"Press Run to run this script..." confirmation started appearing...why?

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Level 6

12,351 points

"Press Run to run this script..." confirmation started appearing...why?

I've got a set of AppleScripts I run from Spotlight, and all of a sudden they run with a confirmation alert that I've never seen before. Upon launch, each of these scripts puts up an alert that says "Press Run to run this script, or Quit to quit." So I gotta hit a button before the script will continue running.

I did a web search on it, and they all said the same thing: You saved your script with the Startup Screen option on. But I didn't! They've been running headless for months, some for years, and none of them started displaying the confirm dialog until now. I even opened and resaved them with the Startup Screen option off (it wasn't even checked when I went to resave them) and they still do this.

I guess I'll try fixing permissions unless somebody has a better idea. As far as I can tell, I've done everything right.

Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, iPhone 3GS, Mac OS X (10.6.5), PowerBook G4 15" Al, PowerBook G3 FireWire, PowerCenter Pro, PowerBook 160

Posted on Nov 26, 2010 11:23 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Bill Eccles

Level 1

144 points

Jul 30, 2013 5:37 AM in response to res1233

I had this problem today with a script which had previously "just worked." Strangely, if AppleScript Editor were open, it worked fine. Close ASE, it doesn't.

I looked at the permissions on the applet.rsrc file and noticed that it wasn't marked as executable, so I added the "x" permission to it for everybody, and that solved the problem.

In terminal, change directories to the applet's Resources folder and then do:

chmod +x applet.rsrc

Hope this fixes the problem for somebody else, too.

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Answer 2

osimp

Level 1

120 points

Nov 28, 2010 1:45 PM in response to Network 23

You're dealing with scripts saved as applications, correct?
I've encountered this issue in a somewhat different context, and I suspect that red_menace is correct that it has to do with the .rsrc file in the resources folder -- but I haven't figured out a "direct" fix.

No guarantees, but try this:

• Display the main script on the desktop by dragging the applet to whatever script editor you are using.

• From the script editor menu (top of screen) select "file > save as." You'll get a drop down window over the script, showing the name of the original applet (without the name extension ".app"). Leave the name alone or change it as you wish. In any event, save the "save as" script as an application bundle in the same location as the original applet (e.g., desktop). If you didn't change the name, you'll have to choose to replace the original applet with the "save as" version; if you did change the name, you'll retain the original and get another with the new name.

• At this point, double-click on the applet with the new name (if that's the approach you took); otherwise, double-click on the replacement applet. Do you still get the "Press Run to run this script..." message??

As I said, no guarantees, but I'll be most interested in what you find.

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Answer 3

Jun 3, 2011 5:24 AM in response to Barry Margolin

Well just in case anyone is still wondering about this, I think I figured it out. Make sure whatever app you're using to trigger the script (Alfred in my case) does not use the CONTROL Key as part of the keyboard shortcut. That fixed it for me

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Answer 4

res1233

Level 1

9 points

Jul 7, 2011 8:24 PM in response to Network 23

Incase anyone was still stuck, this seems to be controlled by the "spsh" resource in the .rsrc file in the application bundle. If the second bit of that resource is "01" then the dialog will show, if it's "00" it wont. Also keep in mind that the executable's name in the MacOS directory must be the same as the .rsrc file or none of the settings in there will matter. Usually this is "applet", however I'd check to be sure.

If there is something preventing access to this file, such as a permission conflict, it will act as if the file is not there. It's possible that some random program you have messed the permissions up on the .rsrc files, causing this to happen. Rather long shot, but it's all I can think of. You can try running "sudo chown $USER applet.rsrc" and then "chmod +rw applet.rsrc". If that doesn't do it, then I'm all out of ideas.

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Answer 5

Mar 21, 2011 6:57 PM in response to Barry Margolin

I just installed the 10.6.7 update and the prompt went away. I don't know if it was because of the update or just the reboot.

