Can Someone Explain Why These Scripts Work?

Question

I'm a brand new AppleScript initiate. I was at a Developer Summit and needed to stop messing with my windows so much. So I looked up scripting the window sizing and positioning. I was on my MacBook Pro and so I wrote the following code and placed in Automator as a Service whic I then saved to HardDrive>Users>User>Library>Services.

tell application "System Events"
    set myTargetApplication to name of the first process whose frontmost is true
end tell

tell application myTargetApplication
    --  This line is what we use when we need to grab that bounds of a window.
    -- set currentBounds to bounds of the first window
    set bounds of the first window to {61, 46, 1261, 777}
end tell

I would write the script in "Script Editor" and test it with the commented out line uncommented and the line after it commented. Then I could position the window like I want and get the settings I needed to apply. I got the settings, and pasted them in the line right before "end tell" and they worked.

I set this as a service and now I can make ANY window (from Service) size to what I needed.

I arrived home and connected to my dual monitor, a 32" Acer, and everytime I would run the script in my big monitor it would JUMP to the MacBook Window.

So I tweaked this and that, tried several things, looked things up, and during a run did this:

tell application "System Events"
    set myTargetApplication to name of the first process whose frontmost is true
end tell

tell application myTargetApplication
    --  This line is what we use when we need to grab that bounds of a window.
    -- set currentBounds to bounds of the first window
    set bounds of the first window to {1299, 38, 3182, 1062}
end tell

I did the same thing in Automator... saved as a service... and now they work.

EXACTLY LIKE I WANT.

I am not COMPLAINING... I'm just lost...

I don't see WHY they work. I'm hoping someone can point out what makes them work so I can better understand AppleScript.

Thank you in advance

Answer 1

The smallest rectangle containing both "real" monitors is your virtual desktop.

The upper left corner of the monitor containing the menubar is the (0|0) coordinate. Moving rightwards and downwards increases the numbers.

If you have one monitor (1920|1200) the upper left corner is the (0|0) and bottom right corner has the coordinate (1920|1200) and the whole desktop is described by {0, 0, 1920, 1200}

If you have two equally sized monitors (1920|1200) arranged side by side and the left one is your main monitor the coordinates of the complete desktop are {0, 0, 3840, 1200}. If the right monitor is the main one: {-1920, 0, 1920, 1200}.

If you have two differently sized monitors (1920|1200) and (2000|1400) arranged with an off-set (e.g. the bottom right corner of the small monitor (1920|1200) is right next to the upper left corner (0|0) of the other monitor and the left one is the main one) then the desktop is described by {0, 0, 3920, 2600}. If the right one is the main monitor the whole desktop is represented by {-1920, -1200, 2000, 1400}.

So your window {1299, 38, 3182, 1062} in the arrangement marked in bold would look like this:

Answer 2

More to add to what klanomath said than to attempt to provide another almost identical answer...

The value of the bounds property is returned as a four-item list of integers representing the area of the window like this: {72, 90, 512, 481}

• List item 1: {72, 90, 512, 481}
  The distance in pixels from the left side of the screen to the left side of the Finder window.
• List item 2: {72, 90, 512, 481}
  The distance in pixels from the top of the screen to the top of the Finder window.
• List item 3: {72, 90, 512, 481}
  The distance in pixels from the left side of the screen to the right side of the Finder window.
• List item 4: {72, 90, 512, 481}
  The distance in pixels from the top of the screen to the bottom of the Finder window.

Source : http://www.macosxautomation.com/applescript/firsttutorial/11.html
which is a great resource for learning Applescript.