hs.uielement.md

docs » hs.uielement

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A generalized framework for working with OSX UI elements

Submodules

• hs.uielement.watcher

API Overview

• Functions - API calls offered directly by the extension
• focusedElement
• Methods - API calls which can only be made on an object returned by a constructor
• isApplication
• isWindow
• newWatcher
• role
• selectedText

API Documentation

Functions

focusedElement

Signature	hs.uielement.focusedElement() -> element or nil
Type	Function
Description	Gets the currently focused UI element
Parameters	None
Returns	An hs.uielement object or nil if no object could be found

Methods

isApplication

Signature	hs.uielement:isApplication() -> bool
Type	Method
Description	Returns whether the UI element represents an application.
Parameters	None
Returns	A boolean, true if the UI element is an application

isWindow

Signature	hs.uielement:isWindow() -> bool
Type	Method
Description	Returns whether the UI element represents a window.
Parameters	None
Returns	A boolean, true if the UI element is a window, otherwise false

newWatcher

Signature	hs.uielement:newWatcher(handler[, userData]) -> hs.uielement.watcher or nil
Type	Method
Description	Creates a new watcher
Parameters	A function to be called when a watched event occurs. The function will be passed the following arguments: element: The element the event occurred on. Note this is not always the element being watched. event: The name of the event that occurred. watcher: The watcher object being created. userData: The userData you included, if any. an optional userData object which will be included as the final argument to the callback function when it is called.
Returns	An hs.uielement.watcher object, or nil if an error occurred

role

Signature	hs.uielement:role() -> string
Type	Method
Description	Returns the role of the element.
Parameters	None
Returns	A string containing the role of the UI element

selectedText

Signature	hs.uielement:selectedText() -> string or nil
Type	Method
Description	Returns the selected text in the element
Parameters	None
Returns	A string containing the selected text, or nil if none could be found
Notes	Many applications (e.g. Safari, Mail, Firefox) do not implement the necessary accessibility features for this to work in their web views