# \[ann\] Ruby appscript 0.1.1 released **URL:** \ **Category:** ruby-talk\ **Created:** [11 October 2006 22:35 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ann-ruby-appscript-0-1-1-released/31806 "2006-10-11T22:35:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![has](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@has](https://rubytalk.org/u/has)\ **Post date:** [11 October 2006 22:35 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ann-ruby-appscript-0-1-1-released/31806/1 "2006-10-11T22:35:11Z")
Announcing the first public release of Ruby appscript, a high-level, user-friendly Apple event bridge that allows you to control scriptable Mac OS X applications using ordinary Ruby scripts. [http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org/](http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org/) Appscript makes Ruby a serious alternative to Apple's own AppleScript language for automating your Mac. Here's a quick example: require "appscript" AS.app('TextEdit').documents.end.make(     :new =\> :document,     :with\_properties =\> {:text =\> "Hello World!\n"}) Ruby appscript is a port of the popular Python appscript package \<[http://appscript.sourceforge.net/](http://appscript.sourceforge.net/)\>, so while this initial release may lack a little polish in places, it's based on a mature, well-proven architecture that has been developed, tested and refined over several years. As a result, rb-appscript 0.1.1 offers a level of power, robustness and performance that is already very close to py-appscript's, with further improvements to come. The rb-appscript package includes additional example scripts, documentation and a tutorial, and can be downloaded from: [http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group\_id=2346](http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=2346) Forums for discussing rb-appscript are also available. Questions, bug reports, suggestions for improvements, etc. will all be very welcome. Enjoy! ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Davis1](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/rubytalk.org/ryan_davis1/32/1848_2.png) [@Ryan\_Davis1](https://rubytalk.org/u/Ryan_Davis1)\ **Post date:** [11 October 2006 22:51 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ann-ruby-appscript-0-1-1-released/31806/2 "2006-10-11T22:51:51Z")
Could you explain what the differences are with ruby aeosa? Below is an example from the website: require 'osx/aeosa' app = OSX::AEDesc.application "Internet Explorer" app.open\_docs "html/INDEX.en.html" app.activate app.quit\_app [http://www.fobj.com/rubyaeosa/](http://www.fobj.com/rubyaeosa/) > **ยทยทยท** > > On Oct 11, 2006, at 3:35 PM, has.temp3@virgin.net wrote: > > > Appscript makes Ruby a serious alternative to Apple's own AppleScript > > language for automating your Mac. Here's a quick example: > > > > require "appscript" > > > > AS.app('TextEdit').documents.end.make( > >     :new =\> :document, > >     :with\_properties =\> {:text =\> "Hello World!\n"}) ---
**Author:** ![has](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@has](https://rubytalk.org/u/has)\ **Post date:** [12 October 2006 16:35 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ann-ruby-appscript-0-1-1-released/31806/3 "2006-10-12T16:35:08Z")
rb-appscript-0.1.2 has just been posted: [http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group\_id=2346&release\_id=7361](http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=2346&release_id=7361) This release fixes a bug where enumerator values returned by applications were being unpacked incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![has](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@has](https://rubytalk.org/u/has)\ **Post date:** [12 October 2006 00:20 UTC](https://rubytalk.org/t/ann-ruby-appscript-0-1-1-released/31806/4 "2006-10-12T00:20:11Z")
Ryan Davis wrote: > Could you explain what the differences are with ruby aeosa? Appscript is a much, much higher-level bridge for creating and sending Apple events. Constructing complex commands and references in aeosa requires a detailed understanding of the low-level Apple Event Manager API and lots and lots of grungy code. For example, just getting the text of the front TextEdit document in aeosa involves writing: require 'osx/aeosa' app = OSX::AEDesc.application("TextEdit") app.ae\_send\_mode = 3 query = OSX::AEDesc.record({   'want' =\> OSX::AEDesc.new('type', 'prop'),   'form' =\> OSX::AEDesc.new('enum', 'prop'),   'seld' =\> OSX::AEDesc.new('type', 'ctxt'),   'from' =\> OSX::AEDesc.record({       'want' =\> OSX::AEDesc.new('type', 'docu'),       'form' =\> OSX::AEDesc.new('enum', 'indx'),       'seld' =\> 1,       'from' =\> OSX::AEDesc.null})}).coerce('obj ') p app.ae\_send('core', 'getd', query).coerce('reco'). to\_rbobj['----'].to\_rbobj Pretty hairy stuff (and even after a half-hour's troubleshooting I still couldn't get it to work correctly for some reason). With appscript, you just write: require "appscript" p AS.app("TextEdit").documents[1].text.get Constructing the application object model query, translating human-readable terminology to four-character codes, and packing and unpacking Ruby values is all handled automatically, and the whole lot's wrapped up in a very user-friendly OO-like syntax. HTH