On May 26, 2009, at 5:45 PM, Bill Cheeseman wrote:

> The technology for doing this is called "GUI Scripting," and it  
> works by sending AppleScript commands to the System Events  
> application. That application implements a bunch of AppleScript  
> commands that know how to control the user interface elements in  
> running processes. One of those commands is called 'click.' One of  
> the parameters of the 'click' command is 'at.' According to the  
> System Events application's AppleScript terminology dictionary, when  
> you use the AppleScript GUI Scripting command 'click at', you should  
> use "the { x, y } location at which to click, in global  
> coordinates." This means you should use the screen coordinates,  
> where the origin {0, 0} is at the bottom left corner of your main  
> screen.
>
Top left.  Unlike almost everything else in the world.

> The only way to know where a button is located is to ask the  
> application that owns the button where it is right now. Application  
> windows can be moved around, and only the application knows where a  
> button in one of its windows is currently located. You can find this  
> out with GUI Scripting by asking the System Events application to  
> tell you where the target application's window is currently located,  
> and where in that window the button is located. Then you can convert  
> that location to the global coordinates of the button and use the  
> 'click at' command.

There are a very few applications where gui scripting cannot hit the  
button.  Adobe is infamous for this.

> If you don't already know anything about GUI Scripting, you didn't  
> understand what I just wrote, so you have to do some studying. One  
> way to start is to download the free 30-day trial version of my  
> application "PreFab UI Browser." Its help files contain a lot of  
> information about GUI Scripting, and it helps you compose  
> AppleScript commands directed to the System Events application.

An excellent product.

-Mark
Surprised at the increase in list volume.  It's almost like a new  
version of Frontier was released.