Question

Ok here is part of the code that is causing the error:

    char charlieReturn[10000];
charlieReturn[10000] = system("osascript /applications/jarvis/scripts/getTextCharlieResponce.scpt");


 self.charlieOutput.stringValue = charlieReturn;

The getTextCharlieResponce.scpt returns something like this: “Hi my name is charlie” and maybe sometimes it will be longer than that. The script returns it plain text. I need help FAST!

Thanks in advance! 😀

Elijah

Answer 1

Unfortunately there are many problems in your code.

1. The C function system does not return the standard output of the script as char*.

2. Even with a function which returns char*, you can’t assign it to a array of char as you did:

    char* str="aeiou";
    char foo[100];
    foo[100]=str;   /* doesn't work */
    foo=str;   /* doesn't work either */
   

3. Cocoa’s string class, NSString*, is not a C string char*, although you can easily convert between the two:

    NSString* str=[NSString stringWithUTF8String:"aeiou"];
   

If you want a string out of a call to an Apple script, you need to do the following:

1. Prepare an NSAppleScript:

   NSDictionary* errorDict;
   NSAppleScript* script=[[NSAppleScript alloc] 
                           initWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:@"path/to/script" ]
                                           error:&errorDict];
   

2. Execute and get a reply:

   NSAppleEventDescriptor* desc=[script executeAndReturnError:&errorDict];
   NSString* result=[desc stringValue];
   

3. Release the script:

   [script release];
   

Learn C & Objective-C and have fun!