applaunchservices 0.3.0

Simple package for registering an app with apple Launch Services to handle UTI and URL

applaunchservices

Simple package for registering an app with apple Launch Services to handle UTI and URL. See Apple documentations for details.

URL

Launch Services allows a GUI app to register a URL scheme. This means the app can be called when the user types a URL like <scheme>://<something>.

• set_URL_scheme_handler: Sets the given bundleid as the default handler for a given url scheme.
• get_URL_scheme_handler: Gets the default bundleid for a given url scheme.
• open_URL: Opens the given URL with launch services

Files

Launch Services allows a GUI app to register a uniform type identifier (UTI). This means the app can be called when the user double click on a file in the finder that matches this scheme. Or if the user types an url like <file:///path/to/file.ext>.

• set_UTI_handler: Sets the given bundleid as the default handler for a given uniform type identifier and role.
• get_UTI_handler: Gets the default bundleid for a given uniform type identifier and role.
• open_path: Opens the given path with launch services

The roles are:

• 'none'
• 'viewer'
• 'editor'
• 'shell'
• 'all'

Bundle Identifier

The bundle identifier is used to identify an app. Two functions are supplied:

• get_bundle_identifier(): Gets the current bundle identifier if it exists (The app is a GUI app)
• get_bundle_identifier(pid): Gets the bundle identifier for the given process id if it exists (The app is a GUI app)
• get_bundle_identifier_for_path(path): Gets the bundle identifier if the path points to a bundle

Usage example:

import applaunchservices as als
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication, QWidget
from PyQt5.QtCore import QEvent, Qt

# This app opens python scripts as an editor
uniform_type_identifier = "public.python-script"
role = 'editor'


class MacApplication(QApplication):
    """Application that process fileopen events."""
    def event(self, event):
        if event.type() == QEvent.FileOpen:
            widget.setWindowTitle(str(event.file()))
        return QApplication.event(self, event)

# Create application and window
app = MacApplication([''])
widget = QWidget()

# Reset old handler at the end
old_handler = als.get_UTI_handler(uniform_type_identifier, role)
app.aboutToQuit.connect(
    lambda: als.set_UTI_handler(
        uniform_type_identifier, role, old_handler))


# When the app is visible, register itself as a handler
def handle_applicationStateChanged(state):
    if state == Qt.ApplicationActive and app._starting:
        app._starting = False
        bundle_identifier = als.get_bundle_identifier()
        als.set_UTI_handler(
            uniform_type_identifier, role, bundle_identifier)


app._starting = True
app.applicationStateChanged.connect(handle_applicationStateChanged)

# Launch app
widget.setWindowTitle('test')
widget.show()
app.exec_()
# The app can now receive file open events