docs » hs.uielement

A generalized framework for working with OSX UI elements

Submodules

API Overview

API Documentation

Functions

focusedElement
Signature hs.uielement.focusedElement() -> element or nil
Type Function
Description Gets the currently focused UI element
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • An hs.uielement object or nil if no object could be found
Source extensions/uielement/internal.m

Methods

isApplication
Signature hs.uielement:isApplication() -> bool
Type Method
Description Returns whether the UI element represents an application.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • A boolean, true if the UI element is an application
Source extensions/uielement/init.lua
isWindow
Signature hs.uielement:isWindow() -> bool
Type Method
Description Returns whether the UI element represents a window.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • A boolean, true if the UI element is a window, otherwise false
Source extensions/uielement/internal.m
newWatcher
Signature hs.uielement:newWatcher(handler[, userData]) -> hs.uielement.watcher or nil
Type Method
Description Creates a new watcher
Parameters
  • A function to be called when a watched event occurs. The function will be passed the following arguments:
    • element: The element the event occurred on. Note this is not always the element being watched.
    • event: The name of the event that occurred.
    • watcher: The watcher object being created.
    • userData: The userData you included, if any.
  • an optional userData object which will be included as the final argument to the callback function when it is called.
Returns
  • An hs.uielement.watcher object, or nil if an error occurred
Source extensions/uielement/internal.m
role
Signature hs.uielement:role() -> string
Type Method
Description Returns the role of the element.
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • A string containing the role of the UI element
Source extensions/uielement/internal.m
selectedText
Signature hs.uielement:selectedText() -> string or nil
Type Method
Description Returns the selected text in the element
Parameters
  • None
Returns
  • A string containing the selected text, or nil if none could be found
Notes
  • Many applications (e.g. Safari, Mail, Firefox) do not implement the necessary accessibility features for this to work in their web views
Source extensions/uielement/internal.m