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<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Using Open Scripting Extension from Python</TITLE></HEAD>
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<H1>Using Open Scripting Extension from Python</H1>
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2000-08-20 18:57:38 -03:00
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OSA support in Python is still not 100% complete, but
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1996-03-18 09:38:52 -04:00
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there is already enough in place to allow you to do some nifty things
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to other programs from your python program. <P>
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<CITE>
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Actually, when we say "AppleScript" in this document we actually mean
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"the Open Scripting Architecture", there is nothing
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AppleScript-specific in the Python implementation. <p>
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</CITE>
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In this example, we will look at a scriptable application, extract its
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"AppleScript Dictionary" and generate a Python interface module from
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that and use that module to control the application. Because we want
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to concentrate on the OSA details we don't bother with a real
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user-interface for our application. <p>
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The application we are going to script is Disk Copy, Apple's standard
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utility for making copies of floppies, creating files that are mountable
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as disk images, etc. <p>
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<H2>Python OSA architecture</H2>
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Open Scripting suites and inheritance can be modelled rather nicely with
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with Python packages, so for each application we want to script we generate
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a package. Each suite defined in the application becomes a module in the
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package, and the package main module imports everything from all the
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submodules and glues all the classes (Python terminology, OSA terminology is
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events, AppleScript terminology is verbs) together. <p>
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A suite in an OSA application can extend the functionality of a standard
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suite, and this is implemented in Python by importing everything from the
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module that implements the standard suite and overriding anything that has
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been extended. The standard suites live in the StdSuite package. <p>
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This all sounds complicated, and you can do strange and wondrous things
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with it once you fully understand it, but the good news is that simple
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scripting is actually pretty simple. <p>
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<H2>Creating the Python interface module</H2>
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There is a tool in the standard distribution that looks through a file
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for an 'AETE' or 'AEUT' resource, the internal representation of the
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AppleScript dictionary. This tool is called
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<CODE>gensuitemodule.py</CODE>, and lives in <CODE>Mac:scripts</CODE>.
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When we start it, it asks us for an input file and we point it to the
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Disk Copy executable. <p>
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Next it wants a folder where it will store the package it is going to generate.
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Note that this is the package folder, not the parent folder, so we
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navigate to <code>Python:Mac:Demo:applescript</code>, create a folder
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<code>Disk_Copy</code> and select that. <p>
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Next it wants the folder from which it should import the standard suites. Here
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you always select <code>Python:Mac:Lib:lib-scriptpackages</code>. (There is
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one exception to this rule: when you are generating <code>StdSuites</code> itself
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you select <code>cancel</code>, for obvious reasons). <p>
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It starts parsing the AETE resource, and for
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each AppleEvent suite it finds it prompts us for the filename of the
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resulting python module. Remember to change folders for the first
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module, you don't want to clutter up the Eudora folder with your python
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interfaces. If you want to skip a suite you press cancel and the process
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continues with the next suite. <p>
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Gensuitemodule may ask you questions like "Where is enum 'xyz ' declared?".
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This is either due to a misunderstanding on my part or (rather too common)
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bugs in the AETE resources. Pressing <code>cancel</code> is usually the
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right option, it will cause the specific enum not to be treated as an enum
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but as a "normal" type. As things like fsspecs and TEXT strings clearly are
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not enumerators this is correct. If someone understands what is really going on
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here please let me know. <p>
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1996-04-19 12:56:08 -03:00
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Time for a sidebar. If you want to re-create the StdSuite modules
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you should look in one of two places. On older systems you will find the
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AEUT resources in <CODE>System Folder:Extensions:Scripting
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Additions:Dialects:English Dialect</CODE>. On newer systems you will
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find them in <code>System Folder:Extensions:Applescript</code>. <p>
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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Let's glance at the <A
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HREF="applescript/Disk_Copy">Disk_Copy</A> package just created. You
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may want to open Script Editor alongside, and have a look at how it
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interprets the dictionary. The main package module is in <code>__init__.py</code>
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and the only interesting bit is the <code>Disk_Copy</code> class, which
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includes the event handling classes from the individual suites. It also
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inherits <code>aetools.TalkTo</code>, which is a base class that handles all
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details on how to start the program and talk to it, and a class variable
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<code>_signature</code> which is the default application this class will talk
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to (you can override this in various when you instantiate your class, see
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<code>aetools.py</code> for details).
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<p>
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The <a href="applescript/Disk_Copy/Special_Events.py">Special_Events</a>
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module is a nice example of a suite module.
