View source for How To Build An AppleScript-Based Cocoa-Application

This page describes how you can build a simple [[AppleScript]] Application using XCode on Snow Leopard (10.6)<ref>This will NOT work on Leopard (10.5), a sample for Leopard will follow later...</ref>.

== Creating a Wikipedia-Application<ref>just like  [[5 Easy Steps To Your First RubyCocoa Application|this]]</ref> ==
=== Creating the project ===
I used XCode 3.2.1 on Snow Leopard (10.6<ref>and this sample will ONLY work with 10.6! You can also do it with 10.5, but synthax is ''slightly'' different.</ref>) to create this project.

==== Choose "New Project…" from File Menu ====
[[Image:AppleScriptCocoaHowTo01.png]]

==== Choose "Cocoa-AppleScript Application" from Templates ====
[[Image:AppleScriptCocoaHowTo02.png]]<br>
...and save it somewhere.

=== Adding a Web View ===
==== Add an Outlet ====
[[Image:AppleScriptCocoaHowTo03.png]]<br>
...using this snippet:
 property ourWebView : missing value (* This is an outlet to out WebView which we created in Interface Builder *)

==== Double-Click the Interface-File ====
[[Image:AppleScriptCocoaHowTo04.png]]<br>
[[Image:AppleScriptCocoaHowTo03a.png]]<br>
As you can see, the outlet <tt>ourWebView</tt> is already visible in Interface Builder.

==== Search for WebView and drag it into your window ====
[[Image:AppleScriptCocoaHowTo05.png]]<br>
[[Image:AppleScriptCocoaHowTo06.png]]

==== Resize the WebView to fill the window ====
[[Image:AppleScriptCocoaHowTo07.png]]<br>

==== Set Size-Settings for automatic resizing ====
[[Image:AppleScriptCocoaHowTo08.png]]

==== Connect the Outlet to the WebView ====
[[Image:AppleScriptCocoaHowTo09.png]]

=== Opening an URL ===
==== Tell the WebView to open an URL ====
Paste this...
 tell ourWebView to setMainFrameURL_("http://www.wikipedia.org")
into the method <tt>applicationWillFinishLaunching_</tt>.<br>
[[Image:AppleScriptCocoaHowTo10.png]]

=== You made it! ===
Run the app and enjoy!

== More ==
=== Finetuning ===
There is some of finetuning that you might want to consider:
* [[How to save the window position (cocoa)|Save the window position]]
* [[How to create and set an application icon (cocoa)|Create and set an application icon]]
* [[How to set version information and copyright (cocoa)|Set version information and copyright]]
* Customize about box
* Add custom behaviour, e.g. creating an PDF from an web page, or saving bookmarks...
* Adding buttons for something you want to (paste text, translate text, look word up in Dictionary...)

----
* Stuff
** Download the above Sample [[Media:AppleScriptCocoaSample.zip]]
** Helpful links:
*** http://www.macosxautomation.com/applescript/develop/index.html (Please note that, as of now (2010-10-11), the downloadable project is missing the connections between the App Delegate and the UI Elements)
** You might also be interested in the same thing done with [[Ruby]]: [[5 Easy Steps To Your First RubyCocoa Application]]
* Short link to here: http://wurst-wasser.net/t/r.php?u=ASCocoaHow2
* Footnotes:
<references/>

[[Category:AppleScript]]
[[Category:Development]]