[Pythonmac-SIG] OSA Python (now with Cocoa)

[bill fancher]

I guess I should toss this into the mix, as it bears on a number of topics 
recently discussed.

I've got an OSA component for Python that's reasonably functional. It's 
resting at the moment, in anticipation of bug fixes in Mac OS X 10.1. It 
uses the standard Python distribution compiled as a MachO shared library 
(using Tony Lownds' dylib patch.)

It lets you to edit, run, and "debug" Python scripts in Apple's Script 
Editor, or any other OSA compliant editor that might come down the pike.

It currently adds one built-in function, "App", which returns 
built-on-the-fly application proxies for IAC. E.g., to have Finder rename 
a folder:

App('Finder').Folder[14].Name = 'NewFolderName'

You can use StandardAdditions.osax (or any other scripting addition you 
might run across):

r = App().Display_dialog('Hello, World', Buttons = ('B1', 'B2'))
App().Say( 'You chose ' + r.Button_returned )

This provides a bit of easy UI and access to a variety of Mac system 
services on a fairly vanilla install (Unix distribution + Tony's patch + 
OSA component).

Scripts can be saved from Script Editor as double-clickable applets or 
droplets.

OSA Python can be used in most situations where AppleScript can be used. 
For instance, you can run Python scripts from application script menus. An 
unreleased version, running on Mac OS 9.x, allowed Python scripts to be 
attached, e.g., to Hypercard objects and to send and receive Hypertalk 
messages. Unfortunately, there are, at present, no applications I'm aware 
of that support attached scripts under OS X. Presumably this will "just 
work" when attachable apps become available. Maybe Folder Actions will 
return soon.

Once Apple fixes StandardAdditions.osax, you'll be able to call 
AppleScript, JavaScript or any other OSA compliant language from Python 
and vice versa. Again, this was a working feature on 9.x.

Additionally, as I've recently discovered, the PyObjC module works with 
OSA Python (though not without a few quirks). This means you can, in 
theory at least, create double-clickable Python apps with arbitrary UI.

You can get a peek at the Mac OS 9.x version that was ALMOST released at 
<http://home.pacbell.net/fancher/OSA_Python/OSA_Python_Notes.html>. Many 
of the specifics mentioned there are "no longer operational", as the last 
Bush administration used to say, and a number of features have been added,
  most notably IAC. (BTW, the download link there is dead.)

So, it's still something of a toy, there are bugs that won't get fixed 
right away, you need to get and apply Tony's patch and then build the 
standard Python distribution, the docs are non-existent, script recording 
doesn't work yet, and the source code is still not ready for prime time. 
That being said, if anyone's interested in a binary copy of the component 
and maybe some example scripts in exchange for feedback, please contact me 
off-list.

--
bill

'Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.' - CQ