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The <CODE>Special_Events_Events</CODE> class is the bulk of the code
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generated. For each verb it contains a method. Each method knows what
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arguments the verb expects, and it makes handy use of keyword
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arguments to present a palatable
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interface to the python programmer. You will see that each method
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calls some routines from <CODE>aetools</CODE>, an auxiliary module
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living in <CODE>Lib:toolbox</CODE> which contains some other nifty
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AppleEvent tools as well. Have a look at it sometime, there is (of
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course) no documentation yet. <p>
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The other thing you notice is that each method calls
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<CODE>self.send</CODE>, this comes from the <code>aetools.TalkTo</code> baseclass. <p>
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After the big class we get a number of little class declarations. These
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declarations are for the (appleevent) classes and properties in the suite.
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They allow you to create object IDs, which can then be passed to the verbs.
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For instance, to get the name of the sender of the first message in mailbox
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inbox you would use <code>mailbox("inbox").message(1).sender</code>. It is
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also possible to specify this as <code>sender(message(1, mailbox("inbox")))</code>,
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which is sometimes needed because these classes don't always inherit correctly
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from baseclasses, so you may have to use a class or property from another suite. <p>
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<blockquote>
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There are also some older object specifiers for standard objects in aetools.
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You use these in the form <CODE>aetools.Word(10,
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aetools.Document(1))</CODE> where the corresponding AppleScript
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terminology would be <CODE>word 10 of the first
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document</CODE>. Examine the two modules mentioned above along with
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the comments at the end of your suite module if you need to create
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more than the standard object specifiers.
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</blockquote>
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Next we get the enumeration dictionaries, which allow you to pass
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english names as arguments to verbs, so you don't have to bother with the 4-letter
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type code. So, you can say
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<CODE><PRE>
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diskcopy.create(..., filesystem="Mac OS Standard")
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</PRE></CODE>
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as it is called in Script Editor, in stead of the cryptic lowlevel
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<CODE><PRE>
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diskcopy.create(..., filesystem="Fhfs")
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</PRE></CODE><p>
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Finally, we get the "table of contents" of the module, listing all classes and such
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by code, which is used by gensuitemodule. <p>
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<H2>Using a Python suite module</H2>
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2000-08-20 18:57:38 -03:00
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Now that we have created the suite module we can use it in a Python script.
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In older MacPython distributions this used to be a rather
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complicated affair, but with the package scheme and with the application signature
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known by the package it is very simple: you import the package and instantiate
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the class, as
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<CODE><PRE>
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talker = Disk_Copy.Disk_Copy(start=1)
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</PRE></CODE>
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You will usually specify the start=1: it will run the application if it is
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not already running. You may want to omit it if you want to talk to the application
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only if it is already running, or if the application is something like the Finder. <p>
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Looking at the sourcefile <A
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HREF="applescript/makedisk.py">makedisk.py</A> we see that it starts
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with some imports.
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The main program itself is a wonder of simplicity. We create the
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object that talks to Disk Copy, creates a disk and mounts it. <p>
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The exception handling does need a few comments, though. Since
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AppleScript is basically a connectionless RPC protocol nothing happens
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when we create to talker object. Hence, if the destination application
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is not running we will not notice until we send our first
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command. There is another thing to note about errors returned by
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AppleScript calls: <CODE>MacOS.Error</CODE> is raised for
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all of the errors that are known to be <CODE>OSErr</CODE>-type errors,
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server generated errors raise <CODE>aetools.Error</CODE>. <p>
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1996-12-23 13:28:53 -04:00
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<H2>Scripting Additions</H2>
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If you want to use any of the scripting additions (or OSAXen, in
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everyday speech) from a Python program you can use the same method
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as for applications, i.e. run <CODE>gensuitemodule</CODE> on the
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OSAX (commonly found in <CODE>System Folder:Extensions:Scripting Additions</CODE>
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or something similar). There is one minor gotcha: the application
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signature to use is <CODE>'MACS'</CODE>. <P>
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There are two minor points to watch out for when using gensuitemodule
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on OSAXen: they appear all to define the class <CODE>System_Object_Suite</CODE>,
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and a lot of them have the command set in multiple dialects. You have to
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watch out for name conflicts, so, and make sure you select a reasonable dialect
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(some of the non-english dialects cause gensuitemodule to generate incorrect
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Python code). <P>
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2000-08-20 18:57:38 -03:00
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<H2>Further Reading</H2>
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If you want to look at more involved examples of applescripting look at the standard
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modules <code>findertools</code> and <code>nsremote</code>, or (possibly better, as it
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is more involved) <code>fullbuild</code> from the Mac:scripts folder.
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