite a bit of data about time spent in handlers, and even particular statements. I can also track AppleEvents back to the statement that initiated them.

A little bit of this information is presented in the existing Script Debugger interface. Firstly, the script timer (bottom of result drawer) displays the number of AppleEvents sent and breaks execution time down into time spent executing in AppleScript and time spent waiting for AppleEvents. The AppleEvent Log window’s contextual menu lets you go to the source statement that generated a particular AppleEvent.

My experience is that most AppleScript performance issues can be traced to inefficient sending of AppleEvents to other applications. As a result, my curiosity is in the tracking of events sent to other applications. But my usage patterns tend to avoid implementing anything but the most trivial algorithms in AppleScript due to its poor string handling and list performance. I also tend to avoid the use of script objects because of they are quite buggy in my experience.

Given all this, what are the questions you need an AppleScript Profiler to answer? Feel free to add a comment to this post or email me directly with your thoughts.

Script Debugger 4.5.3b6

Tue, 26 May 2009 08:58:56 -0700

I am preparing another Script Debugger 4.5 maintenance release. This maintenance release tries to address the remaining stability issues in the Script Debugger 4.5.2 build.

##Requirements

A Script Debugger 4.5 registration number
PowerPC or Intel Macintosh
Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5

##Download

Script Debugger 4.5.3b6 (10.8MB)

##Installation

Expand the SD4.5.3 archive
Quit Script Debugger if it is running
Move the Script Debugger 4.5 application to your Applicatioons folder (or any other place on your disk)

I recommend keeping your copy of Script Debugger 4.5.2 around in case you need to revert to that build. Note also that this Beta build expires on June 1, 2009.

##Script Debugger 4.5.3b6 Changes

14540 The ‘file spec’ document property has been renamed ‘file’. This change corrects a terminology conflict that caused AppleScript to rewrite ‘file spec’ as ‘file’ following a compile.
14816 Addressed a problem where references to ‘path’ outside a tell block generated incorrect 4-character codes (as compared to Apple’s Script Editor).
14820 Corrected a block auto-close/balance bug that happens with unbalanced )}] characters appear in a – style comment
14819 The ‘stic’ enumeration associated with the ‘display dialog’ command is once again displayed correctly.
14817 A hanging bug when exploring the InDesign dictionary is (I hope) resolved.

##Script Debugger 4.5.3b5 Changes

14809 When pasting Object Reference as nested tell blocks, the code respects the existing tell context.
14811 Corrected a problem in the Tell Context inspector that caused the inspector to stop displaying the current tell context after inspecting the ‘disk’ property of any Finder element.
14812 Addressed a crashing problem when getting ‘properties of document 1 of application “Adobe InDesign”’.
14814 Added a ‘Paste Object References as nested Tell blocks’ preference to the Editor preferences panel.
14813 Holding down the Option key while pasting Object References inverts the ‘Paste Object References as nested Tell blocks’ preference setting.

##Script Debugger 4.5.3b4 Changes

14799 Two changes: Shift-Command-C copes an explorer value (available from the Edit and Contextual menus), and pasting an object reference into a script now results in a series of nested tell blocks rather than a single object reference string.
14768 Resolved a balance problem that caused block auto-closing to fail if AppleScript block statements (if, repeat) appear within a block comment.
14805 The Script Debugger dictionary viewer now correctly displays property/parameter/result types when a type is defined as both singular and plural in the SDEF XML.
14807 Unicode characters appearing in AppleScript error messages are now displayed correctly in Script Debugger’s Script Error panel.
14790 Resolved several bugs that occurred when using fonts that don’t map into the legacy QuickDraw font model.

##Script Debugger 4.5.3b3 Changes

14717 Adjusted dictionary search results so that partial hits matching the start of a name are weighted higher than partial hits in the middle or end of a name.
14775 Addressed a crash that could sometimes occur when closing documents.

