Calling Native Commands with Tauri.

Calling macOS AppleScript from Rust to retrieve information

Table of Contents

• Requirements and Background
• Implementation Steps
  • Executing AppleScript from Rust
  • Registering the Command in Tauri’s main.rs
  • Frontend Implementation in React

Simplified version of this article

• https://zenn.dev/ocat/articles/e7a22ac0f658f7

Executing AppleScript from Rust

Example of executing AppleScript from Rust to retrieve information

tell application "Spotify" -- Send command to Spotify application
    if player state is playing then -- If Spotify is playing
        set trackName to name of current track -- Get the name of the current track
        set artistName to artist of current track -- Get the artist name of the current track
        return trackName & " by " & artistName -- Return track name and artist name
    else
        return "Spotify is not playing." -- If Spotify is not playing
    end if
end tell

Implementation in Rust

use std::process::Command;

#[tauri::command]
pub fn get_spotify_track_info() -> Result<String, String> {
    let script = r#"
    tell application "Spotify"
        if player state is playing then
            set trackName to name of current track
            set artistName to artist of current track
            return trackName & " by " & artistName
        else
            return "Spotify is not playing."
        end if
    end tell
    "#;

    let output = Command::new("osascript") // Execute osascript command
        .arg("-e")
        .arg(script)
        .output()
        .map_err(|e| e.to_string())?;

    if output.status.success() {
        let result = String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stdout).trim().to_string(); // Convert UTF-8 encoded output to string
        Ok(result)
    } else {
        Err(String::from_utf8_lossy(&output.stderr).trim().to_string())
    }
}

Registering the Command in Tauri’s main.rs

#![cfg_attr(not(debug_assertions), windows_subsystem = "windows")]

mod spotify_info; // Add module

use spotify_info::get_spotify_track_info; // Import command
use tauri::Manager;

fn main() {
    tauri::Builder::default()
        .invoke_handler(tauri::generate_handler![get_spotify_track_info]) // Register command
        .run(tauri::generate_context!())
        .expect("error while running tauri application");
}

Frontend Implementation in React

import { useState, useEffect } from "react";
import { invoke } from "@tauri-apps/api";

const App = () => {
  const [trackInfo, setTrackInfo] = useState("Spotify is not playing.");

  const fetchTrackInfo = async () => {
    try {
      const result = await invoke("get_spotify_track_info"); // Call Rust command
      setTrackInfo(result as string);
    } catch (error) {
      console.error("Error fetching track info:", error);
    }
  };

  useEffect(() => {
    fetchTrackInfo();
    const intervalId = setInterval(fetchTrackInfo, 5000); // Update every 5 seconds
    return () => clearInterval(intervalId);
  }, []);

  return <div>{trackInfo}</div>;
};

export default App;