The only wish i had for using AppleScript was to automate XCode. And it is eye opening to find out that XCode does not support a scripting API beyond the bare automatic minimum we get from any objective-c app. So if XCode will not do it nobody is interested in automatization.
I found this thread after googling if i should spend time adding a scripting layer to my app. I see i should not really spend time on it. Better do coding for Android or doing just another fancy animation. Sad state of the union for us techies.
But (i say this while i only read the first half of this thread) isn’t there a future in ChatGTP and AI coding. If ChatGPT can output a more english like language then it would be easier for the end user to check if the generated automatisation script is really what they want. Train the AI to write AppleScript and let the user only read it. Even as a programmer it’s hard to understand Swift code.
So spending a few millions on developing an AI assisted language like Apple Script for Apple Home Automatisation and macOS Apps. This can be a market now. It wasn’t before but this is the unique sales point.
I also disagree that Apple does only care about iOS and iPhones. This is not the case. The macOS computer market is still a huge money maker for Apple and with the upcoming breaking of the AppStore monopol and honestly a technical fiasco after the other (Failed MacPro is just the tip of the Iceberg). macOS and desktop is still important in the world of white collar high income workers.
I’m curious what tasks exactly did you want to automate in Xcode that wasn’t possible? I also wonder if you checked Xcode developer tools that offer all kind of shell script commands that you can use in AppleScript?
I by no means an expert in automating Xcode so it’s quite possible that its AppleScript support is lacking. I was able to automate everything I did want to automate – mostly related to signing and notarization. It did require to use shell commands.
Well I’m sure you know that Xcode users is only a small fraction of those who use Macs.
I think that it depends on the nature of your particular app as well as its user base to determine whether it’s worth spending time adding a scripting layer to your app (and how extensive this support should be). For example, many Adobe apps offer extensive scripting support that covers most of what’s available via their SDKs.
It was some time ago, i think Apple implemented a way now to do it but at least 5 years after i needed it and thought its a very normal task (nothing clever or unsual at all).
Just take screenshots from the layout of all the dialogs you have in all localized versions and in different dialog sizes. To present it in a overview gallery for quick pattern matching of things gone wrong. QA work. I found out that there is zero scripting.
For your comment that XCode is a small part of the users. You are right. But it’s almost everyone at Apple Research and Development that uses it. As the old saying “Eat your own dogfood” and if they have nobody in the team to push it for them, then either the company has a very very bad human resource management (and yes i think Apple is a terrible employee) or AppleScript stinks.
(explanations depending on blame, wrong-headedness, very very bad XYZ, or stinky something else, are expressive, and understandable, but never really shed much light)