How can I start Bluetooth tethering using the command line?

I'd like a quick way to start tethering using my iPhone, hopefully just using the keyboard. Using the bluetooth menu, I can choose the Connect to Network option in the submenu for my device, but is it possible to automate this?

Ultimately I want to assign this to a shortcut in (the very awesome) Alfred.app, but anything using the command line or AppleScript will work.

Is this possible? Thanks!!

Solution 1:

It doesn't look like there is a direct AppleScript dictionary for working with Bluetooth this way.

You could use GUI scripting though, which basically uses the accessibility feature of the Mac OS to select menu items, etc.

A great writeup on how to start with GUI AppleScript is available on MacOSAutomation.com.

GUI automation can be difficult if you have a constantly changing list of things, but if you commonly have a list of bluetooth items connected that stays the same you should be ok.

You could then call this AppleScript through Alfred.

Solution 2:

http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=38559

In the above link there's a very nice script I've just updated a bit. Note that it uses blueutil [ git repo ] [ website/binaries ].

Enable Bluetooth:

-- Enable Bluetooth and Connect to iPhone

property blueutilPath : "/opt/local/bin/blueutil"

-- Turn on bluetooth.
if execBlueutil("status") contains "Status: off" then
    execBlueutil("on")

    connectDevice()

    doGrowl()

end if

on execBlueutil(command)
    set res to do shell script blueutilPath & " " & command
    if res contains "Error" then
        display dialog res
        quit
    end if
    return res
end execBlueutil

-- Connect Device
on connectDevice()
    tell application "System Preferences"
        activate
        set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "."
        set current pane to pane "com.apple.preference.network"
        set winNetwork to "Network"
        set btooth to "Bluetooth"

        tell application "System Events" to tell process "System Preferences"
            set theRow to row 1 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of window winNetwork whose value of static text 1 contains btooth
            select theRow --clicks the bluetooth row
            --If Bluetooth is already connected, the button will say Disconnect, so we don't want to turn it off:
            try
                click (button 1 of group 1 of window winNetwork whose title is "Connect")
            end try
        end tell
        tell application "System Preferences"
            quit
        end tell
    end tell
end connectDevice

on doGrowl()
    tell application "System Events"
        set isRunning to (count of (every process whose bundle identifier is "com.Growl.GrowlHelperApp")) > 0
    end tell
    if isRunning then
        tell application id "com.Growl.GrowlHelperApp"
            set the allNotificationsList to ¬
                {"Bluetooth Setting"}
            set the enabledNotificationsList to ¬
                {"Bluetooth Setting"}
            register as application ¬
                "AppleScript - Bluetooth" all notifications allNotificationsList ¬
                default notifications enabledNotificationsList

            notify with name ¬
                "Bluetooth Setting" title ¬
                "Bluetooth is On & iPhone Connected" description ¬
                "Bluetooth has been enabled with iPhone tethered." application name "AppleScript - Bluetooth" icon of file (path to me)
        end tell
    end if
end doGrowl

Disable bluetooth:

property blueutilPath : "/opt/local/bin/blueutil"

-- Turn off Bluetooth.
if execBlueutil("status") contains "Status: on" then
    execBlueutil("off")

    doGrowl()
end if
on execBlueutil(command)
    set res to do shell script blueutilPath & " " & command
    if res contains "Error" then
        display dialog res
        quit
    end if
    return res
end execBlueutil

on doGrowl()
    tell application "System Events"
        set isRunning to (count of (every process whose bundle identifier is "com.Growl.GrowlHelperApp")) > 0
    end tell
    if isRunning then
        tell application id "com.Growl.GrowlHelperApp"
            set the allNotificationsList to ¬
                {"Bluetooth Setting"}
            set the enabledNotificationsList to ¬
                {"Bluetooth Setting"}
            register as application ¬
                "AppleScript - Bluetooth" all notifications allNotificationsList ¬
                default notifications enabledNotificationsList

            notify with name ¬
                "Bluetooth Setting" title ¬
                "Bluetooth Off" description ¬
                "Bluetooth has been disabled." application name "AppleScript - Bluetooth" icon of file (path to me)
        end tell
    end if
end doGrowl