##Script Debugger 4.5.3b2 Changes

14776 Addressed a crash that occurred when expanding a browser item for which there is an open viewer window.
14774 Addressed a crash that occurred when canceling the Set Keystroke dialog using the Escape key.
14775 Addressed a hanging bug that occur when Script Debugger was stressed heavily during the running/stepping of scripts. This fix also addresses a memory leak that occurred stepping through a script under scripting control.
14611 A long standing intermittent crashing bug that occurred creating new documents has finally been resolved.
14721 Issuing a Cut, Copy, Paste, or Delete command in the Dictionary Search results pane no longer causes a hang.
14773 The scripting interface now correctly reports a script is not debuggable when you try and step into/over/into a script which does not have debugging enabled.
14705 Tooltip evaluation tooltips are now properly removed when dictionary windows are opened using the Command-D shortcut.
14702 Uncommenting lines without a comment no longer causes leading whitespace to be stripped.
14770 Removing the Step Over, Step Into, and Step Out toolbar buttons no longer renders the corresponding menus inoperable.
14713 The ‘scripts folder’ and ‘clippings folder’ properties in the scripting interface have been renamed ‘scripts menu folder’ and ‘clippings menu folder’ to avoid a terminology conflict with the ‘scripts folder’ constant defined in by Standard Additions.osax.
14772 Option- modifier problems when using Norwegian keyboard layouts have been corrected.
14709 Option- modifier problems when using German keyboard layouts have been corrected.
14771 Write-only properties are no longer displayed in the Dictionary Explorer.
14755 Leopard-style selection highlighting is used when showing balancing brackets and braces while typing.
14749 Hiding/Showing the Dock when the dock is positioned on the right of the screen no longer causes inspector windows to move.
14724 Auto-paring problems relating to typing ‘(’ before ‘“N” & aVar’ have been resolved.
14720 Addressed an issue in the Scripts and Clippings inspectors that could case the Hide/Show Icon state to become confused.

##Script Debugger 4.5.3b1 Changes

14708 A slight performance improvement when opening scripts with the ‘Warn when applications may be launched’ setting turned on. Script Debugger no longer loads the dictionaries of all installed Scripting Additions as it did before.
14707 New Fatten preference has been added. I have added a hidden preference ‘PrefFlattenAtBeginning’ that controls where libraries are placed when flattening scripts. By default, libraries are placed before the main script. Setting this preference to ‘no’ with the Unix ‘defaults’ command causes libraries to be placed after the main script. No UI is planned for this preference setting.
14706 Script Debugger now allows you to continue when it detects that there are duplicate symbols coming from libraries. The ability to continue was present in Script Debugger 3.0 and was somehow lost in the transition to 4.0.

##Bug Reporting

You can email all bug reports to me. Wherever possible, please include the sample documents and the steps needed to reproduce the problem you are experiencing. Also, please include processor (PPC/Intel) and Mac OS version information (10.4 or 10.5). Please don’t assume that others are reporting the bugs you are experiencing - I would prefer to get duplicate bug reports than to miss something. Here is a template for a bug report:

SUMMARY Recap the problem title and/or include more descriptive summary information.
STEPS TO REPRODUCE

Setup or prep work
Include explicit and accurate steps to reproduce. Do not include extraneous or irrelevant steps.

RESULTS Describe your results and how they differed from what you expected.
REGRESSION Provide information on steps taken to isolate the problem. Describe circumstances where the problem occurs or does not occur, such as software versions and/or hardware configurations.
NOTES Document any additional information that might be useful in resolving the problem, such as references to related problems, leads on diagnosis, screen shots, included attachments, and any workarounds.

XML Tools 2.9.2

Thu, 14 May 2009 08:49:52 -0700

I have just uploaded a new version of my freeware XML Tools AppleScript Scripting Addition. This new release addresses a regression in the 2.9.1 release that prevented XML Tools from loading correctly on Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) systems.

