A preview version of the new Script Editor 2.0 (beta II v36) is available at Apple’s web site. The Script Editor Beta requires that Mac OS X v10.2 (Jaguar) be installed on your computer. The beta installer will not replace the existing Script Editor application. Although scripts executed within Script Editor Version 2.0 can target applications in the Classic environment, Script Editor version 2.0 is a native Mac OS X application and can only be launched in the Mac OS X environment, it cannot be run from within any version of Mac OS 9.
It appears to be much more stable than the last, short-lived beta (oddly also named beta 2 – see topic on last beta). Opening an existing script and saving a new script – both of which caused an unexpected quit in the last beta – seem to work now. The dictionary access and new scripts using the Script Assistant is a great boon. The AppleScript URL protocol works great and, like I mentioned before, will make posting here a lot more interesting (although there have been a number of scripts created lately for getting scripts into and out of browsers – see here and here). Moving the description tab is fine but does anyone really use it? The help text still seems to be for beta 1 and has older screenshots and descriptions. The help text says there are three formats for saving a script (compiled script, app, or text) but the new SE has other options including script bundle and app bundle. Not sure what these are for (improved interoperability with AS Studio perhaps?) but when I saved a script as a script bundle (without checking run-only) I wasn’t able to re-open it in SEb2v36. Hmm. Anyone? Still, all in all, very exciting. Any one having stability issues? If they add better debugging tools (step in and out, Sal, please, please, please) then it looks like Apple will have put another class of third-party apps out to pasture.
Jon
I get a spinning beach ball when I try to open the “Script Editor” dictionary from the “Library” palette.
It looks like Key Xing (Fkey tool) may have an issue if you have anything assigned to the F5 key – Code Assistant uses the F5 and Tab keys – Also, I had a couple of unexpected quits when using Code Assistant.
I added the Sysytem events app to the “Library” palette and it works as expected – I had problems using
tell application "Script Editor" to open alias "BigMac:System:Library:CoreServices:System Events.app:"
from the Script Menu.menu – it beach balled the editor. All in all, it looks pretty great right now. Progress… ;¬)
Actually, I used to use the description panel a lot. I just got out of the habit because the earlier Script Editor 2.0beta v20 would only save text in the ‘comments’ field of scripts that were saved as applications.
There are a few pages on the AppleScript website that now have URL Protocol support:
Some webpages containing examples of the new URL Protocol Support are at:
www.apple.com/applescript/guidebook/sbrt/pgs/sbrt.11.htm
www.apple.com/applescript/guidebook/sbrt/pgs/sbrt.12.htm
www.apple.com/applescript/guidebook/sbrt/pgs/sbrt.09.htm
The three dots indicate which transfer action will be performed:
- If the left bullet is red then a new window will be created
- if the middle button is red then the script will be inserted at the cursor
- if the last bullet is red then the script will be appended to the end of the script
Enjoy! – Sal
That is happening on my G4 450X2 Gigabyte Ethernet Machine.
It is not happening on my iBook dual USB 500MHz Machine.
Sal, the URL Protocol support is awesome. I don’t think it will work in this BBS (phpBB) until we can get a ‘mod’ for the “applescript://” protocol. As it is now we can’t get the complete url in there…
applescript://com.apple.scripteditor?action=new&script=beep
The URL Protocol support will work on replies to the Code Exchange section. ;¬)
Sal was kind enough to email me this about using the Code Assistant option…
“Type F5 to accept the suggested term or hit tab when there are dots to see a list of suggested terms.”
I have found that when you hit the F5 Key you can use the arrow keys to scroll through the list of the available terms in the pop up, it’s kinda tricky though. I wonder if there is, or will be, a way to add your own terms.
More from Tim Bumgarner, via the Applescript mailing list…
Here is a brief release note covering the Script Assistant. Hopefully
this will be helpful:
The Script Assistant is designed to help you complete and suggest known
terminology. It does this by caching terms it encounters when opening
dictionaries of scriptable applications (at least in the current form).
