Can you send applescript from Windows 7 to a Mac over a network?

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Can you send applescript from Windows 7 to a Mac over a network?

I'm an applescript noob with a question. I'd like to set up a touchscreen attached to a Windows computer that would act as a control surface for my Mac Pro, either controlling apps directly or via QuicKeys. I've successfully written applescript from a different Mac to this one, but unfortunately my touchscreen does not have any Mac drivers (HP L2105tm), so I'm relegated to using a Windows machine.

Is it possible to write applescript on Windows, or if not, is there some other scripting language that can be run on a Windows machine to trigger Macs (Leopard or Snow Leopard)?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Many Macs

Posted on Jan 15, 2010 1:29 PM

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Answer 1

Camelot

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Jan 16, 2010 12:30 AM in response to mellodee22

No - at least not directly.

AppleScript is decidedly Mac OS-only. Even if there was an interpreter on Windows, the Windows apps wouldn't have the hooks to be able to respond to the commands from AppleScript, so you're out of luck there.

All is not lost, though. There are a number of ways of initiating AppleScripts - for example you could couple them with launchd so that a network connection triggers the script, then all you'd have to do is get the Windows machine to connect to a specific port on the Mac and you're pretty much done.

The viability of this, though, depends on what it is you're trying to achieve. There may be other options you could consider.

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Answer 2

mellodee22 Author

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Jan 16, 2010 10:22 AM in response to Camelot

Hi Camelot,

Thank you for your answer. Yes, I'm not even sure that what I'm thinking is the most efficient way to go....

All I need is a way to trigger keystrokes on my Mac from the Windows machine. I had thought that AppleScript would be the best way to do it, but it looks like it's not gonna work.

Compounding the problem, the program I'm trying to trigger (Cubase music sequencing software) is not actually AppleScript-able, but my plan had been to send AppleScripts to QuicKeys, which would then send simple key commands (Command-Option p for example) to Cubase (QuicKeys in essence acting as an interpreter).

I'll take a look at launchd, but in the meantime if you (or anyone) can point me in a better direction I'd be most appreciative.

Thanks!

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