When it comes to Applescript, Apple ought to be on the ball, right? I mean, “Apple” is right there in the title of the technology. Sadly, Applescript could use some help and Apple doesn’t appear to be interested in giving it any. I’ve got an entire list of complaints and grievances written for my Applescript Series posts. Expect it next week.

So when developers go out of their way to get around Applescript, well, it’s just a bit embarrassing. I noticed today that Daniel Jalkut has written a minor application to get around keychain scripting. It reminded my of an application that I put together recently.

See, I’ve got a little faceless application called “FCSApplescriptAdditions” that I toss my own bits into. Basically, it tries to plug the wholes that I find in Applescript. Take, for instance, the difficulty of replacing occurrences of a string in another string. FCSApplescriptAdditions does it. Or you may hate using Applescript’s file writing functions? FCSApplescriptAdditions reads and writes all manner of Applescript types. I also tend to run Unix filters like Markdown or SmartyPants a lot on text so I’ve rolled them into FCSApplescriptAdditions.

FCSApplescriptAdditions didn’t pop up just to satisfy my own impatience with having to rewrite all the Applescript code in every script that I was using. I’d already figured out how to do all the above in Applescript and copy/paste worked fine. My problem was a significant error with Applescript. I could run a script that read a file once but it would break on every subsequent run. If I made a minor change and then save, everything would work once but then break every other time. I rely on many scripts so this obviously wouldn’t work. I put reading and writing stuff into a little application so that I could rely on something dependable and just kept adding.

One day, I’ll package FCSApplescriptAdditions up and toss it out for anyone to use. I just figured that the urge to work around Apple-supplied stuff was unique to my situation (or, at least, quite seldom). Since Mr. Jalkut has put his stuff out there, I’ve been moved to do the same. I can no longer be silent.

Apple, get on the ball with Applescript!