Calling AppleScript from Python without using osascript or appscript?

Question

Is there any way to execute (and obtain the results of) AppleScript code from python without using the osascript command-line utility or appscript (which I don't really want to use (I think?) because it's no longer developed/supported/recommended)?

Rationale: in another question I've just posted, I describe a strange/undesired behaviour I'm experiencing with running some AppleScript via osascript. As I'm actually calling it from a python script, I wondered if there was a way to route around osascript altogether, since that seems to be where the problem lies - but appscript (the obvious choice?) looks risky now...

Why not the python osascript package? Was it not available at the time this question was asked? — ecbrodie
– ecbrodie, Commented Jan 23, 2017 at 23:09
Looks like that project got started in October 2015, so no, it wasn't available in 2013. But it looks good, yes - thanks! :-) — gimboland
– gimboland, Commented Jan 24, 2017 at 10:14
Because that's also just a wrapper around a subprocess call to the osascript utility. — UloPe
– UloPe, Commented Mar 6, 2019 at 16:16

Ken Thomases · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-28 04:34:27Z

25

You can use the PyObjC bridge:

>>> from Foundation import *
>>> s = NSAppleScript.alloc().initWithSource_("tell app \"Finder\" to activate")
>>> s.executeAndReturnError_(None)

edited Feb 28, 2014 at 4:34

answered Apr 17, 2013 at 17:16

Ken Thomases

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3 Comments

gimboland Over a year ago

Thanks! Accepted this answer as it has the fewest dependencies, although py-applescript also looks good. :-)

andrewb Over a year ago

Might want to fix the spelling of 'NSApplScript' to add the 'e' after 'Appl' - I pasted your code and it didn't work first time!

Jongwook Choi Over a year ago

In case of ImportError: No module named Foundation, one may use sys.path.append("/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/PyObjC") before the import statement.

foo · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-19 09:36:14Z

24

PyPI is your friend...

http://pypi.python.org/pypi/py-applescript

Example:

import applescript

scpt = applescript.AppleScript('''
    on run {arg1, arg2}
        say arg1 & " " & arg2
    end run

    on foo()
        return "bar"
    end foo

    on Baz(x, y)
        return x * y
    end bar
''')

print(scpt.run('Hello', 'World')) #-> None
print(scpt.call('foo')) #-> "bar"
print(scpt.call('Baz', 3, 5)) #-> 15

answered Apr 19, 2013 at 9:36

foo

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4 Comments

gimboland Over a year ago

Thanks - works great. Shall add PyPi to my list of stuff I should know about.

Jonathan Eunice Over a year ago

PyPI is indeed your friend. Ever so helpful, ever so often!

studgeek Over a year ago

Thanks for the example, helps explain is so much faster than the package doc.

Pierz Over a year ago

Note: py-applescript depends on PyObjC for its OSAscript functionality

iloveitaly · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-05 17:56:21Z

2

If are looking to execute "Javascript for Automation" (applescript's successor) in your python code, here's how to do it:

script = None

def compileScript():
    from OSAKit import OSAScript, OSALanguage

    scriptPath = "path/to/file.jxa"
    scriptContents = open(scriptPath, mode="r").read()
    javascriptLanguage = OSALanguage.languageForName_("JavaScript")

    script = OSAScript.alloc().initWithSource_language_(scriptContents, javascriptLanguage)
    (success, err) = script.compileAndReturnError_(None)

    # should only occur if jxa is incorrectly written
    if not success:
        raise Exception("error compiling jxa script")

    return script

def execute():
    # use a global variable to cache the compiled script for performance
    global script
    if not script:
        script = compileScript()

    (result, err) = script.executeAndReturnError_(None)

    if err:
        # example error structure:
        # {
        #     NSLocalizedDescription = "Error: Error: Can't get object.";
        #     NSLocalizedFailureReason = "Error: Error: Can't get object.";
        #     OSAScriptErrorBriefMessageKey = "Error: Error: Can't get object.";
        #     OSAScriptErrorMessageKey = "Error: Error: Can't get object.";
        #     OSAScriptErrorNumberKey = "-1728";
        #     OSAScriptErrorRangeKey = "NSRange: {0, 0}";
        # }

        raise Exception("jxa error: {}".format(err["NSLocalizedDescription"]))
    
    # assumes your jxa script returns JSON
    return json.loads(result.stringValue())

answered May 5, 2021 at 17:56

iloveitaly

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2 Comments

red_menace Over a year ago

JXA can't match AppleScript's functionality and was pretty much abandoned after its release, so I wouldn’t consider it a successor.

iloveitaly Over a year ago

Interesting, didn't realize it was abandoned more than AppleScript. In what ways does it not match AppleScript's functionality? Curious to learn more.

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