Discovering the name of a window

In article ,
Michelle Steiner wrote:

> In article ,
> isw wrote:
>
> > So I was wondering, is there some simple AppleScript I could run that
> > would list *all* visible windows and their names?
>
> No. For instance, Applescript does not recognize the existence of
> Mail's Activity Window.

Well, that's not very nice.

But thanks for the info.

Isaac
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In article ,
isw wrote:

> In article ,
> Michelle Steiner wrote:
>
> > In article ,
> > isw wrote:
> >
> > > So I was wondering, is there some simple AppleScript I could run that
> > > would list *all* visible windows and their names?
> >
> > No. For instance, Applescript does not recognize the existence of
> > Mail's Activity Window.
>
> Well, that's not very nice.

That's just the way it is. Keep in mind AppleScript was never designed
to be a macro utility to access user interface elements. Apple added
this functionality only recently, mainly as a way to give users a
last-resort method of controlling applications that are not scriptable
in the standard way.

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JR
 >> Stay informed about: Discovering the name of a window 

In article ,
isw wrote:

> How can I find out what name to use in an AppleScript to address a
> particular window?

Something like this:

get name of every window

(Assuming you really want to target by name. May be fine for your own
personal use, but for scripts that you mean to distribute it may not
(the window might be named differently in other localisations, for
instance). Targeting by id is probably a safer bet.)

> I have a two-screen setup -- Macbook plus an external monitor. After
> I've used the MacBook stand-alone, I run an AppleScript that rearranges
> the windows across the two screens, but there are a couple of windows I
> haven't been able to "get ahold of".
>
> One is Mail's "Activity Viewer" window (AppleScript does not acknowledge
> that as its name, although that's what it says across the top); the
> other is iTunes when it is in the small "control panel" configuration.
> When it's in the "big window" configuration, my script moves it just
> fine, but not when it's small (so I suppose it has a different name
> then?)

This works fine for me, no matter whether the "iTunes" window is set to
full or small:

tell application "iTunes" to set position of window "iTunes" to {100,
100}

[iTunes 7.6.2 under 10.4.11, single screen]

> So I was wondering, is there some simple AppleScript I could run that
> would list *all* visible windows and their names?

It all depends on the app in question; what it makes available for
scripting. (I don't use Mail.app so I've no idea.)

File a bug report with the app's developer if you feel something that
isn't scriptable should be. <http://bugreporter.apple.com/> in this case.

--
Sander Tekelenburg, <http://www.euronet.nl/~tekelenb/>

Mac user: "Macs only have 40 viruses, tops!"
PC user: "SEE! Not even the virus writers support Macs!"
 >> Stay informed about: Discovering the name of a window 

Vous lisez mes messages et vous faites bien. Le 24/06/08 20:22, isw a
écrit :

> How can I find out what name to use in an AppleScript to address a
> particular window?

Isaac,
Run this code (provided you've open the window you target in Mail):

tell application "Mail" to activate
delay 1
tell application "System Events"
get entire contents of window 1 of application process "Mail" of
application "System Events"
end tell

Then go back into ScriptEditor to read the results.
So you should script "System Events" rather than "Mail" itself.
Hope this helps.

--
Jean-Marie Schwartz

« Je suis le fils de l'homme invisible, je n'ai jamais vu papa » (Sttellla)
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 >> Stay informed about: Discovering the name of a window 

Vous lisez mes messages et vous faites bien. Le 25/06/08 16:58, Michelle
Steiner a écrit :

> In article ,
> Jean-Marie Schwartz wrote:
>
>> Run this code (provided you've open the window you target in Mail):
>
> That returns the buttons and other window items, but doesn't return the
> name of the window, which is what he's trying to get.

Sorry I got it here, among the buttons and other window items.

--
Jean-Marie

« Mi ricordo che un giorno... in mezzo a noi venne un tipo... che ogni cosa
pensava giusto e la fonte della vita era in lui disse una frase... mi rimase
impressa: "Alzati ...e cammina!"... » (Adriano Celentano, «Cammino»)
 >> Stay informed about: Discovering the name of a window