XML Tools 2.9.1

Thu, 07 May 2009 07:29:22 -0700

I have just uploaded a new version of my freeware XML Tools AppleScript Scripting Addition. This new release addresses a series of issues that have come to light since the 2.9 release in June, 2007.

Changes in this release:

Resolved a crashing bug that occurred when parsing XML data containing XML namespace declarations on elements other than the root element.
AppleScript errors signaled from the XMLParseResult SAX event handler are now reported to the script invoking the parse XML command. Previously, errors signaled from this handler would case the handler to fail silently.
AppleScript errors signaled from SAX event handlers are now reported to the XMLParseResult SAX event handler via parameters. The XMLParseResult event handler is now declared as: on XMLParseResult(errNumber, errMessage). Note that these parameters are optional which allows existing code lacking these parameter declarations to continue working unaltered.

XSLT Tools 2.1.2

Tue, 05 May 2009 11:24:17 -0700

I’ve just uploaded a new version of my freeware XSLT Tools AppleScript Scripting Addition.

This build addresses a problem that caused errors when non-literal parameters were passed to AppleScript handlers from XSL stylesheets. For example, <xsl:value-of select="ns1:AppleScriptHandler($stringVar)"/> would fail in the past.

Download XSLT Tools 2.1.2 Here

FaceSpan 5 Development Suspended

Tue, 05 May 2009 09:15:37 -0700

I must reluctantly announce that I am suspending FaceSpan 5 development. I want to thank you all, particularly those that have contributed their time and effort to help me move FaceSpan 5 forward.

The just released FaceSpan 5.0d70 build will continue to run and has no expiry dates built in. The projects you build with it should continue to execute.

My reasons for suspending FaceSpan development are many. Chief among them are that I keep missing every deadline I have set for myself. I am now over 2 years into this project and I cannot clearly see how to wrap development up so that I have a product to sell. I also am feeling that in the time it has taken me to do this work, the world has moved on and AppleScript-based UIs are not going to be relevant in the marketplace. The Web, Flash and other technologies are moving much faster than AppleScript or I can match. Additionally, there many technical limitations in AppleScript and Cocoa Scripting that I keep having to hack around in order to make FaceSpan usable.

All of this has left me feeling burnt out and I need some perspective. So I’m going to down-tools on FaceSpan for an indefinite period of time. I’m hoping that I can find a way to revive or reuse the work I’ve done at some point in the future, but I have no specific plans at this time.

SQLite Demo

Tue, 05 May 2009 09:01:03 -0700

A number of people on the FaceSpan 5 mailing list have asked for an example project that shows how to use the SQLite plugin to make data persist within FaceSpan.

This FaceSpan example attempts to address this request. The demo presents a simple form in a window, and allows the user to enter data, update, add and remove records.

SQLiteDemo (120Kb)

Script Debugger 4.5 Can Take a Long Time to Open Scripts

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:49:25 -0700

A few customers have written me to report that Script Debugger 4.5 takes much longer to open their scripts than did Script Debugger 4.0.

This slowdown is an unintended consequence of a new feature in Script Debugger 4.5 where Script Debugger warns you that opening a script will cause other applications to be launched.

This slowdown is most dramatic when opening scripts that target applications which have very large AppleScript dictionaries such as Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, or Microsoft Word. Generally the delay should only be felt the first time Script Debugger 4.5 reads the dictionaries for these applications. If Script Debugger is left running, it will reuse the dictionary information cached in memory.

Script Debugger 4.5.1 introduced a new ‘Opening: Warn when applications may be launched’ setting in the General Preferences panel that allows you to turn off the application launch warning when opening scripts. If the delay opening your scripts is slowing down your work or if the warning becomes irritating, you can use this preferences setting to disable the feature.

Script Debugger 4.5.2

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:13:55 -0700

I’m pleased to announce the release of Script Debugger 4.5.2. Script Debugger 4.5.2 is a free maintenance release that addresses a series of issues that came to light following the release of Script Debugger 4.5.

