This archive of WWDC sessions is meant to extend the current collection of videos available on Apple Developer website with all the sessions prior to WWDC 2017 that are not available there but continue to be hosted by Apple servers.
HomeControl is a powerful Mac app that allows you to control your HomeKit setup directly from the menu bar.
HomeControl also includes full automation support for all the actions available in the app (triggering scenes, switching a device or device group status, changing the primary home and also changing device properties) with “x-callback-url”-compatible Automation URLs which can be easily invoked from AppleScript, Terminal and other apps.
HomeControl Automation URLs can be easily generated from the “Customize Items” section available in the HomeControl preferences window. Just right-click an actionable item like a device or scene and select “Copy Automation URL”.
A HomeControl Automation URL will be now available in your pasteboard. By default, Automation URLs run the same action that is executed when clicking on the item in the HomeControl menu:
You can customize these default Automation URL to unleash a lot of more actions.
Device and device group Automation URLs can be modified so they always activate or deactivate the item instead of toggling its state by changing the activation-mode
parameter to activate
or deactivate
instead of toggle
:
homecontrol://x-callback-url/run-action?action-type=switch-device-status&item-type=device&item-name=Outlet&room-name=Principal&home-name=Home&
activation-mode=toggle
&authentication-token=TOKEN
homecontrol://x-callback-url/run-action?action-type=switch-device-status&item-type=device&item-name=Outlet&room-name=Principal&home-name=Home&
activation-mode=activate
&authentication-token=TOKEN
homecontrol://x-callback-url/run-action?action-type=switch-device-status&item-type=device&item-name=Outlet&room-name=Principal&home-name=Home&
activation-mode=deactivate
&authentication-token=TOKEN
You can also remove the home-name
parameter of the URL and it will be invoked on the device or scene named as the item-name
available in the current primary home. This is handy if you have the same scene available in multiple homes and want to trigger the scene in the one you are at the moment the automation is triggered.
There is a forth type of automation action that is not available directly with the “Copy Automation URL” shortcut, the change-device-property
action. This action allows you to change a property of a device like light brightness, light color, thermostat mode, thermostat temperature or blinds position by setting the property-type
and property-value
parameters. These are some examples of what is posible with this powerful action type:
homecontrol://x-callback-url/run-action?action-type=change-device-property&item-type=device&item-name=Light&
property-type=light-brightness&property-value=70
&authentication-token=TOKEN
homecontrol://x-callback-url/run-action?action-type=change-device-property&item-type=device&item-name=Light&
property-type=light-hue&property-value=60
&authentication-token=TOKEN
homecontrol://x-callback-url/run-action?action-type=change-device-property&item-type=device&item-name=Light&
property-type=light-saturation&property-value=30
&authentication-token=TOKEN
homecontrol//x-callback-url/run-action?action-type=change-device-property&item-type=device&item-name=Light&
property-type=light-color-temperature&property-value=3200
&authentication-token=TOKEN
homecontrol://x-callback-url/run-action?action-type=change-device-property&item-type=device&item-name=Air%20Conditioner&
property-type=thermostat-temperature&property-value=21
&authentication-token=TOKEN
homecontrol://x-callback-url/run-action?action-type=change-device-property&item-type=device&item-name=Air%20Conditioner&
property-type=thermostat-mode&property-value=auto
&authentication-token=TOKEN
homecontrol://x-callback-url/run-action?action-type=change-device-property&item-type=device&item-name=Blinds&
property-type=position&property-value=70
&authentication-token=TOKEN
homecontrol://x-callback-url/run-action?action-type=change-device-property&item-type=device&item-name=Window&
property-type=position&property-value=30
&authentication-token=TOKEN
homecontrol://x-callback-url/run-action?action-type=change-device-property&item-type=device&item-name=Fan&
property-type=rotation-speed&property-value=60
&authentication-token=TOKEN
You can easily invoke HomeControl Automation URLs from AppleScript, Terminal or other apps like Shortcuts, Keyboard Maestro or Stream Deck.
tell application "HomeControl" to open location "homecontrol://…"
$ open -g "homecontrol://…"
Simply use an “Open URL” or “Open X-Callback URL” action and set it to launch the Automation URL. Some apps also support running Terminal scripts or AppleScript.
