Can AS detect being in a text field?

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
,
#1

That’s the big Q. Can Applescript detect if the cursor is in a text field? If it can’t, is there something that can be triggered thru AS to do so? Jave? Unix?

#2

Hi,

AppleScript Studio can,
in plain AppleScript it depends on the target application

#3

hmm, well the the target app is Safari and its a webpage (http://allmusic.com/)

I’m reading up on ASS, (that looks really bad:/) and haven’t gotten to that part yet. Any chance you could point me in the right direction regarding the studio script?

#4

So right now I have the cursor tabbing to the text field but every so often, amount of tabs changes. Naturally this isn’t consistent enough and I’m hoping there’s a better way. Yay for GUI…:frowning:

Browser: Safari 523.10.6
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.5)

#5

If you are talking about HTML form text fields, then maybe the last bit in this script will do something like what you want (tested with Safari 3 under 10.4.11):

tell application "Safari"
	make new document with properties {URL:"http://allmusic.com/"}
	set endTime to (current date) + 30
	repeat until (do JavaScript "document.readyState" in first document) is "complete"
		delay 5
		if (current date) is greater than or equal to endTime then error "Timeout waiting for Safari to load the document"
	end repeat
	-- The whole point of the readyState loop was to try to make sure it was ready to go. But, alas, it does not seem to always be enough.
	delay 5
	do JavaScript "document.forms['search']['search_txt'].focus()" in first document
end tell

Model: iBook G4 933
AppleScript: 1.10.7
Browser: Safari 3.0.4 (523.12)
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.4)

#6

Chrys, it does work and thank you! It gets the cursor to the text field and right now its magic to me. I definetly want to understand how that line of javascript works.
I cut it down to this and just start with the AMG (www.allmusic.com) window open.


tell application "Safari"
	do JavaScript "document.forms['search']['search_txt'].focus()" in first document
end tell

When I run the script, it plops the cursor in the text field, but then when I try to script in text to be entered it doesn’t like it and throws an error.
Safari got an error: Can’t get keystroke “searchText”.


tell application "Safari"
	do JavaScript "document.forms['search']['search_txt'].focus()" in first document
	keystroke "searchText"
end tell

Also, I’m trying to get my variable text to be entered in that text field where the cursor is. I tried a ton of variations, all not working. So I’m at a loss with this one. Here’s the last attempt I had…


tell application "Safari"
	do JavaScript "document.forms['search']['search_txt'].focus()" in first document
end tell

tell application "System Events"
	set searchText to the clipboard
	return text of searchText
end tell

I tried nesting the system events tell inside the safari tell, no luck.

Model: Dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5
AppleScript: 2.2
Browser: Safari 523.10.6
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.5)

#7

Hi,

try this


tell application "Safari"
	activate
	do JavaScript "document.forms['search']['search_txt'].focus()" in first document
end tell
set searchText to get the clipboard
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Safari" to keystroke searchText
#8

Sweet. That’s exactly what I needed. I changed the syntax only because my preference is to see this way. Though, if there’s a good reason not to do it this way, let me know!


tell application "Safari"
	activate
	do JavaScript "document.forms['search']['search_txt'].focus()" in first document
end tell
set searchText to get the clipboard
tell application "System Events"
	tell process "Safari"
		keystroke searchText
	end tell
end tell

I gotta say, I love this forum and all the help!

Model: Dual 2 GHz PowerPC G5
AppleScript: 2.2
Browser: Safari 523.10.6
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.5)