[Sophie]

Apologies for re-post, I could not edit the title of the earlier post.

I am using Applescript to set the properties of some Omnigraffle shapes. I am using Python/appscript, but would appreciate any pointers in plain Applescript as well (or anything else).

When I get the properties of a shape, Omnigraffle returns a dictionary of all key-value pairs (color, text, stroke, locked, etc.). When I create a new shape I can similarly send in a bunch of properties as a dictionary e.g. (in Python/appscript):

doc.make(new=k.label,
at=line.labels.end,
with_properties={k.text: 'foo', k.draws_stroke = True})

Is there a way to update a bunch of properties of an existing shape with a single call, passing in a dict of properties? If so, any restrictions on which properties can be set this way?

e.g. When I tried
shape.properties.set({k.locked: True}) -- it worked.

But when I tried:
shape.properties.set({k.text: 'foo'}) -- it did nothing.

Thanks

You can assign a sub-dictionary of properties:

tell application id "OGfl"
	set lstSeln to selection of front window
	set oShape to item 1 of lstSeln
	tell canvas of front window
		--tell oShape to set {thickness, draws shadow} to {"Adjusted", 3, false}
		set properties of oShape to {thickness:4, draws shadow:true}
		set text of oShape to "Sample"
		properties of oShape
	end tell
end tell

text however, does seem to be a recalcitrant property, and there are generally some screen refresh issues with setting text formatting through applescript - there seems to be a lag between the model seen by applescript and the image seen by the user. A scripted zoom can sometimes show an updated image, but reverting to the old zoom will still show the pre-script image.

--

or, within the scope of the object, assign a list of values to a list of keys.

tell application id "OGfl"
	set lstSeln to selection of front window
	set oShape to item 1 of lstSeln
	tell canvas of front window
		tell oShape to set {thickness, draws shadow} to {3, false}
		--set properties of oShape to {thickness:4, draws shadow:true}
		--set text of oShape to "Sample"
		--properties of oShape
	end tell
end tell

--

[Sophie]

Thanks, Rob!

Separately, is there actually a way to explicitly disable & re-enable screen refreshes through a script?

Originally Posted by Sophie

is there actually a way to explicitly disable & re-enable screen refreshes through a script?

All I can immediately think of is toggling the visible property of the layer(s) which you are writing to.

[Sophie]

Ah, that will work, thanks!