Mac Server - Calling applescript/automator from PHP

Question

I've a Mac server which I'm using to host my website. I created a web page using PHP which is basically used to create appointments. The page allows user to select date and time of appointment and clicks submit button to post it to server. I'm able to receive the selected values on server end.

Now I want to write apple script or create automator action which will create an entry in my iCal from the data received through PHP page.

How can I create appointments in my mac serve ical with the details I'm receiving in PHP page? Am I thinking in the right way to user apple script or automator to add appointment to my ical?

osm · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-05 10:22:47Z

2

You can run applescripts with

shellexec("osascript /path/to/script.scpt arguments");

Than grab it output from returned variable.

answered Apr 5, 2011 at 10:22

osm

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morgant Over a year ago

This should work, but remember that the user with the copy of iCal you want to add events to must be always logged in for this to work (e.g. it won't work from the login window or w/a password protected screensaver running).

Community · Accepted Answer · 2023-11-17 19:32:19Z

0

I've no idea how applescript works, but if you just want to issue a command-line command you can use system()

edited Nov 17, 2023 at 19:32

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answered Apr 5, 2011 at 10:18

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Comments

morgant · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-05 11:46:23Z

Another way to attack this problem is, instead of calling an AppleScript from PHP and trying to program around all the edge cases which might cause it to fail (user doing something else on the server, no user logged in, AppleScript taking too long to run, etc.), would be to have the server just write out an iCal file for each appointment to a specific directory. Then have an iCal/Automator action which is run periodically (e.g. every 5 minutes) which imports the new appointment iCal file from said directory and deletes it once it's been imported into iCal.

As far as creating iCal files from PHP goes, there seem to be many libraries out there that offer this functionality, including: Benuu, qCal, iCalcreator, iCal Maker, and probably more. Any one of these should allow you to generate an .ics or .ical file that is compatible with iCal and easily imported. An iCal file is certainly more portable than trying to pass various bits of data like name, date & time, location, etc., around to an AppleScript.

And, for running the AppleScript/Automator action periodically, you can use the excellent Lingon application, although it's App Store only now. One can manually write the launchd .plist files as well (see man launchd.plist).

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