In a cocoa-application I am making, I would like to create buttons to enable and disable the computer from going to sleep. The following code is not working:
on disableSleep_(applescript)
do shell script"caffeinate &> /dev/null & echo $!"
end disableSleep_
on enableSleep_(applescript)
do shell script"kill -INT " & thePID
end enableSleep_
any suggestions?
MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 2.3 GHz i5, 4GB RAM, OCZ 120GB SSD
You need to describe these things in excruciating detail - what is "not working"? Since this seemed to be working in earlier topics, I am going to make a guess that it has to do with your handler declaration - since you declared that your handler takes a parameter (applescript), if you are not passing something to put into that parameter you will get an error. If these handlers are button actions, make sure they are connected to the UI objects (the sender will be passed to the action).
Sorry, the shell script isnt working, even the plain old apple scripts running in applescript editor.
do shell script"caffeinate &> /dev/null & echo $!"(correctly attached to a button) disables successfully, but
do shell script"kill -INT " & thePID (also correctly attached to a button) wont enable sleeping again
OK, now I remember - when starting the caffeinate utility, it returns the process identifier, which you don't appear to be keeping anywhere. You should have a property with the rest of your property declarations for the process ID, for example:
propertythePID : missing value
...then, in your handlers, update the property as needed, for example:
ondisableSleep_(sender)
setthePIDto (do shell script"caffeinate &> /dev/null & echo $!")
enddisableSleep_
onenableSleep_(sender)
ifthePIDismissing valuethenreturn-- no process
do shell script"kill -INT " & thePID
setthePIDtomissing value-- reset for next time
endenableSleep_
Your text indicates a Cocoa application, but your code looks like AppleScript.
If you are using Objective C and Cocoa here, then see this discussion for some details of using IOKit. More direct access to the (temporary) settings.
The shell script would usually be a direct call to caffeinate, with whatever command you want to "protect" specified as an argument. That'll avoid having to pop up a dialog box, or whatever else. It'll just work. Or yes, aim the kill at the specified PID.
If you want to disable or enable this stuff somewhat more "permanently", then see the pmset command. That'll do directly what you seem to be doing here, and without messing around with caffienate.
not working, do I need to attach thePID to something in the Outlets?
No, in this case the property is just a global variable. You might try adding some log statements to your handlers to see what the results are (the log output goes to the debug console), and maybe use the Activity Monitor to see if the process shows up.
Would it be possible to find the process and kill it this way?(tried that exact code and didnt work)
tell application "System Events"
set caffeinate to exists process "caffeinate"
end tell
if caffeinate then
tell caffeinate to quit
else
display alert "Screen saver is already enabled."
end if
It looks like System Events doesn't see the process name, probably because it is running in another shell.
Try removing the options from the kill command - I don't see anything that is needed (not sure if the command is getting mixed up with the built-in), and it works without any options in my test project. Also, you should add a test to see if the process has been started, otherwise you will get multiple instances:
on disableSleep_(sender)
if thePID is missing value then -- not started yet
set thePID to (do shell script"caffeinate &> /dev/null & echo $!")
end if
end disableSleep_
on enableSleep_(sender)
if thePID is missing value then return -- no process
do shell script "kill " & thePID
set thePID to missing value -- reset for next time
end enableSleep_
Yes removing the -INT from the kill command as red_menace suggested above will enable the procedure to work correctly.
enable/disable screen saver/computer sleep?
