Let’s look at how to perform an event using AppleScript. Power Manager exposes its entire range of capabilities through AppleScript, and being able to perform an event is included.

Event detail showing in the Power Manager System Preference on Mac OS X

I am going to assume you have an event you want to perform.

Take a look at your event using either the Power Manager System Preference, or with Power Manager Professional. Make sure the event has the Can Perform On Demand Behaviour set.

A Power Manager event with On Demand behaviour enabled.

To write the shortest AppleScript, you will need the unique identifier (ID) of your Power Manager event.

Perform an Event by Unique Identifier

The following AppleScript asks Power Manager to perform the event with a specific unique identifier:

tell application "/Library/Application Support/Power Manager/Agents/Power Manager Scripting.app"

	tell On Demand to perform event with id "3C6C93FC-2D4C-4514-96ED-5867A0E25B34"

end tell

An AppleScript to perform a Power Manager event by unique identifier (ID).

Using the unique identifier means the name of the event can be changed without affecting your AppleScript.

Perform an Event by Name

Having to embed an event’s unique identifier into an AppleScript is not always welcome. The odds of making a mistake in the unique identifier are fairly high. Let’s look at how to perform an event using only the event’s name:

tell application "/Library/Application Support/Power Manager/Agents/Power Manager Scripting.app"

	tell On Demand
		set myEventID to trigger ID of events whose name is "Lab Event"
		perform event with id myEventID
	end tell

end tell

An AppleScript to perform a Power Manager event by name.

This AppleScript adds an extra couple of lines. The main difference is how the AppleScript finds the event’s unique identifier.

The unique identifier is looked up by name and stored in the myEventID variable. This variable is then passed to the perform command in place of the long string of letters and numbers we previously used.

Why Unique Identifiers

Power Manager uses unique identifiers because they are unique within your schedule. Multiple events can share the same name, but never the same unique identifier.

By using using unique identifiers we can avoid the potential problem of matching multiple events when performing the event search.

Where possible prefer unique identifiers in your AppleScripts. If this is not possible, be prepared to deal with events sharing matching names – and names that can be fully internationalised.

Power Manager notification for a pending Switch to Login Window event

Turning off all notifications is not commonly desirable, but it is supported. It is possible because it allows you to replace the notifications with your own implementation.

You might like to switch off Power Manager’s notifications and instead rely on Growl notifications instead. The default detailed below makes this easy.

Before turning off all notifications, maybe you only want to affect one event. In this case, we have previously shown how to turn off notifications for a single event.

Power Manager lets you turn off notifications with a default. The default does not change how Power Manager works. Due notifications and pending notifications are still tracked. Observing processes will still be informed when a notification should be displayed or removed.

The default tells Power Manager’s own pmnotify.app not to display any notifications. The default commands below are user specific and takes effect when the user next logs in, or when pmnotify next launches.

Disable Power Manager Notifications

1. Launch Terminal.app.
2. Enter the following command:

   defaults write uk.co.dssw.powermanager notifier.notifications -bool no

3. Enter the following command:

   killall pmnotify

Enable Power Manager Notifications

1. Launch Terminal.app.
2. Enter the following command:

   defaults delete uk.co.dssw.powermanager notifier.notifications -bool yes

3. Enter the following command:

   killall pmnotify

New Year Fireworks

Even after 14 years, I continue to feel our best work is ahead of us. I look forward to sharing our continuing efforts with you in 2012.

From everyone at DssW, we hope you have a wonderful and happy 2012.

Power Manager notifications allow users to better understand when and why an event is taking place. If your schedule includes an enforced log out, then the notification becomes essential in warning the user to save any changes.

Notifications occur before timed based triggers and when an event is performed. These notifications include a count down in the menu bar, a small alert window, and – where Growl is installed – a Growl notification.

What if you do not want to display notifications? Maybe your Mac is showing a Keynote presentation or playing a full screen film. In these situations, it might be better just to perform the event with no prior notifications.

Let’s walk through how to turn off notifications for a single Power Manager event.

We are going to work with a daily shut down event. This event includes a single daily trigger, and actions to shut down the Mac.

Quieten a Power Manager Trigger

1. Launch System Preferences and select Power Manager.
   

   Launch Power Manager from the System Preferences in Mac OS X

2. Open the event to edit in the event editor; hold down the Option key and double-click on the event.
   

   Open the event in the Power Manager event editor

3. Edit the event’s trigger; select the Trigger’s Action cog > Edit pop-up menu item.
   

   Edit the Trigger with the Action cog menu

4. Include the trigger’s optional Quiet field; select the Optional > Quiet pop-up menu item.
   

   Add the optional Quiet field to the Trigger

5. Enable the Quiet checkbox to suppress notifications.
   

   Enable the newly added Quiet option to suppress notifications

6. Click Apply to save the changes to the modified trigger.
7. Click Save to save the changes to the event.

With the above steps completed, the event’s trigger will no longer show pending notifications. Note that a final warning will still be shown as the shut down is performed; this final warning can not be disabled.

