AppleScript used in my cocoa mac app, stopped working in osx 10.14

Question

I have used AppleScript to get selected text from third party app. Which is working fine in osx 10.13 but stopped working in osx 10.14.

From searching, got one suggestion to add "NSAppleEventsUsageDescription" in info.plist, but that is also not working for me.

let latestApp = "Safari"

        //Write script to activate the app and get the selected text to our app
        let script = """
        tell application \"\(latestApp)\"
        activate
        end tell
        tell application \"System Events\"
        tell process \"\(latestApp)\"
        keystroke \"c\" using {command down}
        delay 0.1
        set myData to (the clipboard) as text
        return myData
        end tell
        end tell
        """
        let scriptObject = NSAppleScript.init(source: script)
        let errorDict: AutoreleasingUnsafeMutablePointer<NSDictionary?>? = nil
        var returnDescription:NSAppleEventDescriptor? = nil
        returnDescription = scriptObject?.executeAndReturnError(errorDict)
        if( returnDescription != nil ){
            if( kAENullEvent != returnDescription?.descriptorType ){ //successful execution
                if( cAEList == returnDescription?.descriptorType ){
                    print("return  value")
                }else{
                    print("Returned string : \(String(describing: returnDescription?.stringValue))")
                    let selectedStr = returnDescription?.stringValue!
                    if( (selectedStr?.count)! > 0 ){
                        print("selectedStr is :\(String(describing: selectedStr))")
                    }
                }
            }

        }else{
            print("Error is : \(String(describing: errorDict))")

        }

It works perfectly in os 10.12 & 10.13 & ScriptEditor also.

Answer 1

Since you are telling "Safari" to activate, having "System Events" to tell process "Safari"... Is not necessary. Simply using "System Events" to keystroke "c" using {command down} accomplishes the same thing. It's not a huge deal but eliminating unnecessary lines of code here and there, makes navigating through code easier and cleaner. In addition, without adding an additional delay 0.3 before the keystroke "c" using {command down} command, returned an empty clipboard on my system 50% of the time.

This AppleScript code works for me using the latest version of macOS Mojave.

tell application "Safari" to activate
delay 0.2 -- Adjust As Needed
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "c" using {command down}
set myData to (the clipboard) as text

Since clipboard commands are handled by Standard Additions and not System Events (as mentioned by @user3439894 in his comment), removing set myData to (the clipboard) as text from the System Events tell block, allowed me to successfully remove the delay 0.1 command.

OR OPTION 2

Actually, on second thought, if you are looking to only use this in Safari, this following one line of AppleScript code will do what you need.

You must enable the Allow JavaScript from Apple Events option in Safari's Develop menu to use do JavaScript.

tell application "Safari" to set myData to (do JavaScript "''+document.getSelection()" in document 1)

I have only addressed the AppleScript part because @matt thoroughly covered every other issue in his post.

Answer 2

You say "it worked perfectly" in previous systems. I find that difficult to believe, since almost everything about your code is wrong. I corrected your code and got your script to work, with very little difficulty.

I'll try to describe what I did.

To prepare the ground, I ran a version of your script in Script Editor (removing the backslashes and string interpolation of course):

tell application "Safari"
    activate
end tell
tell application "System Events"
    tell process "Safari.app"
        keystroke "c" using {command down}
        delay 0.1
        set myData to (the clipboard) as text
        return myData
    end tell
end tell

The script didn't run at first, but a dialog sent me to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Accessibility, where I checked Script Editor and System Events.

Now I was ready to create the app. My app is called AnotherAppleScriptExample. In its entitlements, sandboxing is NO.

In its Info.plist is this entry:

My version of your code (fixing the various Swift mistakes) is this:

        let app = "Safari.app"
        let script = """
        tell application "\(app)"
            activate
        end tell
        tell application "System Events"
            tell process "\(app)"
                keystroke "c" using {command down}
                delay 0.1
                set myData to (the clipboard) as text
                return myData
            end tell
        end tell
        """
        if let scriptObject = NSAppleScript(source: script) {
            var error: NSDictionary? = nil
            let result = scriptObject.executeAndReturnError(&error)
            if( kAENullEvent != result.descriptorType ){
                print(result.stringValue as Any)
            }
        }

I ran the app. I got two dialogs. First this:

I clicked OK. Then this:

I clicked Open System Preferences. In System Preferences, I checked my app (now both System Events and my app are checked):

Now the ground is fully prepared. I quit the app and ran it again. The script worked correctly, printing the selection in Safari.