[Pythonmac-SIG] appscript with todos in iCal seams very slow

[has]

Marcin Komorowski wrote:

> I am trying to generate a python internal structure (a dictionary of
> dictionaries) with a copy of all todo data from iCal.  I got it to
> work using the following code:
> [...]
> The problem is that this appears to execute painstakingly slowly.

Apple event IPC is fairly expensive; asking applications to resolve  
lots of object model 'references' (i.e. queries) especially so.  
Sending a few complex queries is usually much, much quicker than  
sending lots of simple ones, e.g. the following will pull all  
property values from all todos in a single go:

     todos = appCal.calendars.filter(its.name != '').todos.properties()

You can then rearrange this data in Python to suit your needs.

There's more information in the appscript manual: chapters 2 and 3  
discuss how Apple events and the Apple Event Object Model work;  
chapter 12 discusses various optimisation techniques for getting good  
performance out of the system.

HTH

has
-- 
http://freespace.virgin.net/hamish.sanderson/