Updating the names of Macro Groups in a kmmacros plist file?

I’m still struggling with AppleScript syntax (so what else is new?).

I know how to read the names of all the Macro Groups in a kmmacros plist file. I do this by loading the plist into memory (at least, I assume that’s what’s happening) like this:

tell application "System Events"
	set _plist to (value of property list file plistFileName)
	set _groupNames to {}
	repeat with _item in _plist
		set end of _groupNames to |name| of _item
	end repeat
	return _groupNames
end tell

I could even change the names of the Macro Groups by "set"ting them. But since the file is only in memory, it doesn’t actually update the file on disk (at least, I assume that’s what’s happening).

I’ve found lots of examples of how to update values in a plist file, but none of them work with a plist file with a top-level array. That’s the syntax I can’t figure out.

Hey Dan,

Have a look at this:

set pListFilePathPosix to "~/Documents/Keyboard Maestro Stuff/Exported Macros/test_macro.kmmacros"

tell application "System Events"
   # You've now created an AppleScript Record Object.
   set _plist to value of property list file pListFilePathPosix
end tell

# So we're now working with a record instead of a plist.
set _plist to item 1 of _plist
set theMacros to Macros of _plist
set theTopLevelActions to |Actions| of item 1 of theMacros

-Chris

I don’t see how this is different from what I do. Unless you’re telling me that the parens around (value of property list file …) return a different result than if I didn’t have them.

Sure, you use a direct reference to “item 1 of _plist” instead of iterating it, but the result is no different, since there’s only one entry in the top-level array.

And unless up has suddenly become down, changing a value in your _plist, or theMacros, or anything else, will not get persisted back to disk.

So I’ll bite - how is this different?

Once you’ve modified the object in memory (record/dictionary of keyValues, or array of such records/dictionaries), you can write that transformed object back out to a plist, e.g. with something like writePlist() here: Reading and writing plists from Execute Script actions

(where ‘plist’ means a kmMacros file in this case, of course)

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Hey Dan,

The major point is to show that you you're not working with a plist file or a plist item but an AppleScript Record.

Writing a value to a Property List file on-disk is easy:

set plistFilePosix to "~/Documents/Keyboard Maestro Stuff/Exported Macros/Focussed Finder Window Trigger.kmmacros"

tell application "System Events"
   tell property list file plistFilePosix
      tell property list item 1
         tell property list item "Name"
            
            properties
            
            set its value to "NEW NAME" --> Set a break point and examine properties before and after.
            
            properties
            
         end tell
      end tell
   end tell
end tell

But I don't know how to do that in memory of if it's even possible.

-Chris

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