PreFab UI Browser enhances Apple’s GUI Scripting
North Andover, MA — January 31, 2003 — PreFab Software, Inc. is pleased
to announce UI Browser, a utility to help scripters write user interface
scripts using Apple’s new “GUI Scripting” technology for AppleScript in Mac
OS X version 10.2.3 and higher. PreFab has unrivaled experience in
scripting the GUI, shipping PreFab Player since 1994. For this Mac OS X
product, PreFab joined forces with well-known AppleScript and Cocoa guru
Bill Cheeseman to bring you a utility that makes GUI Scripting easy.
A free trial of UI Browser 1.0 is available now at PreFab.com. Normally
priced at $39.95, PreFab is offering an introductory price of $24.95
through April 19, 2003. Download the free 30-day trial version at
(http://www.prefab.com/uibrowser/).
GUI Scripting is a powerful and exciting new Apple technology enabling
scripters to automate most non-Classic Mac applications by manipulating
their menus, buttons, and other user interface elements. While currently
available only in a beta version, the final version of Apple’s GUI
Scripting will be incorporated into a future release of Mac OS X. There, it
will bring to all users of Mac OS X the same universal application control
that PreFab Player brought to Mac OS 7, 8, and 9.
While GUI Scripting is powerful, many early adopters find that it is
difficult to locate and use the individual user interface elements that a
GUI script must target in order to control an application. In addition,
many applications use user interface elements that are located in a
nonstandard containment hierarchy. Although Apple’s example scripts
illustrate how to use GUI Scripting itself to hunt down and test usable
targets, this technique is cumbersome, requiring custom scripts to explore
every potential target.
PreFab UI Browser makes GUI Scripting easy! Using a familiar browser
interface similar to the Finder’s column view, UI Browser lets you navigate
up, down, and sideways in the user interface tree of any and all Mac OS X
applications that are accessible to GUI Scripting. You can see at a glance
what user interface elements are available in an application and where they
are situated in the UI element tree, no matter how deeply nested. You can
also set and reset any properties that are modifiable, perform actions,
send keystrokes, and observe notifications, right from UI Browser — no
scripting required!
UI Browser is based on the same underlying accessibility technology that
powers GUI Scripting itself. It makes an ideal tool for exploring the
coverage and functionality of GUI Scripting.