Download

Release Notes

Script Debugger 4.5.1

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:07:58 -0700

I’m pleased to announce the release of Script Debugger 4.5.1. Script Debugger 4.5.1 is a free maintenance release that addresses a series of issues that came to light following the release of Script Debugger 4.5.

Download

Release Notes

Script Debugger 4.5

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:47:08 -0700

I’m pleased to announce the release of Script Debugger 4.5. This upgrade to Script Debugger brings a host of additions and improvements. You can check out the release notes for a full description of the changes in this upgrade.

I would like to thank all my beta testers for providing a lot of great feedback and finding all those tough bugs. My thanks also goes to Matt Neuburg for producing yet another great Help Book.

XSLT Tools 2.1.1

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:41:52 -0700

I’ve just uploaded a new version of my XSLT Tools AppleScript scripting addition. This build addresses a problem that was introduced by Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). This problem prevented XSLT Tools from correctly parsing XML passed to it as a UTF-16 string.

Download XSLT Tools 2.1.1 Here

Finding OSA scripts with Spotlight

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:31:12 -0700

With the release of Script Debugger 4.0, I added a Spotlight searching capability for OSA scripts created with Script Debugger. Based on a series of customer support emails I realized that this is not a well documented aspect of the product. Here is a quick overview of how to use Script Debugger Spotlight support to find OSA scripts on your Macintosh.

NOTE: Spotlight indexing of OSA scripts only works for scripts that have beenn saved using Script Debugger. Scripts created with Apple’s Script Editor are not indexed.

Script Debugger provides indexing information for three aspects of your OSA scripts:

the source text of the script (kMDItemTextContent)
the script’s description (kMDItemDescription)
the script’s language name (kMDItemKeywords) which is normally “AppleScript”

Here some ways to find all the scripts on your Macintosh which target the Apple Mail application. First, we’ll search for documents containing “Mail” and with the AppleScript keyword:

This is good, but we get some documents that are not scripts. Instead, we’ll search for OSA scripts that contain “Mail”:

Perfect, all the OSA scripts on my machine that target the Apple Mail application.

Script Debugger 4.0.8

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 13:48:04 -0700

I’m pleased to announce the release of Script Debugger 4.0.8. This free maintenance release provides Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) compatibility and addresses a series of issues that came to light following the release of Script Debugger 4.0. Please review the Release Notes for details of changes in this release.

Download

Release Notes

Script Debugger 4 Page

Script Debugger 4.0.8b5

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:41:27 -0700

Here is a new beta build of Script Debugger 4.0.8. This build addresses all of the Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) issues that I’m aware of. Please give it a try and let me know if there are any regressions. I intend to go final with this build on December 15th, so please get those bug reports to me ASAP.

You can download the Beta software here:

Universal build requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later (13.1MB)

If you are running 10.3 (Panther), you need to use this version instead (10.1MB)

Changes in 4.0.8b5:

13966 - Addressed a problem that prevented the customization of script window toolbars when running on Leopard.

13973 - Addressed a series of problems that caused NSLock and NSConditionLock related diagnostic messages to appear in the Console log on Leopard systems.

13972 - Revised the descriptions of AppleScript’s built-in data types appearing in Dictionary windows.

13978 - Addressed a problem that caused Script Debugger to fail when saving scripts as bundled applications on Leopard.

13731 - The Parent Script toolbar item’s popup menu now properly updates as other script documents are opened and closed.

13734 - The AppleScript Studio entry in the Applications inspector now shows the same icon as the AppleScript Studio entry in the Default Target submenu within the Script menu.

Changes in 4.0.8b3, Changes in 4.0.8b2

Script Debugger 4.0.8b4

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 14:57:37 -0700

I am preparing yet another Script Debugger 4 maintenance release. This release addresses some issues that have surfaced since the 4.0.7 release. This build extends the expiry date in the build to December 1, 2007 to give me some time to address a few more issues.

