HOWTO: Closing a Running Application from Visual FoxPro for Mac

• Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Macintosh, version 3.0b

SUMMARY

Under certain circumstances, you may wish to determine which applications are running and if a particular application is running, perform an action such as causing the application to quit.

This can be accomplished within Visual FoxPro for Macintosh by calling an AppleScript.

MORE INFORMATION

Writing AppleScripts requires the AppleScript Script Editor. This can be downloaded from Apple's Web page at http://applescript.apple.com/sw.html. There is a Download hypertext jump that will download a compressed .hqx file containing the AppleScript Script Editor. It is also included on many System Software CDs in the Apple Extras folder.

You can find information on writing AppleScripts in "Danny Goodman's AppleScript Handbook," 2nd edition, published by Random House.

Steps to Create and Run the Script

1. Paste or type the text below into the AppleScript Script Editor. This has been tested with Mac OS versions 7.5.5 and 8.0.

   
         -- Start of script code. The "--" string is a comment indicator
   
         on run (tcAppName)
           set lcNoParameter to "No parameter given as application to close."
           set lcEmptyParameter to "No application specified to close."
           -- Check for missing parameter or incorrect data type
           try
             set tcAppName to tcAppName as string
             on error errmsg number errnum
             if errnum = -1700 then
               display dialog lcNoParameter
               return
             end if
           end try
   
         -- Check for empty parameter string
         if tcAppName = "" then
              display dialog lcEmptyParameter
              return
           else
           -- Store passed app name to variable
              set cAppName to tcAppName
         end if
   
         tell application "Finder"
           -- Create list of running applications - these are object data
           set lstResult to name of every process
         end tell
   
         -- Loop thru all open apps
         repeat with oAppObj in lstResult
           -- Check if name matches parameter passed to script
           if (oAppObj as string) is cAppName then
             -- If so, activate, which will cause app to prompt for save,
             -- then quit.
             tell application cAppName
               activate
             -- Use try then on error to trap for Cancel from Save dialog
                try
                  with timeout of 10 seconds
                    quit
                  end timeout
                on error errmsg number errnum
                end try
              end tell
            end if
          end repeat
         end run
   
         -- End of script code 




2. Save the script as "KillAppIfRunning," and as a script or an application. Spaces in the script file name may cause problems calling the script from Visual FoxPro, so do not include spaces. Spaces in the path to the folder are okay.



3. Calling the script from Visual FoxPro as follows will close Microsoft Word if it is running. This assumes that the script has been saved as KillAppIfRunning and is located in the "MACINTOSH HD:APPLE'S SCRIPTING SYSTEM:" folder.

   
         RUNSCRIPT "MACINTOSH HD:APPLE'S SCRIPTING SYSTEM:KillAppIfRunning"
            with "Microsoft Word" 

Notes

1. If you forget to pass a parameter or pass an empty string, the script will display an error message. The application name parameter is not case sensitive.



2. If the script cannot find the application you pass it (that is, it is not running), the script will complete without error.



3. It is necessary to check to see whether the application is running, because telling an application, which is not running, to quit will start, then quit, the application.



4. It will also prompt you to save any open files in the application being closed if the open files contain any unsaved edits.



5. Information can be found about calling AppleScripts from Visual FoxPro in the Visual FoxPro Online Help file under the RUNSCRIPT command.

REFERENCES

AppleScript Handbook, 2nd edition, by Danny Goodman

Visual FoxPro for Macintosh Help

© Microsoft Corporation 1997, All Rights Reserved.
Contributions by Jim Saunders, Microsoft Corporation

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbcode kbMAC kbVFp FxprgGeneral
Version : MACINTOSH:3.0b
Platform : MACINTOSH
Issue type : kbhowto