AppleScript Support for VS Code

A comprehensive VS Code extension providing rich AppleScript language support with advanced features for macOS automation development.

✨ Features

• Rich Syntax Highlighting - Full AppleScript syntax highlighting for .scpt, .applescript, and .scptd files
• Intelligent IntelliSense - Auto-completion with 25+ built-in AppleScript keywords, control structures, and common commands
• Custom File Icons - Distinctive AppleScript file icons in the Explorer
• Script Execution - Run AppleScript files directly from the editor with Cmd+R
• Selection Execution - Execute only selected AppleScript code with Cmd+Shift+R
• Dictionary Support - Load additional application dictionaries (SDEF files) for enhanced IntelliSense
• Code Snippets - Pre-built code snippets for common AppleScript patterns
• Error Handling - Comprehensive error handling with helpful user feedback

🚀 Quick Start

Installation

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
3. Search for "AppleScript Support"
4. Click Install

Basic Usage

1. Create or open an AppleScript file (.applescript or .scpt)
2. Write your script with full syntax highlighting and IntelliSense support
3. Run the script by pressing Cmd+R or using the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P) → "Run AppleScript"
4. Run selected code by selecting text and pressing Cmd+Shift+R

Example Script

-- Simple AppleScript example
tell application "Finder"
    display dialog "Hello from AppleScript!" buttons {"OK"} default button 1
    beep 2
end tell

🎯 Available Commands

Command	Keyboard Shortcut	Description
Run AppleScript	Cmd+R	Execute the current AppleScript file
Run Selected AppleScript	Cmd+Shift+R	Execute only the selected code
Load AppleScript Dictionary	-	Load additional SDEF files for better IntelliSense

🛠️ Advanced Features

IntelliSense Support

The extension provides intelligent auto-completion for:

• Control structures: if, then, else, repeat, while, try, on error
• Common commands: tell, display dialog, display notification, log, beep, delay
• Data operations: set, get, copy, property
• Popular applications: Finder, System Events, Terminal
• Custom dictionaries: Load SDEF files for application-specific commands

Context Menus

Right-click in any AppleScript file to access:

• Run AppleScript
• Run Selected AppleScript (when text is selected)

Code Snippets

Type these prefixes and press Tab to insert common patterns:

• tell → Tell application block
• if → If statement
• ifelse → If-else statement
• repeat → Repeat loop
• try → Try-error block
• dialog → Display dialog
• shell → Shell script command
• on → Handler (function)

⚙️ Requirements

• macOS (AppleScript is macOS-specific)
• VS Code 1.91.0 or higher
• osascript command (included with macOS)

🔧 Configuration

No additional configuration required! The extension works out of the box with sensible defaults.

Loading Custom Dictionaries

To enhance IntelliSense with application-specific commands:

1. Use Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Search for "Load AppleScript Dictionary"
3. Select an SDEF file from an application bundle

📝 Language Features

• Syntax Highlighting for all AppleScript constructs
• Auto-closing pairs for parentheses, quotes, and block comments
• Smart indentation and formatting
• Comment toggling with Cmd+/
• Block comments with (* and *)

🐛 Known Issues

• Script execution requires saving untitled files first
• Large scripts may take a moment to execute
• Some application-specific commands require the target app to be installed

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our Contributing Guide for details.

Development Setup

1. Clone the repository
2. Run npm install to install dependencies
3. Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host
4. Run npm test to execute unit tests
5. Use npm run compile to build the extension
6. Create a .vsix package with npx vsce package

📋 Release Notes

1.0.0 - Major Enhancement Release

🎉 New Features:

• Enhanced IntelliSense with 25+ built-in AppleScript completions
• Improved error handling and user feedback
• Keyboard shortcuts (Cmd+R, Cmd+Shift+R)
• Context menu integration
• Better temporary file management

🔧 Improvements:

• Updated to modern VS Code APIs
• Comprehensive input validation
• Professional extension metadata
• Updated dependencies and security fixes

🛠️ Technical:

• Modern GitHub Actions workflows
• ESLint integration for code quality
• Automated security scanning
• Node.js LTS support

0.0.2 - Previous Version

• Run selected AppleScript code
• Command to load additional dictionaries

0.0.1 - Initial Release

• Basic syntax highlighting
• File icon support
• Run AppleScript command
• Preliminary dictionary-based completions

📄 License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

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Made with ❤️ for the macOS automation community