You can download the Beta software here:

Universal build requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later (13.1MB)

If you are running 10.3 (Panther), you need to use this version instead (10.1MB)

Changes in 4.0.8b3, Changes in 4.0.8b2

Affrus 1.0.6 Released

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:18:29 -0700

Affrus 1.0.6 has just been released. This free maintenance release addresses a problem where Perl crashes when scripts finish executing on Intel Macintoshes.

You can download the software here.

Script Debugger 4.0.8b3

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 07:08:52 -0700

I am preparing yet another Script Debugger 4 maintenance release. This release addresses some issues that have surfaced since the 4.0.7 release.

You can download the Beta software here:

Universal build requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later (13.1MB)

If you are running 10.3 (Panther), you need to use this version instead (10.1MB)

Changes in 4.0.8b3:

13740 - Addressed a problem with external debugging support where parameters passed to event handlers were not handled properly on Intel machines.

Script Debugger 4.0.8b2

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 22:02:12 -0700

I am preparing yet another Script Debugger 4 maintenance release. This release addresses some issues that have surfaced since the 4.0.7 release.

You can download the Beta software here:

Universal build requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later (13.1MB)

If you are running 10.3 (Panther), you need to use this version instead (10.1MB)

Changes in 4.0.8b2:

13761 - Addressed a problem where dragging text ahead of a compile/run-time eror to a position below the error would cause a Cocoa exception to be reported.

Changes in 4.0.8b1:

13723 - Corrected a regression introduced in Script Debugger 4.0.6 that caused the relevance ranking of dictionary search results to be incorrect.

Script Debugger 4.0.7 Released

Wed, 30 May 2007 11:28:03 -0700

Unfortunately, Script Debugger 4.0.6 introduced a bug causing Dictionary serches to fail. Script Debugger 4.0.7 addresses this problem.

You can download the software here and read the release notes here.

Script Debugger 4.0.6 Released

Mon, 28 May 2007 09:48:38 -0700

After a long beta testing period, Script Debugger 4.0.6 has finally been released. You can download the software here and read the release notes here.

Script Debugger 4.0.6b4

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 06:17:21 -0700

I am preparing yet another Script Debugger 4 maintenance release. This release addresses some annoying issues that have surfaced since the 4.0.5 release.

I decided to do one more round of beta testing because this build includes changes to the bundled compiled script and bundled script application saving code and I want to ensure that these changes are solid before releasing the product widely.

BETA NOTE: Keep backups of your bundled compiled scripts and bundled script applications when you begin using this build of Script Debugger just in case there is a problem and you need to recover.

You can download the software here:

Universal build requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later (13.1MB)

If you are running 10.3 (Panther), you need to use this version instead (10MB)

Changes in 4.0.6b4:

13586 - Addressed a problem where the variable name ‘errMsg’ is not displayed by the debugger in ‘on error’ handlers when the variable name ‘errNum’ is also used.

13587 - Script Debugger can now open text scripts incorrectly tagged as compiled scripts by the script file’s HFS file type.

13650 - The CFBundleName property list key no longer includes a random number when exporting run-only bundled applications.

13474 - Improved the on-line documentation for debugging Folder Actions handlers.

13472 - Improved the on-line documentation concerning the saving of event log settings with script documents.

13647, 13648 - Subversion .svn directories (and other custom directories located outside the Contents/Resources directory) are now properly preserved when saving bundled compiled scripts and bundled script applications.

13649 - The CFBundleIdnetifier and CFBundleShortVersionString property list keys are now preserved when saving bundled compiled scripts and bundled script applications.

Release notes for previous builds

Unix Newlines in Script Debugger

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:10:11 -0700

I recently had a customer struggling to embed multi-line Unix shell scripts within their AppleScript script using Script Debugger.

