AppleScript Support

You can use AppleScript to control EvoCam, and to customize EvoCam's behavior.

Triggering a refresh from a script or another application
Saving the current image to a file
Changing text in a caption item
Writing scripts that are executed by EvoCam

Triggering a refresh from another application

You can cause EvoCam to capture the current image using the 'capture now' command. This command causes an image refresh, and resets the refresh timer when EvoCam is in periodic refresh mode.

tell application "EvoCam"
    capture now
end tell

When you have multiple webcam windows, you must specify the webcam window to use. You specify the window using its index, which can be found in the window's title bar. Here is how you would cause window "EvoCam 2" to capture now:

tell application "EvoCam"
    capture now webcam 2
end tell

Saving the current image to a file

You can cause EvoCam to save the current image to a file using the following AppleScript commands:

tell application "EvoCam"
    save image as file "Macintosh HD:Images Folder:Webcam Image"
end tell

Again, when you have multiple webcam windows, you must specify the webcam window to use:


tell application "EvoCam"
    save image webcam 2 as file "Macintosh HD:Images Folder:Webcam Image"
end tell

Change the path as necessary to specify where EvoCam should save the image file. In this example, the image is saved as 'Webcam Image' in the folder 'Images Folder' on the volume 'Macintosh HD'.


Changing text in a caption item

Caption items can be named for easy access from AppleScript using the 'Item Name' command in the 'Items' menu. For example, if you have a caption item that displays a daily message, you can name the item "message" and change it using the following AppleScript commands:


tell application "EvoCam"
    set item "message" to "Welcome!"
end tell

This script changes the text of an item in webcam window 2:

tell application "EvoCam"
    set item "message" of webcam 2 to "Welcome!"
end tell

By incorporating these commands into a 'Before Capture' script, you can create dynamic captions that change for each image captured. See the next section for more information on creating a 'Before Capture' script.

Writing Scripts that are executed by EvoCam

Running scripts when events occur

EvoCam can run AppleScripts when certain events occur. Use the 'AppleScript Settings' command in the 'Options' menu to specify the scripts to be run when EvoCam is launched, when EvoCam quits, or before and after EvoCam captures an image.

Note: The 'capture now' command cannot be used in scripts that are executed by EvoCam. If this command is used, it will be ignored.

Running scripts when motion is detected

Motion sensor items can also be configured to run an AppleScript when they detect motion. To set the script to be used, select 'Run script' in the 'On motion' popup menu, and click the 'Script' button to specify which script to run.