SUMMARY: PreFab Software releases Event Taps Testbench 1.1, a free
developer utility for exploring Quartz event taps on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
and newer. Download it at http://prefabsoftware.com/eventtapstestbench/
North Chelmsford, MA — July 1, 2008 — PreFab Software, Inc. and Bill
Cheeseman today announced the release of version 1.1 of their free
developer utility, PreFab Event Taps Testbench. Developers can use it to
explore what their applications can do with Quartz event taps on Mac OS X
10.5 (Leopard). It is also a useful tool to test drivers for hardware input
devices such as trackballs and tablets, to test virtual software input
devices including assistive applications for persons with disabilities, and
to test remote control software.
Event Taps Testbench now comes with the PFEventTaps framework, a shared
framework that developers can license for distribution with their own
products that use Quartz event taps.
Event Taps Testbench 1.1 contains many new features and improvements,
including full support for tablet proximity and pointer events.
Event Taps Testbench 1.1 requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard or newer, and it
supports all of the new event taps enhancements introduced by Apple in
Leopard.
Download Event Taps Testbench 1.1 now at
http://prefabsoftware.com/eventtapstestbench/
Selected New Features in Event Taps Testbench 1.1:
– Now includes complete support for tablet proximity and pointer events,
including examples of tablet event modification on the fly.
– Includes a new Current Event window where you can examine the most recent
event in real time in an easy-to-read layout showing all available event
information at a glance. The old Events window is still available as the
Event History window, showing a configurable number of recent events in
text format.
– Allows users to make Event Taps Testbench a trusted accessibility process
without turning on global access for assistive devices.
– Enables users to turn on global access for assistive devices, if desired,
without opening System Preferences.
– Allows users to tap events targeted at a named application, such as the
Dock or SystemUIServer (For Menu Extras).
– Includes additional event modification examples as well as updated
examples that work correctly on Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard).
– Includes user interface layout changes making it easier to use and
understand.
– Includes many bug fixes making it more reliable.
– Includes an updated Help Book in the Help menu.
– The PFEventTaps framework is now installed separately as a shared
framework in /Library/Frameworks, where it can be used by any developer.
The framework wraps Apple’s Quartz event taps C API, including many
transparent bug workarounds. It fully supports Cocoa delegate methods,
callbacks and notifications to make monitoring incoming events simple.
The PFEventTaps framework may be licensed without charge for distribution
with a free software product. A modest license fee is required to
distribute the framework with a product for which payment is requested or
required, such as donationware, shareware and commercial software. Source
code is available for a separate fee. Different terms apply to large or
established commercial software developers.
PreFab Software, Inc. has unmatched experience controlling the GUI via
scripts, releasing PreFab Player in 1994 with continued sales and support
today for Mac OS 9 and earlier. In 2003, PreFab entered the world of Mac OS
X with PreFab UI Browser, a popular utility to support Apple’s GUI
Scripting technology. PreFab UI Actions, implementing “universal
attachability” for AppleScript, followed in 2004. Download fully-functional
30-day trial versions at (http://www.prefabsoftware.com/). UI Browser and
UI Actions are based on Bill Cheeseman’s Cocoa framework for working with
Apple’s Accessibility API.