The problem is that Script Debugger’s default Newline character is CR (ASCII 13). This is a historical relic dating back to the Classic Mac OS days. When Apple introduced Script Editor 2, they changed the default newline from CR to LF. We chose to stay with CR to avoid breaking existing scripts.

This choice to remain with CR causes Script Debugger to operate differently from the Script Editor when editing multi-line string literals. This is particularly a problem when you are trying to embed multi-line Unix scripts (sh, perl, ruby, python, etc.) which expect LF newlines into an AppleScript script.

Fortunately, there is a solition. You can change Script Debugger’s default Newline character using the following terminal command (make sure you quit Script Debugger before issuing it):


defaults write com.latenightsw.ScriptDebugger PrefEditorNewLineIsCR -bool no

Once this command has been issued, Script Debugger will insert LF characters whenever you press return. When the newline character matters to you, I recommend also using the Show Invisibles command (View menu) to make Script Debugger show you the newline characters

One final note: AppleScript converts LF newlines to CR in text outside string literals and block commands when scripts are compiled or opened. Here again, Script Debugger’s Show Invisibles feature will make it clear which newline character is being used where.

Script Debugger 4.0.6b3

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:39:43 -0700

I am preparing yet another Script Debugger 4 maintenance release. This release addresses some annoying issues that have surfaced since the 4.0.5 release. In particular, this release addresses a series of crashing bugs that have been frustratingly difficult to trace.

You can download the software here:

Universal build requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later (13.1MB)

If you are running 10.3 (Panther), you need to use this version instead (10MB)

Changes in 4.0.6b3:

13470 - modified Script Debugger’s software registration logic to allow for installations in labs where multiple machines share a common startup (server) disk.

13485 - solved an extremely intermittent bug that caused Script Debugger to crash following a Check Syntax operation.

13513 - backported FaceSpan 5 code that supports the <class-extension> and <contents> sdef elements. This makes dictionary presentation more faithful to the application developer’s intentions.

13514 - Script Debugger no longer miss-recognizes properties in the Multi-Ad Creator application object as synonyms.

Release notes for previous builds

Avoiding Word & Excel AppleEvent Crashes

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 09:05:34 -0700

Microsoft Word and Excel can crash frequently when the Script Debugger Explorer is used. These crashes can also be caused by AppleScript. Here are some tips for avoiding many of these crashing bugs.

Turn off Script Debugger’s ‘Scan for elements of count fails’ Dictionary preferences option

Doing this will make it much less likely that Script Debugger’s Explorer will generate AppleEvents that cause Word or Excel to crash.

Avoid using the Exists commands in your scripts

I have found that asking Word or Excel if a non-existent object exists will very often cause a crash. For example, if you open a new document and run the following script, Word will crash:


tell application "Microsoft Word"
	exists shape 1 of selection
end

The workaround is to use count:


tell application "Micorosft Word"
	try
		return count shapes of selection >= 1
	on error
		return false
	end
end

Script Debugger 4.0.6b2

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:37:31 -0700

I am preparing yet another Script Debugger 4 maintenance release. This build addresses some annoying issues that have surfaced since the 4.0.5 release. In particular, this build finally addresses a series of crashing bugs that have been frustratingly difficult to trace.

You can download the software here:

Universal build requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later (13.1MB)

If you are running 10.3 (Panther), you need to use this version instead (10MB)

Changes in 4.0.6b2:

13465 - Finally solved an extremely intermittent bug that caused Script Debugger to crash reporting run-time errors or following a Check Syntax operation.

13343, 13464 - Addressed Cocoa exceptions arising from bugs in Script Debugger’s Table of Contents parser.

13462 - Addressed a problem where JavaScript OSA property names were not displayed properly in the Variables browser.

13461 - Addressed a problem that prevented the execution of JavaScript OSA code that uses ‘const’ variable declarations.

Changes in 4.0.6b1:

13457 - Script Debugger can once again open dictionary of Resource file based applications such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word.

