I work for a company that creates a product that supports the Mac platform, and a lot of the testing that is done is very repetitious - As a result, I've looked into things like Applescript, hoping to automate certain tasks. While I'm impressed with some of the things Applescript can do, it also (at least with my level of knowledge of it) seems very limited if a given application is not written to be scriptable.

Can anyone tell me or direct me to information pertaining to other options and what their strengths are?

For example, are there any solutions that would allow me to have a given program (which isn't written with applescript in mind) that has, say, an assortment of checkboxes, dialog boxes, etc, and have a script/application that would run this program and check/fill certain checkboxes, radiobuttons, etc, as specified, all automatically, as defined by a script, et cetera?

[tonymac]

Check out QuickKeys. It's more a macro system than scripting language. http://www.cesoft.com/products/qkmac.html

[Paul Crawford]

Hi Dr_Sbaitso,

For a few other non-AppleScript alternatives, please see the Getting feet wet... thread in this Forum. [However, the main purpose of one of the utilities (i.e., Prefab Software's Player) mentioned in that thread is actually to enhance AppleScript with the ability to simulate user actions (mouse clicks, text typing, button clicks, menu selections, etc.).]

In addition to Prefab Software's Player mechanism, AppleScript's native functionality can also be extended through the use of scripting additions/plug-ins (a.k.a. "OSAXen"). These OSAXen are mostly freeware and made by third-party authors, although Apple also includes its own official ones with AppleScript. Specifically, there are third-party OSAXen available that can also simulate some kinds of user actions [see the Scripting Additions Library - 'Interface' category].

Regards,

--Paul

[This message has been edited by Paul Crawford (edited 10-31-2000).]