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April 09, 2006

How to import scripts

I was asked this question, and unfortunately I cannot find it in the iListen user manual (1.6 or the addendum) or on the web site knowledgebase. So, I will illustrate it here - fortunately it is not that difficult.

You must have iListen running. Switch to it - the running iListen application.

Under the File menu, select the first item "Commands..." (as of 1.6.8 there is a voice commands for this: Show Commands Window)

ilisten menu

The commands window should appear:

Ilisten commands window

Now, are you going to be importing a script for a particular application, or for global/everywhere use? If it is for global use then you are in the right place (see the drop down menu above that says "Type: Global".) If you are going to be importing a script for a particular application, you need to click on the drop down menu above "Type:" and select the only other entry, "Application Specific."

Click the "Import..." button at the bottom and select the text file with the script in it. If this is a global script, iListen will then import the scripts into a new pack with a new name, otherwise it will create a script pack with the same name as the application.

Hopefully it will import them with out any problems. Importing and exporting can be a little touchy. If iListen has problems importing the Applescript for particular commands, it will give you a cryptic (unless you understand Applescript and iListen scripting) error message and you must hit the okay button to continue importing. For each particular command that it had problems with, the type column will show "Applescript (uncompiled)". This means that iListen could not compile, or translate the Applescript text into working code. If you open that particular command (double click on it or press the "Edit..." button) sometimes you might see a missed return or a whole bunch of garbled characters. Fix it if you can, otherwise, you can always disable the command using the check box next to the name in the command listing window or in the command editing window itself.

March 03, 2006

Welcome iListen Users

I have thought of doing this a few times, but recent requests on the MacSpeech support mailing list spurred me into action. Since it was easiest to set up a blog, I figured we could all use this wait to trade home made script packs and discuss them.

I have started off by putting up my package for Thunderbird, described in the next post.

If you have script packages that you would like to distribute to the wider community, please e-mail them to me (with any relevant information and disclaimers) and I will make them available here.

If you have any useful Applescript information as relates to iListen script writing, send it on to me and I will post it here also. I will try and put up a few general tips that I have learned over the years.

This is not meant to be a general support web site, so please do not send me or post to the comments questions about problems you are having running or using iListen. Only questions about the particular script packages or scripts that are found here, please.

That said, I hope this is helpful to every one!