13425, 13449 - Addressed Cocoa exceptions arising from bugs in Script Debugger’s Table of Contents parser.

13453 - Script Debugger now preserves user created Info.plist files stored within the script bundles.

13450 - Addressed a crashing bug that arose when opening scripts with variables containing object specifiers referring to objects within to applications that cannot be found on disk.

iPhone lust

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 08:13:36 -0700

I am ceaselessly amazed at how Steve Jobs and company can create techno lust in me. This time around it was both AppleTV and the iPhone.

Now that I’ve had 24 hours and a little bit of perspective has set it, its clear that the iPhone is very cool but that are so many unanswered questions.

The biggest question for me is will I be able to install Mac OS X applications onto the iPhone? When I watched the Keynote and I saw Cocoa listed among the OS technologies I thought that the iPhone would be a perfect place for FaceSpan-developed applications to be deployed.

Just like Apple’s DashCode, FaceSpan-built applets would be perfect for this kind of device. Just think of all the stuff you could do with AppleScript on a device with the kind of networking and web capabilities the iPhone possesses! I imagined adding iPhone widgets to the FaceSpan palette and extending the FaceSpan scripting interface with iPhone/synching tools.

The sobering part of this of course is that, while the device may have the full Cocoa toolset, it may not be possible to install anything on the device. I’ll just have to wait and see (And, living in Canada, it will take extra time for the iPhone to be available here).

This still leaves me with the pressing problem that I need to replace my broken iPod now.

The Year Ahead - 2007

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 18:09:41 -0700

2006 was a busy year. I completed the re-write of Script Debugger 4 in Cocoa, ported it from CodeWarrior to Xcode, and transitioned to Intel Macs. Along the way, there have been 5 maintenance Script Debugger 4 releases. I had hoped to also release FaceSpan 5 in 2006, but that did not work out.

As we begin another year I think its time to layout my plan for the coming year.

Script Debugger 4.0

In 2007 I’ll continue releasing maintenance updates for Script Debugger 4. I have Script Debugger 4.0.6 waiting in the wings which will ship in the next month or so, and when Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) ships I’m sure I’ll have to tweak the software some more.

FaceSpan 5.0

As some of you may recall, last year I acquired FaceSpan (an AppleScript-based User Interface builder) from Digital Technologies International. I went on to release FaceSpan 4.3 which addressed the most pressing bugs in the product.

In the time since the release of FaceSpan 4.3 I have been working on FaceSpan 5. There have been some setbacks along the way and its taking more time than I planned. However, FaceSpan 5 is progressing and I think the results are going to be worth all the effort.

FaceSpan 5, Script Debugger 5 and Affrus 2 all share the same script editing code. This means that editor improvements in one product (e.g. Regular Expression search and replace) are now quickly shared with the others. Also, FaceSpan 5 and Script Debugger 5 share the same dictionary viewing and AppleScript debugger code. I believe that this will make all the products progress much more quickly in the future. Since I work largely alone, this kind of code sharing is critical to making it possible to maintain so much software.

Here’s a teaser showing the new FaceSpan 5.0 project window and some of its inspectors:

The script editing areas you see have all of Script Debugger 4’s editing capabilities (snippets, paste tell, etc.), and when you run a project, you have all of Script Debugger’s debugging capabilities integrated directly into the FaceSpan IDE.

Affrus 2.0

Affrus 2.0 is a re-write of Affrus 1.0 (a Perl editor and Debugger) using Apple’s Cocoa Frameworks. This is similar to the work I undertook to re-write Script Debugger as a Cocoa application.

Here’s a little teaser. This screen shot shows just two Affrus 2 features: projects and tabbed editing. Other key features for Affrus 2 are Ruby and Python debugging.

Script Debugger 4.5

Once FaceSpan 5.0 and Affrus 2.0 have shipped (and all the code has been debugged), I will release Script Debugger 4.5. This update for Script Debugger 4.0 owners will deliver on my promise to provide scripting support and split-pane editing.

