Equivalent of tell application id("DNtp") in JavaScript

DEVONthink Automation
1

The preferred method to activate DT in AppleScript is
tell application id("DNtp")
because that works across all versions of DT. If I want to use JavaScript, there seems to be only
app = Application("DEVONthink 3")
to get an instance of the app – which is not exactly version-independent. Is there a way to use the bundle identifier (if that’s what DNtp is) in JavaScript?

2

It’s actually not the bundle identifier but the identifier of DEVONthink’s script suite and therefore independent of the used version/edition. But it doesn’t seem to be possible, see javascript automation - Calling an application by the bundle signature using JXA (macOS) - Stack Overflow

3

Thanks. I had seen that before but was hoping for more info here :wink:

If a script is intended to be run only from inside DT3, wouldn’t currentApplication be a robust alternative to Application(“DEVONthink 3”)?

4

At least inside of DEVONthink 3 this should work but not while developing it in the Script Editor.app.

5

Another incantation is:

Application('com.devon-technologies.think3')

(and the call to Application() is late-binding in JS, so you can construct application identifier strings at run time, if you want to).

6

Should your scripts emerge from pandemic lockdown in some future decade, and feel unsure about the current version name of DEVONthink, they could always obtain the name at run-time time, and pass that to Application()

(() => {
    'use strict';

    ObjC.import('AppKit');

    const
        ws = $.NSWorkspace.sharedWorkspace.runningApplications.js,
        candidates = ws.flatMap(x => {
            const name = x.localizedName.js;
            return name.startsWith('DEVONthink') ? (
                [name]
            ) : [];
        });

    return 0 < candidates.length ? (
        Application(candidates[0]).activate()
    ) : 'Nothing called DEVONthink seems to be running ...'
})();