Perform certain System Events, Mac OS X

Question

I would like to

• Shutdown
• Restart
• Logoff
• Sleep

My system through an application I'm making, I can't seem to find any native Objective C way to do it and it's really tough.

Can anyone guide me on the best way to do this:

I have tried:

NSString *scriptAction = @"restart"; // @"restart"/@"shut down"/@"sleep"/@"log out"
NSString *scriptSource = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"tell application \"Finder\" to %@", scriptAction];
NSAppleScript *appleScript = [[[NSAppleScript alloc] initWithSource:scriptSource] autorelease];
NSDictionary *errDict = nil;
if (![appleScript executeAndReturnError:&errDict]) {
    //
}

That had no luck at all, also tried:

NSAppleScript* theScript = [[NSAppleScript alloc] initWithSource:
                            @"Tell application \"Finder\" to restart"];
if (theScript != NULL)
{
    NSDictionary* errDict = NULL;
    // execution of the following line ends with EXC
    if (YES == [theScript compileAndReturnError: &errDict])
    {
        [theScript executeAndReturnError: &errDict];
    }
    [theScript release];
}

With no luck

Answer 1

I've been using the following code for over 8 years without issues:

MDRestartShutdownLogout.h:

#import <CoreServices/CoreServices.h>
/*
    *    kAERestart        will cause system to restart
    *    kAEShutDown       will cause system to shutdown
    *    kAEReallyLogout   will cause system to logout
    *    kAESleep          will cause system to sleep
 */
extern OSStatus MDSendAppleEventToSystemProcess(AEEventID eventToSend);

MDRestartShutdownLogout.m:

#import "MDRestartShutdownLogout.h"

OSStatus MDSendAppleEventToSystemProcess(AEEventID eventToSendID) {
    AEAddressDesc targetDesc;
    static const ProcessSerialNumber kPSNOfSystemProcess = {0, kSystemProcess };
    AppleEvent eventReply = {typeNull, NULL};
    AppleEvent eventToSend = {typeNull, NULL};

    OSStatus status = AECreateDesc(typeProcessSerialNumber,
         &kPSNOfSystemProcess, sizeof(kPSNOfSystemProcess), &targetDesc);

    if (status != noErr) return status;

    status = AECreateAppleEvent(kCoreEventClass, eventToSendID,
          &targetDesc, kAutoGenerateReturnID, kAnyTransactionID, &eventToSend);

    AEDisposeDesc(&targetDesc);

    if (status != noErr) return status;

    status = AESendMessage(&eventToSend, &eventReply,
                          kAENormalPriority, kAEDefaultTimeout);

    AEDisposeDesc(&eventToSend);
    if (status != noErr) return status;
    AEDisposeDesc(&eventReply);
    return status;
}

Note that the above code is based on the code from Technical Q&A QA1134, but mine is re-worked to use AESendMessage() rather than AESend(). AESend() is in HIToolbox.framework, which is in Carbon.framework and is therefore unavailable to 64-bit apps. (AESendMessage() is part of the AE.framework in CoreServices).

Answer 2

That should definitely work if you are logged on from a GUI session.

It won't work if you're only logged on from the ssh session etc, without the GUI.

Please describe your situation more fully, what kind of error you got, etc. Otherwise we can't help you.