Sunday, November 5th, 2006
Restarting TiVo Desktop Automagically Using Launchd and AppleScript
For some reason, TiVo Desktop version 1.9.3 (008) for Mac OS X is a processor hog for me. Especially after I’ve committed the crime of actually running iTunes or iPhoto on a given day.
I’ve noticed that stopping and starting TiVo Desktop improves this situation, but I’ve also gotten personally tired of doing this, so now I offer you a way of automating an escape from this monotony. Use the plist file here:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN"
"http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.dailyburrito.restartTiVoDesktop</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/Applications/restartTiVo.app</string>
</array>
<key>ServiceDescription</key>
<string>Restarts TiVo Desktop periodically.</string>
<key>StartCalendarInterval</key>
<dict>
<key>Hour</key>
<integer>3</integer>
<key>Minute</key>
<integer>18</integer>
</dict>
</dict>
</plist>
saved in the /Users/uname/Library/LaunchAgents/ folder with a name something like com.QuickSilverWatch.plist in combo with these launchd instructions. Or, just use lingon as described is this Mac OS X Hint. Either way, you’ll need this applescript to actually reboot TiVo Desktop:
-- open Sys Prefs and wait for it to open
tell application "System Preferences"
activate
end tell
-- stop/start TiVo Desktop w/10 trys
repeat 10 times
delay 1
try
tell application "System Events"
tell application process "System Preferences"
-- set frontmost to true w/10 trys
repeat 10 times
try
click menu item "TiVo Desktop" of menu ...
"View" of menu bar 1
delay 1
tell window "TiVo Desktop"
click button "Stop"
click button "Start"
end tell
exit repeat
end try
end repeat
end tell
end tell
exit repeat
end try
end repeat
-- quit Sys Prefs
tell application "System Preferences"
quit
end tell
You must have GUI Scripting enabled to run this AppleScript.
