MacTech Article > Migrating AppleScript Studio Apps to AppleScriptObjC (Cocoa-AppleScript)

For years, AppleScript Studio provided scripters with a framework, through Xcode and Interface Builder, for implementing Cocoa interfaces in AppleScript-based apps. When it comes to AppleScript, end users are often accustomed to faceless apps that simply run when launched and quit when finished, with minimal feedback along the way. AppleScript Studio gave developers the power to implement feature-rich and user-friendly interfaces, which allowed users to configure script behavior, displayed progress during processing, and gave scripts the look and feel of virtually any other OS X app.

In August of 2009, Apple released Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6). At the same time, AppleScript Studio was deprecated and its official replacement, AppleScriptObjC, also known as Cocoa-AppleScript, was announced. AppleScriptObjC provides all of the benefits of AppleScript Studio, but with numerous additional benefits such as the ability to integrate scripts with any Cocoa framework in OS X.

Today, in Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8), Xcode no longer supports AppleScript Studio. Xcode includes project templates for creating AppleScriptObjC apps, but all references to AppleScript Studio are long gone. For long-time AppleScript Studio developers, this raises some core questions about supporting and migrating existing apps.

[Read the full article in MacTech magazine's March 2013 issue, available in print and in the MacTech iPad Newsstand app]

 

Be Sociable, Share!