Apple event logging

[OS923]

I search a program, extension or control panel to log Apple events.
Then I can learn how Finder communicates with other programs.
(This is largely undocumented.)
Think of the possibilities: how to write things like CopyAgent or write a program that is compatible with CopyAgent.

In 1992 there was the control panel AETracker, but this doesn't work on my MDD with OS 9.2.2.

I'm writing something similar which is based on AEGizmos but it's not finished yet.

[nanopico]

I search a program, extension or control panel to log Apple events.
Then I can learn how Finder communicates with other programs.
(This is largely undocumented.)
Think of the possibilities: how to write things like CopyAgent or write a program that is compatible with CopyAgent.

In 1992 there was the control panel AETracker, but this doesn't work on my MDD with OS 9.2.2.

I'm writing something similar which is based on AEGizmos but it's not finished yet.

A lot of that communication isn't through apple events.  Some is yes, but some is through calls into and out of them.

[OS923]

I found Capture AE
http://files.macscripter.net/Prog_Utilities/CaptureAE.hqx

[OS923]

I abandoned this project.
It requires inline assembler.
This can't be done with CodeWarrior 68K.

[nanopico]

I abandoned this project.
It requires inline assembler.
This can't be done with CodeWarrior 68K.

Could it be done within MPW and you just export it as a shared library from there?

[OS923]

I need assembler to get the address of the stack.
If I do a function call, then the stack changes.

[OS923]

Is it possible to get the address of the stack in C++?

[OS923]

It's possible to store assembler instructions as numbers in a C++ array.

[nanopico]

Is it possible to get the address of the stack in C++?

Yes, but not through any published API if I recall (I may be wrong on that).
I recall seeing several private functions in private libraries that can be called, if you know the correct function signature and the calling nature of the function (stack based or register based).

It's possible to store assembler instructions as numbers in a C++ array.

Yeah it's pretty cool too.  It's also possible to just shove that list into some arbitrary location (I.E. outside of any process in mapped memory) and then jump to it.  I did do that exact thing to call kernel functions that have no API what so ever.
If you need to return from the code you need to manually manipulate the registers so that you don't crash the system (done that one before too).

Fun stuff that is.

[OS923]

I found 2 solutions that don't require assembler.

AEGetTheCurrentEvent can be used in a GetNextEvent patch and a WaitNextEvent patch to detect 'null' events. This allows you to give your INIT time at a moment that it doesn’t bother other processes.

A special handler of the type keyPreDispatch allows you to look at an Apple event right before it's processed by AEProcessEvent. (So it doesn't log the reply.) It has an advantage over patching Pack8 to change AESend because it doesn't log events that were sent with the option kDontExecute (that were sent for the purpose of being recorded by Script Editor).

Last night I saved my first successful Apple event log to a text file.

[OS923]

I found a 3rd solution with OSA. See http://www.gsehi.com/computing/problems/TrackAE.php

I released it as a control panel + extension + translation program. The translation is in a separate program because I don't want the extension to lose time.

You can download it here: http://www.gsehi.com/computing/software/macos/LogAE.php

[OS923]

Inline assembler was introduced in "MW C/C++ PPC" plugin 2.3.2 (CW Pro 5.3) and "MW C/C++ 68K" plugin 2.4 (CW Pro 6).

What they didn't tell you is that you have to type your inline assembler as

Code: [Select]

asm(...);instead of

Code: [Select]

asm{...}Then I learned to patch the selector based traps and this works well.