How Do I Get KM Variable in Shell Script from other Apps?

Questions & Suggestions
,
1

###? How Do I Get KM Variable in Shell Script from other Apps?

I need to get the value of a KM variable using shell scripts from other apps.

This works in KM:

but NOT in any other app.

I understand why this does not work in apps like Terminal (see below).
But is there a way to make the KM environment available to other apps, so I can get the KM variable?

BTW, I have searched extensively in the KM wiki, forum, and general google, but could not find an answer to this question.

2

I don't know if there is a better way, but here is one way that works, at least in Terminal.app:

osascript -e 'tell application "Keyboard Maestro Engine" to 
get value of variable "File_Path"'

Note: For readability, I broke command into two lines.

I added this to the KM Wiki, but this Wiki article needs a lot of work:
Using Shell Scripts with Keyboard Maestro

1 Like
3

Hey JM,

That's pretty much it I do believe.

For readability I prefer to write AppleScripts embedded in shell scripts like this:

read -r -d '' theAppleScript <<'EOF'
   tell application "Keyboard Maestro Engine"
      tell variable "pathStr"
         if it exists then
            return its value
         else
            return "Error → Keyboard Maestro variable “pathStr” does not exist!"
         end if
      end tell
   end tell
EOF

osascript -e "$theAppleScript";

You don't have to fight with the shell's quoting conventions either.

-Chris

2 Likes
4

Thanks, Chris. I really like your code. I'll add it to the wiki.

One question: Can you add a statement at the top to set the KM variable name, so that the literal name does not have to be repeated below?

5

Hey JM,

You mean something like this?

read -r -d '' theAppleScript <<'EOF'
   tell application "Keyboard Maestro Engine"

      set kmVariableName to "pathStr"

      tell variable kmVariableName
         if it exists then
            return its value
         else
            return "Error → Keyboard Maestro variable “" & kmVariableName & "” does not exist!"
         end if
      end tell
   end tell
EOF

myAppleScriptOutput=$(osascript -e "$theAppleScript");

echo "$myAppleScriptOutput";

* Note that I've also made the AppleScript output go to a shell variable.

-Chris

6

Duh. I must have been asleep when I asked that question.
I was so focused on setting a shell variable that I overlooked the obvious of setting an AppleScript variable.