DssW Sleep Monitor Lite for Mac OS X

Sleep Monitor Lite is the younger brother to our established Sleep Monitor product.

Sleep Monitor Lite requires Mac OS X 10.6 or later, and a desktop or portable Mac.

Sleep Monitor Lite is available only on the Mac App Store.

Sleep via AppleScript

You can ask the application Finder to put the Mac to sleep on your behalf. The following snippet works on Mac OS X 10.4 through to Mac OS X 10.7:

tell the application "Finder" to sleep

An AppleScript to make your Mac sleep

The Mac will sleep immediately when this AppleScript is run.

Sleep via Automator

Automator does not include a built-in action for making your Mac sleep. We are going to create one using the Run AppleScript action.

1. Create a new workflow in Automator.
   

   Create a new workflow in Automator

2. Find and add the Run AppleScript action.
3. Copy and paste the following AppleScript into the action:

   tell the application "Finder" to sleep

   

   Add an AppleScript action to make your Mac sleep

4. Save your workflow.

When this Automator workflow is run, your Mac will sleep immediately.

Sleep via the Command Line

The easiest way to make your Mac sleep using the command line is with the following:

osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to sleep'

Terminal command to make your Mac sleep

When issued, this command will immediately put your Mac to sleep.

The Common Theme

You may have noticed all the methods above use a little bit of AppleScript. AppleScript lets you talk to savvy applications in a near English dialect. Different applications can perform different tasks for you, and with AppleScript you can chain these tasks together in powerful ways.

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For a limited time only, Sleep Monitor 3 is available at a special price of just 10.99 USD or 7.99 EUR. This offer is only open until 31st December 2011.

A free 30 day demonstration of Sleep Monitor is now available.

DssW Activity Audit with iCal on Mac OS X 10.7

Activity Audit v1.1.1 is a free upgrade for existing customers.

A 14 day demonstration is available at Activity Audit.

Not all applications support Growl. Those that do offer an impressive degree of control over how they can notify you.

Power Manager includes Growl support.

Power Manager comes with Growl support built-in. If you have Growl installed, Power Manager will make use of it. Growl notifications will automatically appear when an event is pending and when an event starts performing.

Let’s use Growl to build upon the recipe for displaying a message after a long running task on your Mac.

We want Growl to notify us when an event has finished. These notifications are not built-in to Power Manager, so we need to add them. To do this we are going to use Growl’s AppleScript support and Power Manager’s ability to run AppleScripts as part of an event.

Growl a Notification Using AppleScript

1. Launch System Preferences and select Power Manager.
   

   Open Power Manager.

2. Open the event to edit in the event editor; hold down the Option and double-click on your event.
   

   Open the Power Manager event in the event editor.

3. Add a new action; select Add an action > Run Script > AppleScript.
   

   Add a new Run Script action to the Power Manager event.

4. Edit the new action; select the Action’s Action cog > Edit.
   

   Edit the new Power Manager Run Script action.

5. Copy and paste the following AppleScript into the Script field:

   #!/usr/bin/osascript
   
   set myTitle to "Event Finished"
   set myDescription to "The event has finished running."
   
   tell application "System Events"
   	set isRunning to (count of (every process whose bundle identifier is "com.Growl.GrowlHelperApp")) > 0
   end tell
   
   if isRunning then
   	tell application id "com.Growl.GrowlHelperApp"
   		set the allNotificationsList to {"My Notification"}
   		set the enabledNotificationsList to {"My Notification"}
   
   		register as application ¬
   			"Growl AppleScript Sample" all notifications allNotificationsList ¬
   			default notifications enabledNotificationsList ¬
   			icon of application "Script Editor"
   
   		--  Send a Notification...
   		notify with name ¬
   			"My Notification" title ¬
   			myTitle description ¬
   			myDescription application name "Growl AppleScript Sample"
   	end tell
   end if

   You can customise this AppleScript to change the title (myTitle) and description (myDescription). Both these values can be found near the top of the script.

   Take a look at Growl’s AppleScript page for details on further customisations and tweaks.

   

   Copy and paste in the AppleScript into the Script field.

6. Click Apply to save the changes to the new action.
7. Click Save to save the changes to the event.

Apply and Save the changes to the Power Manager event.

Your event is now ready to Growl after the all the actions have finished. Take the time to test your new event. It is important to always test changes as you make them.

Darth’s video review is embedded below and available at YouTube, Darth Reviews: Power Manager Mac App.

Download your free 30 day demonstration of Power Manager and try it on your Mac.