[Drakino]

A handy feature of Keynote is the ability to open MS PowerPoint presentations. I have a few that I would like to easially add the cube transition effect to. So I figured I'd create a drag and drop Applescript to open the PPT file, select all slides, set the transition, then start the presentation.

One problem... The Applescript editor can't find a dictionary for Keynote. Is this a glitch is my install? Or does an Apple released program really not support Applescript?

[larkost]

Keynote is not scriptable. You can use Interface (GUI) Scripting to get around this, but it is a hack. Apple unfortunately has a rocky history with making their own programs scriptable, in fact the list of Apple programs that are scriptable is tragically short.

That being said, when they are scriptable, it is usually very well done.

[selowitch]

Originally posted by larkost:
Keynote is not scriptable.

That's deplorable. How can Apple expect AppleScript to remain viable if they don't support it in their own freakin' software?!

[Synotic]

Originally posted by selowitch:
That's deplorable. How can Apple expect AppleScript to remain viable if they don't support it in their own freakin' software?!

They obviously don't I don't really use AppleScript much anymore but when I did it really didn't seem to be a number one thing for them anymore.

[selowitch]

Originally posted by Synotic:
They obviously don't I don't really use AppleScript much anymore but when I did it really didn't seem to be a number one thing for them anymore.

But ... but ... AppleScript is one of the coolest things about the Mac that distinguishes it from the boring stupidity of Windows.

[larkost]

Actually, AppleScript doesn't really distinguish MacOS from Windows. They have VBScript. We can argue about the relative merits of both scripting languages (I much prefer AppleScript), but they are similar in nature. In fact AppleScript Studio is pushing AppleScript very much in the same direction as VBScript has gone with VisualStudio.

I do wish that Apple was more committed to AppleScript in their Applications.

[walrusjb]

Was thinking a bit about the original question at play... you really shouldn't need Applescript to automate this process for you. If you import the file into Keynote and save it as a Keynote file (I'll assume you're not expecting those transitions to go back into PowerPoint, as they don't) you can then dig into the package contents (keynote presentations are saved as a package) and edit the Presentation.APXL file directly.

If, for instance, you apply the transition to slide number 1, then save and close the file - open the presentation.apxl for that file in text edit and run a search for "slide-list" (without the quotes) - that'll get you past all of the master slide into and directly into the contained slides. Slide 1's markup will be the first item past that - look for the opening and closing transition-style tags and copy them completely. Then run a find on "drawables" and paste the transition-style markup you copied in directly after that point on each slide you want to have that transition.

Don't know that it would save a ton of time, but if you're looking to automate it I think the XML (APXL) file would be the most likely place to start given the lack of an Applescript library in the app itself. Have made similar changes to color, etc. somewhat automated, but have never tried it with a transition tag so YMMV.