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Answer 6

red_menace

Level 6

17,066 points

Nov 28, 2010 11:02 AM in response to Network 23

I don't know the format of the .rsrc file (you can use TextWrangler to get a hex dump), just that it is different when the options are changed and if it is not there you will get the confirmation dialog. I was thinking that if there was some kind of corruption or you couldn't read the file it would act the same way. If a new blank script application does the same thing, you might try from a new user account to see if it is something in your user preferences vs the system.

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Answer 7

red_menace

Level 6

17,066 points

Dec 17, 2010 6:23 PM in response to walkie84

You might try creating a new account and see if the behavior continues there. This may indicate a system vs user issue.

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Answer 8

ron-r

Level 1

4 points

May 8, 2014 11:15 AM in response to fedeboraxx

Bingo! Removing the Control key from the keyboard shortcut fixed my problem.

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Answer 9

red_menace

Level 6

17,066 points

Nov 27, 2010 2:39 PM in response to Network 23

I believe the setting for that dialog is in the applet.rsrc file in the Contents/Resources/ folder of the application bundle. You might check to see if there is a problem with that file - note that the Disk Utility permissions repair doesn't do anything in a user account, or with applications that aren't installed with an Apple installer (e.g. drag and drop).

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Answer 10

Network 23 Author

Level 6

12,351 points

Nov 28, 2010 9:57 AM in response to red_menace

red_menace wrote:
I believe the setting for that dialog is in the applet.rsrc file in the Contents/Resources/ folder of the application bundle. You might check to see if there is a problem with that file

Do you mean within an individual script application file? Because that wouldn't explain why all my scripts changed at once, unless something happened that affected all script applications.

Or do you mean one of Apple's scripting utilities?

How do I check to see if there is a problem with applet.rsrc? Which app would edit it? I did a Show Package Contents on one of my scripts and dragged applet.rsrc to TextEdit, but doesn't open as anything useful there. Probably since it's a resource.

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Answer 11

Network 23 Author

Level 6

12,351 points

Dec 3, 2010 4:24 PM in response to osimp

I did try resaving them to ensure that the option was off, but that made no difference...it still came up even though I verified and re-saved.

Even more mysteriously...the problem has gone away. I never saw it before, then it happened for about a week, and now it's gone away. It's back to working normally, I can run scripts without interruption. And in all that time, I never restarted the Mac or even logged out. The problem somehow appeared and then, after a time, disappeared on its own.

Maybe there was a system process that got corrupted while running and was interfering, and over the course of my uptime the errant process was either terminated or restarted. We may never know for sure.

Very strange.

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Answer 12

walkie84

Level 1

0 points

Dec 9, 2010 8:54 PM in response to Network 23

I am having this exact same problem. I just (finally) updated to 10.6.5 yesterday, so I'm suspicious that this is the cause. Like the OP, all of my applescripts now pop-up this dialog. I have tried re-saving them, ensuring that the "Startup Screen" is not selected, but this has not fixed the problem.

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Answer 13

Network 23 Author

Level 6

12,351 points

Dec 17, 2010 5:48 PM in response to walkie84

walkie84 wrote:
I am having this exact same problem. I just (finally) updated to 10.6.5 yesterday, so I'm suspicious that this is the cause.

I was running 10.6.5 for weeks before the problem started. That's what's so mysterious. There is no direct cause and effect except that I never saw this problem before 10.6.5.

I noticed other odd things happening and most seemed to clear up after I ran the 10.6.5 combo updater again, but I'm pretty sure this specific AppleScript problem stopped on its own before I re-ran the combo. Still a mystery.

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Answer 14

Mar 21, 2011 6:44 PM in response to jeremynk

This just started for me, too. I have a script in my non-admin account that I've been using for over a year, and today it started popping up this dialogue. I tried re-saving it and making sure the Startup Screen option is unchecked, but it didn't help.

I have an almost identical script in my admin account, and it doesn't do this.

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Answer 15

Network 23 Author

Level 6

12,351 points

Nov 28, 2010 12:45 PM in response to red_menace

I haven't solved it yet but thanks for your ideas, I'll try the different account or I'll copy the scripts to my other Mac and see if it happens there too.

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