Brand New to Keyboard Maestro

Questions & Suggestions
1

Is there a way to trigger a sub-menu in Keyboard Maestro?

Here's the specific example I'm working on. I was hoping that TickTick would support Apple Script but it doesn't... Is this something Keyboard Maestro could help with or is it too complicated and UI dependent?

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2

I am not familiar with TickTock but I have discovered that some apps that aren't "compatible" with AppleScript really are, they just don't provide any kind of dictionary to reference from.

However, (and you may already be aware of this, if so, my apologies), there's an app called UI Browser that can read an app's elements and show how to interact with them even if that app doesn’t have an AppleScript dictionary. It has helped me to write scripts for quite a few apps that in and of themselves do not work well with AppleScript.

Maybe take a look at it and see if it can help.

3

Tested the app using UI Browser, and fortunately AppleScript is supported, this example should select the text in row #4:

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activate application "TickTick"

tell application "System Events"
   tell process "TickTick"
      -- insert GUI Scripting statements here:
      perform action "AXConfirm" of text field 1 of UI element 1 of row 5 of outline 1 of scroll area 3 of window "TickTick"
   end tell
end tell

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Edit:

Looks like you can assign tasks using the "@" shortcut:

Screen Shot 2021-09-06 at 6.27.27 PM
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4

Often you can use Type Ahead to control menus.

So Right Click on the task, (maybe Pause) then type "Assign" - does it select the Assign To menu? If so, then you are good to go, right arrow, then the same process for selecting the menu, then Return.

5

TickTick is not AppleScriptable – it has no AppleScript dictionary.

The given script uses AppleScript to drive System Events which accesses TickTick's Accessibility framework.

This is AppleScripted UI-Scripting, which is different than having an application that's natively AppleScriptable like Keyboard Maestro or BBEdit.

-Chris

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6

These tips are all great. Thank you. I think the UI Browser solution is a little over my head though. I don't any any clue what I'm looking at or how to find the elements I need.

The ability to assign with @ is actually super helpful. Thanks for spotting that. I reached out to Tick Tick Support and they didn't mention that... :frowning:

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7

Hey Jason,

Don't let that bother you.

UI Browser is a power tool and has quite a learning curve.

-Chris

8

Like Chris (@ccstone) said, UI Browser has a learning curve. But it REALLY helps to wrap your head around AppleScript. I went from knowing literally nothing a few weeks ago to being able to write a handful of scripts completely on my own just by tinkering with UI Browser and Script Debugger (which is worlds better than Apple's native Script Editor). One of it's great features is the screen reader which allows you to see the real-time info about any object that's on the screen, and then jump to that object in the browser with a built-in keyboard shortcut.

So it may be daunting, but giving it some time and effort is REALLY worth it in the long run.

2 Likes