You can download a shortcut here that parses a CSV
text and generates multiple passes in batch using MakePass:
MakePass is a mighty Apple Wallet pass editor, with it you can create and customize a myriad of passes with complex layouts including images, barcodes, colors and text fields, but its the most powerful and versatile feature is its integration with the Shortcuts app in iOS, iPad and macOS.
MakePass includes multiple Shortcuts actions that allow you to create, preview and share Apple Wallet passes. The Create Pass action exposes all the power of the MakePass pass editor directly in Shortcuts so you can customize all the properties of your pass. The Create Pass action includes an Import Pass File parameter so you can import a template pass file whose properties can be overridden by the action parameters.
First you should create a pass file which will be used as a template. This template file will be set in the Import Pass File parameter of the Create Pass action which uses it as the base canvas over which to override any other parameter. If you do not import a pass file, the Create Pass action will use a blank template by default. You can create your own pass template file in MakePass or use this one as an example.
Afterwards, to create multiple Apple Wallet passes in batch you should import the information which will be inserted in the pass template for each new pass. To do so, we can use the popular CSV
(comma-separated values) format:
John Appleseed,CD-0000001,2021-01-01 12:00
Chandler Bing,CD-0000002,2021-01-02 12:00
Mario Gómez,CD-0000003,2021-01-03 12:00
Ursula von Köriet,CD-0000004,2021-01-04 12:00
Alejandro Couñago,CD-0000005,2021-01-05 12:00
In this example CSV
document, each line represent a pass which will be generated. Each line includes 3 components which will be added to the pass template (a name in a text field like "John Appleseed"
, a QR barcode payload like "CD-0000001"
and a relevant date like "2021-01-01 12:00"
). To load this CSV
in Shortcuts we can use the Text action, load the contents from a file or use the shortcut content input. In this example we will use the Text action.
Once we have the CSV
text loaded in the shortcut, we can split it by line and iterate over them. In each iteration we can split the line by commas and we can extract each of the pass components needed to fill the pass template:
After extracting the components we can simply set our pass template file in the Import Pass File parameter and fill the other custom parameters in the Create Pass action to complete the template:
And voilà!, running the shortcut will generate 5 passes, each one with its own custom properties:
To complete the shortcut, we can add an action to open the passes in macOS or share them with an app in iOS and iPadOS. You can also use the Save File action to store the pass files in your device.
You can get the complete shortcut here.
Apple silicon Macs can run iPhone and iPad apps natively using the same Mac Catalyst technology that powers apps like Twitter or Darkroom on macOS. Although all iOS apps are by default directly available on the Mac App Store, developers can opt-out and make their apps unavailable. Unfortunately, some of the most popular apps like Instagram, Deliveroo or Netflix have been removed from the Mac App Store… but that does not mean they cannot run on macOS, they are simply hidden in the Mac App Store. If you have purchased or downloaded any app from the iOS App Store, you have the option to make a backup of it using an IPA file, and those files can be used on Apple silicon Macs to install any iOS app.
Currently there are multiple approaches to download those IPA files for any iOS app:
Once you have the IPA file, you can simply double click it on any Apple silicon Mac and voilà!
Apple Silicon Macs running iOS apps natively is truly game-changing.
— Pedro José Pereira Vieito (@pvieito) November 16, 2020
macOS will become the most complete app platform ever: from complex workflows with Xcode, Final Cut Pro or MATLAB to ordering with Deliveroo, browsing IMDb or watching Netflix… there will be an app for that! pic.twitter.com/CiCTOROaNR