If you write AppleScripts, give Script Debugger a try

Software
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I write a lot of AppleScripts, and for many years I used the free built-in Script Editor from Apple.

I used to look at Script Debugger wistfully from time to time, and tell myself ‘One day … one day I’ll find an excuse to buy you.’ Eventually that came to pass, and let me tell you, once I started to use Script Debugger I kicked myself long and hard for having waited so long!

The difference is night and day. Everything about Script Debugger is so much better than Apple’s Script Editor, I really don’t know where to start (live inspecting of variables as a script is running? The Object Model Explorer for really understanding how to script an app?)

So if you write much in AppleScript, check out the demo. I :heart: Script Debugger, and you will too.

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I’ll second this. The Object Model Explorer alone is worth more than the purchase price.

I’ve been using Script Debugger for probably ten years. When I first got it, I had been struggling trying to figure out how to get a particular task done for hours, I think in iTunes. I just couldn’t figure it out, hours of frustrating trial and error. Then I got Script Debugger, and I was able to zero in on the solution in less than five minutes, with no trial and error.

It doesn’t hurt that I’ve met the Mark Aldritt, the author, a couple of times at WWDC, and he’s a very nice guy. But even if he wasn’t, Script Debugger is a no brainer if you want to do anything serious with AppleScript.

Oh, by the way, there is a discourse discussion forum for Script Debugger.

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Here’s a bit of Trivia for you — one of the most AppleScriptable applications on the Mac is Adobe Illustrator.

(I use Illustrator’s scriptability almost every day in my work)

Turns out, that functionality was originally a 3rd party plugin for Illustrator written by … drum-roll … Mark Alldritt, later the developer of Script Debugger. He was back stage at a MacWorld keynote, about to walk on and announce this breakthrough product. There was also an executive from Adobe there, waiting to announce another product, and they got talking, and before Mark could go on stage to announce his plug-in, Adobe had bought it from him!

http://www.automatedworkflows.com/2015/04/29/automating-adobe-illustrator-with-applescript/

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