Question

I am trying to execute an Automator workflow from a sandboxed AppKit app.

Minimal example + github repo :

   NSOpenPanel * panel = [NSOpenPanel openPanel];
   [panel setAllowsMultipleSelection:NO];
   [panel setCanChooseFiles:YES];
   [panel setCanChooseDirectories:NO];
   [panel setAllowedFileTypes:[NSArray arrayWithObject: @"com.apple.automator-workflow"]];
    NSInteger result = [panel runModal];

    if (result == NSFileHandlingPanelOKButton) {
      NSURL * workflow = [[panel URLs]objectAtIndex:0];
      NSLog(@"selected url %@", workflow);
      NSError * error = nil;
      [AMWorkflow runWorkflowAtURL:workflow withInput:[NSArray arrayWithObject:workflow] error:&error];
      if(error) {
          NSLog(@"Error while executing workflow %@", [error localizedDescription]);
      }        
    }

From my current understanding of the AMWorkflow API I assume it uses Mach IPC to execute the workflow in a separate Automator Runner process.

This is why I added the following entitlement to my app:

   <key>com.apple.security.temporary-exception.mach-lookup.global-name</key>
   <array>
     <string>com.apple.AutomatorRunner</string>
     <string>com.apple.Automator</string>
   </array>

But apparently Automator Runner tries to connect back to the calling app which fails with the following error msg:

Automator Runner(2717) deny mach-lookup  /Users/pbrc/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/AMWorkflowCaller-arjgkslqihljquelyvybmpsnljrn/Build/Products/Debug/AMWorkf

0   libsystem_kernel.dylib          0x00007fff96ce9686 mach_msg_trap + 10
1   liblaunch.dylib                 0x00007fff8db637c4
2   liblaunch.dylib                 0x00007fff8db624d9 bootstrap_look_up3 + 69
3   liblaunch.dylib                 0x00007fff8db62609 bootstrap_look_up2 + 40
4   Foundation                      0x00007fff8f4acffe -[NSMachBootstrapServer portForName:options:] + 102
5   Foundation                      0x00007fff8f4b84cb +[NSConnection connectionWithRegisteredName:host:usingNameServer:] + 30
6   Automator Runner                0x0000000100001a51 -[AMRunnerDelegate processArguments] + 487

Any ideas?

Answer 1

The simple answer is that the AMWorkflow API does not work in sandboxed applications. There is an alternative API which has been introduced recently, which works with sandboxed applications:

NSUserAutomatorTask executeWithInput:completionHandler:

Using this API you can execute automator scripts that are located in the script folder of your application:

/Users/USERNAME/Library/Application Scripts/BUNDLENAME.APPNAME

There is one significant caveat: Despite the method’s “input” argument no input will be passed through to the automator workflow on versions of Mac OS prior to 10.8.3 12D75 (this is/was a bug):

NSUserAutomatorTask * task = [[NSUserAutomatorTask alloc] initWithURL:workflow error:&error];
if(error) {
    NSLog(@"Error while creating script task %@", [error localizedDescription]);
}

[task executeWithInput: @"this will never reach your workflow" completionHandler:^(id result, NSError *error){
    if(error)
        NSLog(@"Error while executing workflow %@", [error localizedDescription]);
}];