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@JesusLeon
Created May 3, 2020 11:21
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A better way to activate menu items from AppleScript
-- `menu_click`, by Jacob Rus, September 2006
--
-- Accepts a list of form: `{"Finder", "View", "Arrange By", "Date"}`
-- Execute the specified menu item. In this case, assuming the Finder
-- is the active application, arranging the frontmost folder by date.
on menu_click(mList)
local appName, topMenu, r
-- Validate our input
if mList's length < 3 then error "Menu list is not long enough"
-- Set these variables for clarity and brevity later on
set {appName, topMenu} to (items 1 through 2 of mList)
set r to (items 3 through (mList's length) of mList)
tell application appName to activate
-- This overly-long line calls the menu_recurse function with
-- two arguments: r, and a reference to the top-level menu
tell application "System Events" to my menu_click_recurse(r, ((process appName)'s ¬
(menu bar 1)'s (menu bar item topMenu)'s (menu topMenu)))
end menu_click
on menu_click_recurse(mList, parentObject)
local f, r
-- `f` = first item, `r` = rest of items
set f to item 1 of mList
if mList's length > 1 then set r to (items 2 through (mList's length) of mList)
-- either actually click the menu item, or recurse again
tell application "System Events"
if mList's length is 1 then
click parentObject's menu item f
else
my menu_click_recurse(r, (parentObject's (menu item f)'s (menu f)))
end if
end tell
end menu_click_recurse
menu_click({"Finder", "File", "New Finder Window"})
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