AXElements

AXElements is a DSL abstraction built on top of the Mac OS X Accessibility and CGEvent APIs that allows code to be written in a very natural and declarative style that describes user interactions.

The framework is optimized for writing tests that require automatic GUI manipulation, whether it be finding controls on the screen, typing, clicking, or other ways in which a user can interact with the computer.

Demo Video

The code from the demo video is right here:

    require 'rubygems'
    require 'ax_elements'

    # Highlight objects that the mouse will move to
    Accessibility.debug = true

    # Get a reference to the Finder and bring it to the front
    finder = AX::Application.new 'com.apple.finder'
    set_focus_to finder

    # Open a new window
    type "\\COMMAND+n"
    sleep 1 # pause for "slow motion" effect

    # Find and click the "Applications" item in the sidebar
    window = finder.main_window
    click window.outline.row(static_text: { value: 'Applications' })

    # Find the Utilities folder
    utilities = window.row(text_field: { filename: 'Utilities' })
    scroll_to utilities
    double_click utilities

    # Wait for the folder to open and find the Activity Monitor app
    app = wait_for :text_field, ancestor: window, filename: /Activity Monitor/
    scroll_to app
    click app

    # Bring up QuickLook
    type " "
    sleep 1 # pause for "slow motion"

    # Click the Quick Look button that opens the app
    click finder.quick_look.button(id: 'QLControlOpen')
    sleep 1 # pause for "slow motion"

    # Get a reference to activity monitor and close the app
    activity_monitor = app_with_bundle_identifier 'com.apple.ActivityMonitor'
    terminate activity_monitor

    # Close the Finder window
    select_menu_item finder, 'File', 'Close Window'

If you are running OS X 10.9 (Sea Lion) or newer, all you need are the command line tools, and then you can install AXElements:

  xcode-select --install # if you need to install the command line tools

  sudo gem install AXElements

Alternatively, if you know how to change your $GEM_HOME, or are using RVM, then you can install AXElements without using sudo.

You will be asked to "Grant access" for Accessibility to Terminal.app when you first try using AXElements. Make sure you select Terminal in the list on the right, and then AXElements should work without requiring you to grant further permissions:

For older versions of OS X, you will need to install a compatible version of Ruby (2.0.0+) along with the Developer tools.

You will also need to make sure you "enable access for assistive devices". This can be done in System Preferences in the Universal Access section:

Then you can install AXElements the same as OS X 10.9.

AXElements is cryptographically signed. To be sure the gem you install hasn’t been tampered with you will want to add my public key (if you haven’t already) as a trusted certificate for Rubygems:

gem cert --add <(curl -Ls https://raw.github.com/AXElements/AXElements/master/certs/markrada26@gmail.com.pem)
gem install AXElements -P MediumSecurity

Unfortunately, not all of AXElements' dependencies are signed, and so Medium security is the strongest that can be used at the moment.

If the gem install processes are not working for you, you can build AXElements from source, but you will need to be familiar with tools like bundler and rake.

    cd ~/Documents # or where you want to put the AXElements code
    git clone git://github.com/AXElements/AXElements
    cd AXElements && bundle install && rake install

Once all the setup is finished, you can start up AXElements in IRB:

    irb -rubygems -rax_elements

The wiki is the best place to get started, it includes tutorials to help you get started. API documentation is also available on rdoc.info.

Though it is not required, you may want to read Apple's Accessibility Overview as a primer on some the rationale for the accessibility APIs as well as some of the technical the technical underpinnings of AXElements.

AXElements has reached a point where the main focus is stability, documentation, and additional conveniences. It will be out of this world, so we're code naming the next version "Lunatone".

Proper releases to rubygems will be made as milestones are reached.

There are still a bunch of things that could be done to improve AXElements. Some of the higher level tasks are outlined in various Github Issues. Smaller items are peppered through the code base and marked with @todo tags.

Before starting development on your machine, you should run the test suite and make sure things are kosher. The nature of this library requires that the tests take over your computer while they run. The tests aren't programmed to do anything destructive, but if you interfere with them then something could go wrong. To run the tests you simply need to run the test task:

    rake test

NOTE: There may be some tests are dependent on Accessibility features that are new in OS X Lion which will cause test failures on OS X Snow Leopard. AXElements requires OS X versions with system Ruby at version 2.0.0 or newer.

Benchmarks are also included as part of the test suite, but they are disabled by default. In order to enable them you need to set the BENCH environment variable:

    BENCH=1 rake test

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