The LinkedResources Applescript Factory

Web-based Command "Line" Interface for MacOS

Unix was developed for machines; thus was created the command line interface.

The Mac was developed for people; thus was created the Graphical User Interface (GUI).

The Mac GUI is the best (at least until MacOS X arrives) for "face time" with a computer. But it does not easily lend itself to remote management of other Macs. There are various methods to get beyond this limitation (see below). Here's my attempt at it. If you like it, send me a buck or two.

Here's what you need:

My 2 files (commandline.html & commandLine.acgi) (so you won't have to copy and paste from this page)
A remote Mac running MacOS 8.5.1 or newer with a full time internet connection running any standard web server (including Apple's Personal Web Sharing - PWS) capable of CGI support.
ACME Parse Args - a scripting addition - on that Mac
(part of the ACME Script Widgets download)
Tanaka's osax 2.01, another osax (not included in my download file; you must get it yourself, but it's free)
The Applescript CGI provided below (it's in the download above). Copy and paste into Script Editor, compile, save as "Stay Open" and "Never Show Startup Screen" with the name "commandLine.acgi" and put it on the remote server.
-- change this password!! property realpassword : "youwish" property crlf : (ASCII character 13) & (ASCII character 10) property http_10_header : "HTTP/1.0 200 OK" & crlf & "Server: PWS" & crlf & "MIME-Version: 1.0" & crlf & "Content-type: text/html" & crlf & crlf property http_10_301_header : "HTTP/1.0 301 Moved Permanently" & crlf & "Server: PWS" & crlf & "MIME-Version: 1.0" & crlf & "Location:" property br : " " property br2 : " " property hrr : "<hr>" & return property brr : " " & return property br2r : " " & return property bbrr : " " & return property bbr2r : " " & return property rtn : return property rtn2 : return & return -- the following construction prevents email readers from parsing the html (I hope) property hht : "<ht" & "ml><he" & "ad><ti" & "tle>" property thr : "</ti" & "tle></he" & "ad>" & rtn property thb : "</ti" & "tle></he" & "ad>" & rtn & "<bo" & "dy>" & rtn property bhr : "</bo" & "dy></ht" & "ml>" & return property lastused : 0 property noResultErrMsg : "No result was returned from some part of this expression." on idle set lastused to lastused + 1 if lastused is greater than 2 then set lastused to 0 tell me to quit end if return 10 end idle property pageTitle : "" (*on handle CGI request URL_path Ā searching for searching_for Ā with posted data posted_data Ā of content type content_type Ā using access method access_method Ā from address client_address Ā from user username Ā using password password Ā with user info user_info Ā from server server_name Ā via port server_port Ā executing by script_name Ā referred by referred_by Ā from browser browser_name Ā using action action_used Ā of action type action_type Ā from client IP address client_IP_address Ā with full request full_request Ā with connection ID connection_ID*) on handle CGI request with posted data posted_data try set posted_dataX to my removeString("%0A", posted_data) set postedData to ACME parse args posted_dataX set submittedPassword to ACME lookup field "password" in postedData default value "Tough Luck" case sensitive if submittedPassword is not equal to realpassword then return my badpass() set theApplescriptCode to ACME lookup field "asCode" in postedData default value "set x to 0" try set commandLineEquiv to run script theApplescriptCode set resultOfScript to "The script ran successfully." on error errmsg try if errmsg is equal to noResultErrMsg then set resultOfScript to "The script ran successfully" else set resultOfScript to (errmsg & br2r & "The submitted script was <pre>" & theApplescriptCode & "</pre>" & br2r) as string end if on error errmsg2 set resultOfScript to errmsg2 as string end try end try set newhtml to http_10_header & hht & resultOfScript & thb & resultOfScript & bhr as string return newhtml on error set newhtml to http_10_header & "<html><head><title>An Error Ocurred</title></head><body><h1>AnError Has Occurred</h1>" set newhtml to newhtml & "Press your browser's [Back] button and try again.</body></html" return newhtml end try end handle CGI request on removeString(outString, theString) set safeString to theString try if theString is equal to outString then return "" set oslen to length of outString set osos to offset of outString in theString repeat while osos is equal to 1 set theString to text (oslen + 1) thru -1 of theString if theString is equal to outString then return "" set osos to offset of outString in theString end repeat repeat while (osos is greater than 1) and (osos is less than or equal to ((length of theString) - oslen)) set theString to (text 1 thru (osos - 1) of theString) & (text (osos + oslen) thru -1 of theString) as string set osos to offset of outString in theString end repeat repeat while (osos - 1) is equal to ((length of theString) - oslen) set theString to (text 1 thru (osos - 1) of theString) as string set osos to offset of outString in theString end repeat return theString on error return safeString end try end removeString on badpass() set newhtml to (http_10_header & "<html><head><title>Bad Password</title></head><body>Bad Password. Go away.</body></html>") as string return newhtml end badpass

A password - change the property at the start of the Applescript to reflect this.

DO NOT DISABLE THE PASSWORD PROTECTION!!
Without the password protection, your Mac is wide open for assault. 'Nuff sed.

The HTML file provided here (and in the download). Save it with the name "commandline.html" in the same folder as "commandLine.acgi".

A client Mac with an Internet connection and a web browser.

To use this tool

Put my 2 files in the same folder where your server can serve them.
Put the 2 Scripting Additions in the scripting additions folder (in the System Folder, NOT the extensions folder) of the remote Mac.
Restart the remote Mac (is this needed? I'm not sure)
Access the web page "commandline.html" from your browser.
Paste a (short) Applescript into the top text area.
Enter your password
Click the button.

Obviously, you will want to carefully craft your script. Your script will be automatically wrapped in a try block and the CGI will report back whether it ran succesfully or if not, the error message.

I have used this successfully to move, duplicate, delete, and rename files, launch applications, etc. There really is no reason you can't run any script remotely which could be run locally, with the exception that you can't use display dialog or anything requiring face to face user interaction.

The LinkedResources Applescript Factory

Web-based Command "Line" Interface for MacOS

To use this tool

Other remote administration tools for the Mac