App not quiting

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
#1

Hi, i have an AppleScript that I want to constantly run and send serial data every 10 seconds.

It works great but when I save it is an Application it won’t quit.

Searching around it, it seems like I need some kind of idle command but I’m out of my depth.

Any ideas how I could impliment something like that into my script so that it will run as an app?

Also, the line “tell me to quit” doesn’t work when I save it as an app, this might be part of the same problem.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Phil



try
	set port_name to do shell script "ls /dev/cu.usb*"
on error
	display dialog "ERROR: Are you sure the box is plugged in?" buttons {"Quit"} default button "Quit"
	tell me to quit
end try






property ytURL : "http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos?q=v=ae_DKNwK_ms"




set tempFile to (path to temporary items as text) & (do shell script "/bin/date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S")
set a to 0
repeat while a = 0
	
	
	set portRef to serialport open port_name bps rate 9600 data bits 8 parity 0 stop bits 1 handshake 0
	
	if portRef is equal to -1 then
		display dialog " could not open port "
		tell me to quit
		
	end if
	
	try
		
		do shell script "curl " & quoted form of ytURL & " > " & quoted form of POSIX path of tempFile
	on error errMsg
		display dialog "ERROR: " & errMsg buttons {"Quit"} default button "Quit"
		tell me to quit
	end try
	
	tell application "System Events"
		set xmlData to contents of XML file tempFile
		set entryTag to XML element "entry" of XML element 1 of xmlData
		set theTitle to value of XML element "media:title" of XML element "media:group" of entryTag
		set viewCount to value of XML attribute "viewcount" of XML element "yt:statistics" of entryTag
	end tell
	do shell script "rm " & quoted form of POSIX path of tempFile
	
	set cmd to "<" & viewCount & ">"
	
	serialport write cmd to portRef
	serialport close portRef
	
	delay 10
	
end repeat
#2

try this, save the script as application with stay open option


property ytURL : "http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos?q=v=ae_DKNwK_ms"

on run
	try
		set port_name to do shell script "ls /dev/cu.usb*"
	on error
		display dialog "ERROR: Are you sure the box is plugged in?" buttons {"Quit"} default button "Quit"
		quit
	end try
end run

on idle
	set portRef to serialport open port_name bps rate 9600 data bits 8 parity 0 stop bits 1 handshake 0
	
	if portRef is equal to -1 then
		display dialog " could not open port " buttons {"Quit"} default button "Quit"
		quit
	end if
	set tempFile to (path to temporary items as text) & (do shell script "/bin/date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S")
	
	try
		do shell script "curl " & quoted form of ytURL & " > " & quoted form of POSIX path of tempFile
	on error errMsg
		display dialog "ERROR: " & errMsg buttons {"Quit"} default button "Quit"
		quit
	end try
	
	tell application "System Events"
		set xmlData to contents of XML file tempFile
		set entryTag to XML element "entry" of XML element 1 of xmlData
		set theTitle to value of XML element "media:title" of XML element "media:group" of entryTag
		set viewCount to value of XML attribute "viewcount" of XML element "yt:statistics" of entryTag
	end tell
	do shell script "rm " & quoted form of POSIX path of tempFile
	
	set cmd to "<" & viewCount & ">"
	
	serialport write cmd to portRef
	serialport close portRef
	
	return 10
end idle

on quit
	continue quit
end quit
#3

When a well-behaved application receives the ‘quit’ command, it finishes what it’s doing and then tidies up before actually quitting. In the case of a script applet, what it’s doing is running the script, so a ‘quit’ command in the middle of the script has no effect until the script finishes.

Unless your applet’s been saved as “Stay open”, you should only need to stop the script and the applet will quit by itself anyway. You could use an explicit “User canceled.” error:

display dialog "ERROR: " & errMsg buttons {"Quit"} default button "Quit"
error number -128 -- Not 'quit'.

Or, since you’re displaying a dialog first, you could get the exit button to generate the error:

display dialog "ERROR: " & errmsg buttons {"Quit"} default button "Quit" cancel button "Quit"
#4

When I run the app, I get an error saying it “variable name port_name not defined”

It works fine when I run it as a script just not an app.

Any idea?

Thanks.

Phil

#5

If you’re talking about in Stefan’s script, port_name needs to be declared a global so that it can be seen in both handlers.

#6

Thanks, any idea how I would do that declare?>

Phil

#7 
property ytURL : "http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos?q=v=ae_DKNwK_ms"

global port_name

on run
. etc.
#8

Works great, thanks.

Phil