AppleScript question

[Greg Raven]

I -- the worst programmer in the world -- have whipped up an AppleScript to grab the code from the front Safari window and open it in BBEdit. Having gotten that far, however, I can't figure out how to include these two BBEdit AppleScript commands:

• normalize tag case
• normalize line endings

The documents do nothing for me, but then, I am the worst programmer in the world.

P.S. I realize there exists a Service that does this, but I wanted to try my hand at rolling my own.

[jj]

Hi Greg,

Here is a script that might do what you want

tell application "Safari"

set vContents to source of first document

set vName to name of first document

end tell

tell application "BBEdit"

tell first window

set vDocument to make new document at beginning with properties {name:vName, contents:vContents}

tell vDocument

normalize line endings

format mode no reorganization with normalizing tag case

end tell

end tell

end tell

Best regards,

Jean Jourdain

[Greg Raven]

Ah, so. Thank you! It never occurred to me that I needed a nested tell block.

[Greg Raven]

Actually, this isn't working for me either. This is what I have so far:

```

tell application "Safari"

set sourceCode to source of first document

end tell

tell application "BBEdit"

activate

make new text window with properties {contents:sourceCode, source language:"HTML"}

optimize

# normalize line endings

format mode gentle hierarchical with normalizing tag case

copy time of (current date) to latest

save text document 1 to file ("Macintosh HD:Users:greg:Desktop:tossme-" & latest & ".html")

end tell

```

The "normalize line endings" command is commented out because it throws an error so the script does not run to completion. I tried wrapping it in it's own tell block, but I'm still missing something.

[Greg Raven]

Here's another data point:

If I add this script to an Automator workflow (as Run AppleScript), I can then drag in the BBEdit Automator action Normalize Line Breaks (yes, "breaks" and not "endings"), and it works.

However, it does not work to change the main script itself from "normalize" to "normalizing", nor from "endings" to "breaks".

[Greg Raven]

I got it. I don't know why this works, but I put the normalize command inside a try/catch loop in hopes of getting better debugging information. It ran fine. I deleted the catch and it still ran as expected. At this point, I'm claiming the win.

```

tell application "Safari"

set sourceCode to source of document 1

end tell

tell application "BBEdit"

activate

make new text window with properties {contents:sourceCode, source language:"HTML"}

select insertion point before character 1 of text window 1

optimize

format mode gentle hierarchical with normalizing tag case

try

normalize line endings of text window 1

end try

copy time of (current date) to latest

save text document 1 to file ("Macintosh HD:Users:greg:Desktop:tossme-" & latest & ".html")

end tell

```

[jj]

Greg,

The BBEdit dictionary mentions that the "normalize line endings" command takes a text specifier as a parameter.

---

normalize line endings v : convert any CRLF pairs and LF characters remaining after line-break conversion

normalize line endings specifier : text to be modified

→ text : the modified text

---

Your script as written gives to the "normalize line endings" command an implicit parameter of  type application "BBEdit" which apparently is not automatically convertible to a text specifier.

Try to give it the contents of your document which is a text specifier (something of the form: characters x thru y of ...).

normalize line endings contents of first document of first window

or use a tell block to specify the implicit parameter:

tell  first document of first window

normalize line endings

end tell

HTH,

Jean Jourdain

[Greg Raven]

Thanks for supplying this final piece. Trying to learn AppleScript by reading the dictionaries is much like trying to learn a foreign language just from reading a bilingual dictionary for that language. Why Apple decided not to include any code samples in AppleScript dictionaries is beyond me.

[John Delacour]

On 12 Oct 2020, at 13:30, Greg Raven <greg...@gmail.com> wrote:

Thanks for supplying this final piece. Trying to learn AppleScript by reading the dictionaries is much like trying to learn a foreign language just from reading a bilingual dictionary for that language. Why Apple decided not to include any code samples in AppleScript dictionaries is beyond me.

Here’s another way to do it:

tell application "Safari" to set _src to source of front document

tell application "BBEdit"

activate

set _doc to make document with properties {text:_src, linebreaks:Unix}

tell _doc

format mode gentle hierarchical with normalizing tag case

set _t to time of (current date)

set _f to (path to desktop as string) & _t & ".html"

save to file _f

end tell

end tell

[Greg Raven]

This looks slick, but it doesn't run for me. I get an error on save, and the (path to desktop as string) seems not to resolve to anything.

[John Delacour]

On 12 Oct 2020, at 15:13, Greg Raven <greg...@gmail.com> wrote:

This looks slick, but it doesn't run for me. I get an error on save, and the (path to desktop as string) seems not to resolve to anything.

That’s very odd!  I am running MacOS 10.13.6.  Hard to imagine they have made  that go away; but try instead

path to desktop as Unicode text

If that doesn’t work, goodness knows!

Obviously you will get an error on save if you have no path.

JD

[Greg Raven]

No, each form gives the same resulting path, but neither works in the save command that follows.

I appreciate your help, but I already have a version of this script that works.

[TJ Luoma]

> Trying to learn AppleScript by reading the dictionaries is much like trying to learn a foreign language just from reading a bilingual dictionary for that language.

That reminds me of trying to learn how to use Unix commands and having people tell you to "Read the `man` page!"

Years ago (Usenet days, I think) I had a ".sig" file (remember those?) which included this: "If I understood the man page, I wouldn't have asked the question".

Real-world examples are always good. Even with some 'textbook examples' I find myself wondering what is placeholder text and what is not.

TJ

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[MediaMouth]

Or like learning how to drive by reading the auto parts manual.

In some ways JXA (JS version of AppleScript) is slightly (but only slightly) more intuitive, at a cost of being even less documented.