macOS JavaScript for Automation (JXA) Notes

Sat, 28 Mar 2020 18:28:48 +0100

Overview

There is a macOS feature called the Open Scripting Architecture (OSA) which provides an infrastructure for intercommunication and automation of macOS software. One of the officially supported OSA languages is JavaScript and its use in this context is called “JavaScript for Automation” which is often abbreviated to “JXA”.

The idea is that instead of using AppleScript, you can program & automate macOS using a more modern language like JavaScript. This gives the programmer access to the enormous ecosystem of javascript libraries and tools in addition to all the modern optimizations and language features of ES6-ish JavaScript. JXA also provides access to a built-in Objective-C bridge that enables access to the file system and the ability to call into the Cocoa frameworks and plain C functions. JXA can basically do anything native code can. It’s a bit like node without needing to install node.

Your Mac's Serial Number via the Command Line

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 23:54:40 +0000

Here’s my first (admittedly ugly) attempt:

system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | grep 'Serial' | sed 's/^.*\:\ //'

Here’s a better one from stack exchange:

system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | awk '/Serial/ {print $4}'

Check your warranty status:

Update: Within a year or two of this post, Apple disabled direct URL links to hardware warranty checks, so the following no-longer works.

open "https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do?sn=$(system_profiler SPHardwareDataType | awk '/Serial/ {print $4}')&locale=en_US&caller=sp"

Cpe on galvanist

macOS JavaScript for Automation (JXA) Notes

Overview

Your Mac's Serial Number via the Command Line