I’ve spent the best part of that sunny Sunday we just had struggling with Windows/Document manipulation…
I’m trying to create a “scratch buffer” to test some AS code, in Script Debugger. I’ve tried the same trivial code targeting SE and it works and it must be trivial and I’m kind of stuck.
tell application "Script Debugger"
set scratch_window to make new document
set bounds of window 1 to {645, 0, 1280, 795}
set name of window 1 to "Scratch Buffer"
end tell
My first attempt was about opening a “Scratch.scpt” script in its own window and changing all sorts of properties, but I got stuck in all kind of places and I had to quit…
tell application "Script Debugger"
set scratch_doc to make new document
tell scratch_doc
set bounds of window 1 to {645, 0, 1280, 795}
--set name to "Scratch Buffer" -- not allowed - muse save document to change its name
end tell
end tell
Remember, the document object represents the script, and has associate windows that let you view the script. Windows don’t have a name, the document does.
My solution was to create a saved file “My Scratch Pad.scpt”, and configure the window it is in as I want it to be. This also has the advantage of saving my last “scratching”.
For details, see:
I also have a couple of Keyboard Maestro Macros that will auto-configure the window layout when SD is launched, and to ensure new files opened in SD are opened in the main window (not the Scratch Pad).
If you, or anyone, is interested in these KM Macros, please let me know and I’ll post. They are still in the final beta stage, but as soon as I have time-tested them for a bit, I’ll publish on the KM forum, and here.
Ok, I was trying to find all sorts of ways to have the name set…
But an “Untitled” document is not saved yet and still it has a name. Is there a technical reason why you chose to not allow renaming before saving ? Script Editor/TextEdit/BBEdit and a bunch of others allow for that. Which is not to say that SD should, but that would help.
It’s actually your post that got me thinking. I’m working on a 13" so your layout was not possible. But I tried a number of other things and I was stuck with the naming part…
Close all other windows except for the Scratch Pad.
Position it where you want it.
Save.
Quit
Now when you launch SD6, the Scratch Pad should appear where you last left it. IAC, I have KM macros that trigger when SD6 is launched, and position/setup everything as I want it. I’m sure the same could be done in script, but it was very easy for me to use KM.
tell application "Script Debugger"
activate
if "Scratch.scpt" is in name of documents then
set scratch_document to document named "Scratch.scpt"
else
set scratch_document to open "/path/to/Scratch.scpt"
tell scratch_document
set bounds of its window to {645, 0, 1280, 795}
end tell
end if
tell scratch_document
set index of its window to 1
end tell
end tell
When I run the above code in SD:
if Scratch.scpt is not opened, it properly comes to the front and gets the focus
if Scratch.scpt is already opened and hidden by other windows, it comes to the front but does not get the focus.
You’re assuming that documents have a window property, rather than window elements. I’m surprised that line doesn’t error. However, even using window 1 exhibits the same behavior.
Is there some reason you’re not using move scratch_document to front?
It takes forever to run the first time, and it creates a second document with the same name on the second run.
Jean-Christophe — there has been a terrible and longstanding bug in the macOS since Mountain Lion (IIRC) that prevents a window set to index 1 from gaining focus.
The least impactful workaround is to use System Events to complete the window-focus.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Plain Call to Script Debugger
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tell application "Script Debugger"
set doc to document "Untitled 6"
set docWin to item 1 of (get doc's windows)
set index of docWin to 1
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "Script Debugger"
tell window 1
perform action "AXRaise"
end tell
end tell
end tell
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Differentiate Script Debugger 6
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tell application id "com.latenightsw.ScriptDebugger6"
set doc to document "Untitled"
set docWin to item 1 of (get doc's windows)
set index of docWin to 1
end tell
tell application "System Events"
tell (first process whose bundle identifier is "com.latenightsw.ScriptDebugger6")
tell window 1
perform action "AXRaise"
end tell
end tell
end tell
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indeed, I tried “move to front” and there were weird side effects as you wrote. Also, I did not understand @ShaneStanley’s distinction between elements and properties so I guess that means I’m back to the Language Reference But really, all that ought to be a bit more simple…
@ccstone Your code works fine. But I had trouble with it at first because it looks like the “move to front” had created a window less document and my loop was not handling that properly (I had “Scratch.scpt” in names of documents, but I could not access it’s window). Since I don’t know how to kill buffers in SD, I killed SD and then everything worked perfectly.
