Bellhop Write system services using scripting languages
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Bellhop Description

Write system services using scripting languages Bellhop is an easy way to write Mac OS X system services. Have an idea for a service, but don't want to fire up Xcode? Just write your service in one of the supported scripting languages and let Bellhop do the heavy lifting.Bellhop uses a single-window interface that allows you to organize, edit and configure your services in one place. Publishing a new service turns now into simply a matter of writing the script for the service and configuring some settings.Behind the scenes, Bellhop updates the necessary system property lists, updates the system-wide Services menu, and automatically activates your script when necessary.Although most services are designed to operate on simple text, you are not limited to text based services. For example, you can write services that take tab-delimited data to produce custom graphs. You can operate on selected files in the Finder. You can manipulate image data. Essentially any type of data that can be manipulated on the pasteboard can be manipulated in Bellhop. These are some of the pasteboard data types that Mac OS X supports: string data, tab-delimited string data, filenames, html content, pdf content, rtf content, image data, urls, color data, font data, vcard data. Here are some key features of "Bellhop": · Bellhop is document based, where each document holds a collection of services. Each collection can have its own name, which will show up as a submenu of the Services menu. · Services are implemented in high-level scripting languages. The fully functional Bellhop demo ships with support for Ruby and AppleScript. · Each scripting language that Bellhop supports is implemented as an "execution context" or a plugin. Additional plugins are planned for future release (only applies to licensed version). · Services are configured with a graphical interface, eliminating the need to edit property list files by hand. Bellhop takes care of automatically updating the appropriate system property lists so you don't have to. · Bellhop also provides rudimentary interface support so that you can interact with users from within your service scripts. This is useful for those scripting environments that don't have their own interface support, such as Ruby. AppleScript services rely on the built-in interface support. · The Bellhop Service Library provides a repository for pre-written services that you can import directly into your own documents. · Documents can be stored in shared folders, allowing for system-wide services. · Drag and drop of individual services between documents is supported. You can either move or copy services. · A single document can mix services from different scripting languages (also known as scripting families). · The script editor supports syntax highlighting. · The Services menu is automatically updated when changes are made. · Bellhop does not have to be running to execute services; the system will automatically start it if necessary. · Built-in help is provided in the standard Apple Help Viewer format. · A developer SDK is provided, allowing you to create your own execution contexts. What's New in This Release: · Compatibility release for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. · Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard introduced significant changes to the way application services are handled. Although these changes enhance the way services work, they do have an impact on Bellhop and any services you write with Bellhop. Version 2.0.5 will be the last release of Bellhop since much of its functionality can now be achieved via Automator Services. Bellhop should continue to work normally on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. The major Snow Leopard changes include: · No Hierarchical Service Menus — Snow Leopard does not support submenus in the Services menu anymore. Instead, all services are categorized according to the datatypes they act on or produce. What this means for Bellhop is that collection names are ignored by the system and only service names are displayed in the Services menu. You can still organize your services into collections in Bellhop, but these collections are ignored by Snow Leopard. · Services are initially hidden from the Services Menu — All services are initially hidden from the Services menu, even though you set them as Active in Bellhop's Service inspector. In order to have a service show up in the Services menu, you must explicitly enable it using the Keyboard Preference Pane in System Preferences. The Keyboard Shortcuts tab now has a section for Services where you can decide on which services are displayed in the Service menu. Note that you still have to mark the service as active inside Bellhop.

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