Check Boxes on Apple's Address Book's Print Window

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
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#1

This is my 2nd attempt at AppleScript.

I am trying to write a simple AppleScript for Apple’s Address Book. I wanted the printed list of addresses to be separated by a page break so that I could easily insert tab pages for each letter of the alphabet to make a finished booklet. It seemed like an easy project at the start.

I can select the specific letter (and the people I want to print) but I cannot control the specific fields that are printed on the “Print” Window. Here’s the output from Apple’s UI Element Inspector for the “Phone” (the first entry of a scrolling list of check boxes labeled “Attributes” on the “Print” Window).

<AXApplication: “Address Book”>
<AXWindow: “Print”>




<AXCheckBox: “Phone”>

Attributes:
AXRole: “AXCheckBox”
AXRoleDescription: “check box”
AXHelp: “(null)”
AXValue: “1”
AXEnabled: “1”
AXFocused (W): “0”
AXParent: “”
AXWindow: “<AXWindow: “Print”>”
AXTopLevelUIElement: “<AXWindow: “Print”>”
AXPosition: “x=782 y=319”
AXSize: “w=196 h=19”
AXTitle: “Phone”

Actions:
AXPress - press

There’s a clear upward path from “Phone” to “Print” Window. However when I look down the path from the “Print” Window the path is not so clear.

<AXApplication: “Address Book”>
<AXWindow: “Print”>

Attributes:
AXRole: “AXWindow”
AXRoleDescription: “dialog”
AXSubrole: “AXDialog”
AXChildren: “<array of size 7>”
AXParent: “<AXApplication: “Address Book”>”
AXTitle: “Print”
AXSize: “w=893 h=550”
AXPosition (W): “x=214 y=81”
AXMain (W): “1”
AXMinimized: “0”
AXTitleUIElement: “”
AXDefaultButton: “<AXButton: “Print”>”
AXCancelButton: “<AXButton: “Cancel”>”

Actions:
AXRaise - raise

There are 7 items for children: 1 AXStaticText and 6 AXUnknowns. I can highlight the AXUnknowns and find what they control. But if I follow the 6th (UI Element 7) it leads to further unknowns and never to any item I can see in the upward path of “Phone”.

Am I just looking at some quirky programming within Apple’s Address Book that makes the check boxes I’m interested in unscriptable? Or can one specify a clear path in AppleScript to check (or uncheck) the boxes that control which fields are printed?

#2

Hi Fritz,

this example changes the first 3 checkboxes to the values specified in the property lines


property _Phone : 1
property _Email : 0
property _Address : 0

activate application "Address Book"
tell application "System Events"
	tell process "Address Book"
		keystroke "p" using command down
		repeat until exists window "Print"
			delay 0.5
		end repeat
		tell window "Print"
			tell table 1 of scroll area 1 of group 1
				my changeValue(checkbox "Phone" of row 1, _Phone)
				my changeValue(checkbox "Email" of row 2, _Email)
				my changeValue(checkbox "Address" of row 3, _Address)
			end tell
		end tell
	end tell
end tell

on changeValue(theReference, theValue)
	tell application "System Events"
		tell theReference
			if value is not theValue then click it
		end tell
	end tell
end changeValue