[OS X TeX] scripting BBEdit (was Tabular/array macros)

Claus Gerhardt claus.gerhardt at urz.uni-heidelberg.de
Mon Nov 8 07:58:58 EST 2004


One must distinguish between creating applescripts and making an 
application (apple)scriptable. From my experience only actual 
applescripts (and shell scripts) deal with tex related stuff. The 
scripting commands and classes an application has to understand are 
more universal and related to finding and selecting text, moving the 
cursor, opening and refreshing documents. In that respect BBEdit's 
Applescript dictionary might be a sufficient source for the classes and 
commands applications like TeXShop and iTMac have to know.

Unfortunately, an Applescript dictionary doesn't tell a programmer how 
to implement these classes and commands in an application; instead this 
is part of a learning process, but I am sure that there are enough 
knowledgable people subscribed to this list who can help either 
directly or by giving hints.

Claus

On 08.11.2004, at 13:11, Jérôme Laurens wrote:

>
> Le 8 nov. 04, à 12:49, Jason Davies a écrit :
>
>>> After a glance at the manual Claus mentionned, it appears that things
>>> have really changed since I got into it. However, nothing appears
>>> directly related to TeX. Moreover, I did not manage to find the
>>> technical specs concerning AppleScript printed out somewhere. Can you
>>> dig into the app bundle for files where all the apple script specs 
>>> are
>>> declared?
>>
>>
>> I did see that comment but BBEdit has always been very powerful, only 
>> a
>> few things were overhauled in v.8.
>
> It is extremely powerful only for the one who knows how to use this 
> power.
> Just like M$ words.
> From a programming POV, it is not possible to clone BBEdit features if 
> we just have apple script examples.
> Either we use public specifications or we use reverse engineering on 
> compiled scripts.
> Of course, we can just make a pale copy of what BBEdit is 
> implementing, but we loose some kind of universality.
>
>>
>> The easiest way to see what it can do is to open the scripting
>> dictionary - not sure if that is what you meant. There is a command
>> under the script menu for this or the usual 'drop application onto
>> Script Editor' method. [...]
>
> Unfortunately, I am not really ready to pay 200$ just for that, any 
> hint?
>
>>
>> You won't find an editor with fuller scripting support, put it that 
>> way.
>
> emacs?
> (could not resist;-)
>
>> It's really much easier to reply to specific points...
>>
>
> Of course, but implementation should not solve specific points but 
> concern general problems...
>
> From a programmer POV, all this discussion is not very concrete, isn't 
> it?
>
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