ventura applescript and eppc

Question

Level 1

18 points

ventura applescript and eppc

For a while (years?) I've been using an applescript of the form:

use framework "AppKit"
use framework "Foundation"
use scripting additions

on open location this_URL
	tell application "Firefox" of machine "eppc://wagle:fubar@tuple.local" to get URL this_URL
end open location

to forward urls from each of my mac minis to my macbook pro. It may have stopped working (I appear to get access denied) in later versions of Monterey, but it very definitely stopped working in Ventura .0 and .1.

Websearch for fixes or alternatives has gotten me nowhere. Apple support for applescript issues sends me here.

I either would like to get eppc to work again, or a secure way to issue remote apple events (or the like) on the LAN instead of exposing my computer to the entire planet. Does anyone have anything?

Thanks!

-- Perry

MacBook Pro 15″, 13.0

Posted on Nov 21, 2022 05:42 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Nov 21, 2022 06:03 PM in response to pwagle

IANA doesn’t have a URL scheme eppc registered, and I’m unclear what forwarding a URL might do, so I’m not at all sure what this is even supposed to do.

Could you explain a little about what you’re trying to do; what was working and is not now working?

Reply

Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

122,118 points

Nov 22, 2022 11:14 AM in response to pwagle

Long ago does not guarantee it is currently set in Ventura. See Settings > General > Remote Apple Events > On and its associated i⃝ to configure specific user access. Verify the user and password in your eppc:// invocation remain correct too.

Also confirm that the AppleScript dictionary for the version of Firefox on that remote machine still accepts your AppleScript syntax request.

Reply

Answer 3

pwagle Author

Level 1

18 points

Nov 26, 2022 06:51 PM in response to VikingOSX

My "long ago" remark was intended to indicate that it had been working, without change, for some time.

Of course, I enabled remote apple events! And the username and password are correct, etc, etc.

It not clear to me that the applescript dictionary for firefox is involved here. Other apps have same problem.

Occasionally, I will hit on a novel "tell application" invocation that will, when built from the script editor, actually elicit the "enter username and password" popup dialog, but that leads nowhere, and doesn't recur if repeated. It seems to store that info somewhere, but I can't find it. If I export the script as a signed app, that app, if run by Choosy.app (as before) actually causes two overlapping popups to appear for maybe .1 seconds, too fast to see details on the source system, but then nothing continues to occur on the destination system.

One leading, just possibly relevant, mystery is "where the heck is the script editor storing the username/password results for that popup".

I suppose that the primary mystery is "how to see those two overlapping popups when an url is clicked somewhere to trigger choosy to invoke my forwarding applescript app to do the remote apple event?".

Barring that, is there an alternative to eppc?

Thanks!

Reply

Answer 4

dacpdx

Level 1

13 points

Jan 10, 2023 11:08 AM in response to pwagle

Yeah, I think it still doesn't work. I believe it is a bug and have filed a bug report with Apple. The problem can be demonstrated with the following minimal script (even using the same computer, but also fails between computers on local network):

save this as a stay-open Applet named "remoteTest" and run it:

on reportReady()
  return true
end

in script editor, try the following:

tell application "remoteTest"
   reportReady()
end

that works-- returns true

then try:

tell application "remoteTest" of machine "eppc://localhost"
   reportReady()
end

that fails-- in a manner as you described. And also fails if tried from another computer, replacing localhost with the IP address or Bonjour name or DNS name

Reply

Answer 5

dacpdx

Level 1

13 points

Jan 27, 2023 10:49 AM in response to pwagle

I have only tested with my simple test as shown in prior post (on reportReady() return true). It works both on the local machine (using eppc://localhost) and from another machine on local network that happens to be running Catalina 10.15.7, using eppc://<dns name> (we have our own local DNS for the local network).

Prior to update both of these modes failed with "Remote Access Isn't Allowed". I did turn off and back on remote apple events, in sharing settings, prior to testing it-- don't know if that was necessary or not.

If it is still not working, you might try (in terminal):