Launchd PLIST Not Running

Question

Hi Everyone:

I am attempting to run an Applescript inside a launchd plist, but for some reason it just isn't working. It could be that it is my computer, but I am thinking that there may be something else wrong with it. If someone could take a look and comment on this post, I would really appreciate it!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"&gt;
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.pf.Testing</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/bin/osascript</string>
<string>-e</string>
<string>'tell application "Finder"' -e  'set didQuit to (path to home folder as string) &amp; ".myApp"' -e 'if (exists file didQuit) then' -e 'tell application "TestApp"' -e 'activate' -e 'end tell' -e 'end if' -e 'end tell'</string>
</array>
<key>StartInterval</key>
<integer>20</integer>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Thanks for any help!

LATEST PLIST:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd"&gt;
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.pf.Testing</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/usr/bin/osascript</string>
<string>-e</string>
<string>'tell application "Finder"'</string>
<string>-e</string>
<string>'set didQuit to (path to home folder as string) &amp; ".myApp"'</string>
<string>-e</string>
<string>'if (exists file didQuit) then'</string>
<string>-e</string>
<string>'tell application "TestApp"'</string>
<string>-e</string>
<string>'activate'</string>
<string>-e</string>
<string>'end tell'</string>
<string>-e</string>
<string>'end if'</string>
<string>-e</string>
<string>'end tell'</string>
</array>
<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
<string>/Users/pf/Desktop/Problem.log</string>
<key>StartInterval</key>
<integer>20</integer>
<key>RunAtLoad</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</plist>

Answer 1

A likely problem is that launchd is not executing your AppleScript in the logged-in user's GUI context, and therefore AppleScript can't talk to the Finder.

Make sure the plist is installed as a LaunchAgent, and not a LaunchDaemon (the plist should be located in /Library/LauchAgents or ~/Library/LaunchAgents).

Try adding the following to the plist, to make the script run in the GUI context:

<key>LimitLoadToSessionType</key>
<string>Aqua</string>

Note that this will only work reliably on 10.5 and above; I was not able to get per-user LaunchAgents working correctly on 10.4.

Answer 2

I think you need to break your final argument up into separate arguments - each argument (the -e and the individual lines of AppleScript) should be in a separate <string /> element. Either that, or as Nick says just pass in a .applescript file with the whole script in.

The problem is that your command gets interpreted as:

/usr/bin/osascript -e '\'tell application "Finder"\' -e  \'set didQuit to (path to home folder as string) & ".myApp"\' -e \'if (exists file didQuit) then\' -e \'tell application "TestApp"\' -e \'activate\' -e \'end tell\' -e \'end if\' -e \'end tell\''

which isn't what you meant.