Script Debugger 5.0 will have to wait for 2008, but I have big plans. Oh, and JavaScript OSA will get some TLC along the way as well.

So thats the plan for 2007. It should be a great year with lots of new toys for everyone to play with.

Script Debugger 4.0.6b1

Wed, 03 Jan 2007 14:05:23 -0700

I am preparing yet another Script Debugger 4 maintenance release. This build addresses some annoying issues that have surfaced since the 4.0.5 release. You can download the software here:

Universal build requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later (13.1MB)

If you are running 10.3 (Panther), you need to use this version instead (10MB)

Changes in this build:

                </table>

ID	Build	Title
13457	4.0.6b1c2	[sd-talk] Microsoft Excel
13425	4.0.6b1c2	Stuck in "Compiling Script with no way out.
13453	4.0.6b1c2	Script Debugger remove Info.plit in the script bundle
13450	4.0.6b1c2	Crash opening script with object specifiers referring to missing application
13449	4.0.6b1c1	Crash report

Late Night Software on Mark Alldritt

bodyQuiz 1.0 Released

MacScripter.net

Script Debugger 6 Released

Acorn Is Scriptable!

Script Debugger 6 Release Notes (6A162)

1. Code Signing

2. Improved Bundled Script Resource Editing

3. Progress Reporting

4. Open Quickly

4.1 Improved Search Hit Display

4.1 Discontiguous Searching

5. Editor Improvements

5.1 Code Folding

5.2 Autocompletion

5.3 AppleScript Objective-C Autocompletion

5.4 Automatic “it’s” Correction

5.5 Terminology Clash Avoidance

5.6 Identifier Case Changing

5.7 Dash Support

5.7 Application, Script Library and Framework Picker

6. Debugging Improvements

6.1 Non-Persistent Global Variables

6.2 AppleScript Objective-C Value Exploring

6.3 AppleScript Objective-C Value Viewers

6.4 Breakpoint Dragging

6.5 Popover Breakpoint Editor

6.6 Remove All Breakpoints

6.7 Remove All Disabled Breakpoints

6.8 Improved Current Statement Highlighting

7. AppleEvent Logging Improvements

7.1 Added Close and Clear Buttons

8. Dictionary Improvements

8.1 Open Application Dictionary

8.2 Better Application Scriptability Detection

9. Features Removed

9.1 Mac OS X Version Support

9.2 Script Debugger Libraries

Script Debugger 6 Release Notes (6A121)

1. Code Signing

2. Improved Bundled Script Resource Editing

3. Progress Reporting

4. Open Quickly

4.1 Improved Search Hit Display

4.1 Better Searching

5. Editor Improvements

5.1 Code Folding

5.2 Autocompletion

5.3 Identifier Case Changing

5.4 Automatic “it’s” Correction

5.5 Terminology Class Avoidance

5.6 Dash Support

5.7 Application, Script Library and Framework Picker

5.8 …more coming

6. Debugging Improvements

6.1 Non-Persistent Global Variables

6.2 AppleScript Objective-C Value Exploring

6.3 AppleScript Objective-C Value Viewers

6.4 Breakpoint Dragging

6.5 Popover Breakpoint Editor

6.6 Remove All Breakpoints

6.7 Remove All Disabled Breakpoints

6.8 Improved Current Statement Highlighting

7. AppleEvent Logging Improvements

7.1 Added Close and Clear Buttons

8. Dictionary Improvements

8.1 Open Application Dictionary

8.2 Better Application Scriptability Detection

Script Debugger Pricing

OSAID Leaks Cause Crashes

Script Debugger's 20th Anniversary

Script Debugger 1

Script Debugger 2

Script Debugger 3

Script Debugger 4

Script Debugger 4.5

Script Debugger 5

LNSYearView

Script Debugger 5.0 Released

Blog Reorganization