In the beta 2 release, you will need to open up the dictionaries of the
various applications that you would like to script. I would recommend
that you open up the dictionaries of at least all of the applications
in the Library window. This will be addressed in the final release such
that it will start with a comprehensive list of terms.
In order to use the Script Assistant, you need to enable it in the
Editing preferences pane. You may need to quit and relaunch the Script
Editor in order for the new terms in the cache to take affect. Once you
begin to type a known term, Script Assistant will auto-suggest any
unambiguous remainder of the term in a fifty percent transparent style
and any ambiguous portion with an ellipses “”. In order to accept the
auto-suggested portion you can press the “complete” key. In Cocoa this
is assigned to the F5 function key by default. Currently there isn’t
anyway to redefine this key from within SE2 itself, hopefully we can
address this before the final release. If the auto-suggest only
contains an ellipses, pressing the “complete” key will present a popup
menu that will contain all of the known terminologies that match the
portion known up to that point. You can use the up and down arrow keys,
continue to type or click on different items. To finish the popup menu
you can either complete the suggestion, or cancel it. If you don’t want
to accept the auto-suggestion you can press the “cancel” key, which by
default is the “Esc” key. If you want to use the currently selected
suggestion, you can do any of the following: press the enter key, press
the right arrow key, or double click the selected item.
This is a new feature and still has work remaining and there are bugs
associated with it. Some aspects of this feature are likely to be
changed (hopefully for the better) before the final release. If you
find it causing problems for you, please turn the feature off and file
a bug report.
Thanks,
Tim Bumgarner
AppleScript Engineering
I’ve seen some people mention the Read Me file (with a discussion of new icons, the bundle feature, etc.) and improved help but I’m not seeing this. In the installer there is a brief introduction screen and it looks like there is more text but the installer doesn’t provide me with a scroll bar to see the rest of it. Where is the Read Me? And when I launch the help app, I get the beta 1 help files. Looking in the SE beta 2 (v36) package itself and loading the help files directly from there I get the same thing? I’m usually not this obtuse (really), what am I missing here?
Jon
Anyone have the SE beta 2 Read Me? Anyone?
Jon
The F5 key on my iBook is for adjusting the volume. Which seems to conflict with SE 2.0b2 v36’s use of the F5 key for Code Assistant. So when I press the F5 key I get the volume adjust icon on my screen and nothing happens in the Scipt Editor. Is anyone else seeing this on their notebooks?
Yes, I see it on my PowerBook but if I depress and hold the fn key and then hit F5, code assistant works. This might vary based on settings in the Keyboard prefs (Full Keyboard Access pane).
– Rob
Ditto on my PB. I actually find the whole Code Assistant more of a hassle than a help. I often move around my script and add text to an existing line and then use the arrow to move to the next line, etc., and Code Assistant doesn’t release it’s suggestion and sometimes causes errors when compiling. I’ve also had problems where sometimes hitting the enter key adds a hard return instead of compiling. Then there are bugs when using the Navigation bar (it doesn’t properly recognize properties and elements within “using terms from” blocks. Finally, when the Library window is open, my performance goes way down. So, while promising, it is still very much a beta.
Jon
So far I am liking this new beta version, but I am having a problem with the preferences holding my AppleScript formatting colors. Does anyone know where do I report bugs to???
You can report bugs to…
http://developer.apple.com/bugreporter/index.html
I think you need to have the free ADC membership though.
Also, have you tried trashing your preference file?
Thanks Greg for the quick response. Deleting the preferences was the first thing that I tried and it did not work. But fortunately I was able to fix the problem. For some reason the new beta II does not properly save the preferences for AppleScript formatting. In order to set the prefs the way I wanted I had to use the old Script Editor 1.9 and set the prefs with it then quit and open the beta II of the script editor and all was correct with my AppleScript formatting. Hopefully everybody else kept a copy of their Script Editor 1.9.