Karl Sweitzer wrote:
> Is Python's appscript suitable and sufficiently mature
for
> deployment in a commercial application?
For Apple event IPC, yes. Py-appscript has been around since
2003 and
provides the same level of functionality as AppleScript and
virtually
[1] the same level of application compatibility.
If you also need OSA attachability support (which allows you
to
attach scripts to applications that support it, e.g. Mail
rules,
folder actions), AppleScript remains the most dependable
option here.
There is a PyOSA component on the appscript site that's
usable with
care, but it's not yet mature enough for deploying in the
wild.
> With the demise of VBA in Microsoft Office, we are
faced with
> transitioning scripts that manipulate equations in
Office and
> manage the interoperation of our application with
Office.
> AppleScript is an obvious candidate, but coyote ugly in
the eyes of
> many developers, including us. We are looking for
viable alternatives.
AppleScript is the benchmark by which other Apple event
bridges are
best measured (even if the language sucks in other
respects), since
that's what application developers generally develop and
test
against. Of the third-party alternatives, appscript is by
far the
best candidate. The Python and Ruby versions are quite
mature; the
ObjC version still needs a bit of work (I just need to make
some time
for it) though is already pretty usable.
> Python, augmented by appscript to access the Word
Object Model, is
> the best candidate we've identified thus far. However,
we have
> negligible experience with Python and zero experience
with appscript.
For general advice on Python, best place to ask is
comp.lang.python.
For Mac-specific advice, including questions on appscript,
ask here.
For Mac Office advice, probably best to start with the
microsoft.public.mac.office.* newsgroups. Best person to
speak to
about Office scripting is Paul Berkowitz, author of
MacTech's VBA-to-
AppleScript transition guide which you'll no doubt want to
read if
you've not already done so. Another person you might want to
speak to
is Matt Neuburg, author of "AppleScript: The Definitive
Guide" (which
I'd recommend buying if you need to learn AppleScript). And
I'll be
happy to provide advice on AppleScript and appscript, of
course.
> Further, we note that appscript has not reached version
1.0.
Sub-1.0 version numbers are pretty common in OSS, and don't
tell you
much about a project's
functionality/reliability/stability/maturity.
The core appscript modules (CarbonX.AE, aem, appscript) have
been
pretty stable over the last couple years; one or two
significant API
shake-ups, but mainly just periodical bug fixes, feature
enhancements
and/or compatibility improvements. The Ruby version of
appscript
recently went beta, and I'm hoping to do the same with the
Python
version sometime before the year's end.
BTW, I am planning some changes for the next release of
py-appscript
as part of the pre-beta tidy-up - ask if you want details -
but
nothing that'll stop you using it right now. There's also
work to do
on 64-bit compatibility (this is true of all Mac-specific
Python
extensions that need it, btw, including those in the
standard
library), which will happen sometime after Leopard's release
once I
can afford a new laptop.
> Has anybody out there used Python and appscript for a
commercial
> product?
I believe Omni are using Rails and rb-appscript to provide a
web
interface to their upcoming OmniFocus product, and there may
be
others I don't know about.
> Are there other candidates we should be considering?
Python/Ruby/ObjC appscript would be your best choice; as
well as
being the best third-party Apple event bridge, it also
provides
several very useful developer tools:
- built-in help systems for exploring dictionaries and
object models
in interactive Python and Ruby interpreters (the osadict
command-line
tool bundled with py-appscript also provides access to most
of this
system, which is handy if you're using objc-appscript)
- ASDictionary for exporting application dictionaries to
HTML in
AppleScript and Python/Ruby/ObjC appscript formats
- ASTranslate for converting application commands from
AppleScript to
Python or Ruby appscript syntax.
If you want a list of all the other available bridges then
just let
us know, although there aren't any I would recommend.
HTH
has
[1] There may still be the odd as-yet undiscovered
compatibility
issue since there are a lot of quirky applications out
there. I think
I've dealt with 3 or 4 this year, though new reports are
increasingly
rare as appscript is pretty good these days at mimicking
AppleScript's own undocumented quirks and general
sloppiness.
However, if you should discover any compatibility problems
that don't
exist in AppleScript then file a bug report and I'll fix
them and/or
provide a suitable workaround ASAP.
--
http://appscript.sou
rceforge.net
http://rb-appscript
.rubyforge.org
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