Returns a table of the AXTextMarker and AXTextMarkerRange functions that have been discovered and are used within this module.

• None

• a table with key-value pairs where the keys correspond to the undocumented Core Foundation functions required by this module to support AXTextMarker and AXTextMarkerRange and the value will be a boolean indicating whether the function exists in the currently loaded frameworks.

• the functions are defined within the HIServices framework which is part of the ApplicationServices framework, so it is expected that the necessary functions will always be available; however, if you ever receive an error message from a function or method within this submodule of the form "CF function AX... undefined", please see the submodule heading documentation for a description of the information, including that which this function provides, that should be included in any error report you submit.
• This is for debugging purposes and is not expected to be used often.

Returns a string containing the opaque binary data contained within the axTextMarkerObject

• None

• a string containing the opaque binary data contained within the axTextMarkerObject

• the string will likely contain invalid UTF8 code sequences or unprintable ascii values; to see the data in decimal or hexadecimal form you can use: string.byte(hs.axuielement.axtextmarker:bytes(), 1, hs.axuielement.axtextmarker:length()) -- or hs.utf8.hexDump(hs.axuielement.axtextmarker:bytes())
• As the data is application specific, it is unlikely that you will use this method often; it is included primarily for testing and debugging purposes.

Returns the ending marker for an axTextMarkerRangeObject

• None

• the ending marker for an axTextMarkerRangeObject

Returns an integer specifying the number of bytes in the data portion of the axTextMarkerObject.

• None

• an integer specifying the number of bytes in the data portion of the axTextMarkerObject

• As the data is application specific, it is unlikely that you will use this method often; it is included primarily for testing and debugging purposes.

Returns the starting marker for an axTextMarkerRangeObject

• None

• the starting marker for an axTextMarkerRangeObject

Creates a new AXTextMarker object from the string of binary data provided

• string - a string containing 1 or more bytes of data for the AXTextMarker object

• a new axTextMarkerObject or nil and a string description if there was an error

• This function is included primarily for testing and debugging purposes -- in general you will probably never use this constructor; AXTextMarker objects appear to be mostly application dependant and have no meaning external to the application from which it was created.

Creates a new AXTextMarkerRange object from the start and end markers provided

• startMarker - an axTextMarkerObject representing the start of the range to be created
• endMarker - an axTextMarkerObject representing the end of the range to be created

• a new axTextMarkerRangeObject or nil and a string description if there was an error

• this constructor can be used to create a range from axTextMarkerObjects obtained from an application to specify a new range for a parameterized attribute. As a simple example (it is hoped that more will be added to the Hammerspoon wiki shortly):

  s = hs.axuielement.applicationElement(hs.application("Safari"))
  -- for a window displaying the DuckDuckGo main search page, this gets the
  -- primary display area. Other pages may vary and you should build your
  -- object as necessary for your target.
  c = s("AXMainWindow")("AXSections")[1].SectionObject[1][1]
  start = c("AXStartTextMarker") -- get the text marker for the start of this element
  ending = c("AXNextLineEndTextMarkerForTextMarker", start) -- get the next end of line marker
  print(c("AXStringForTextMarkerRange", hs.axuielement.axtextmarker.newRange(start, ending)))
  -- outputs "Privacy, simplified." to the Hammerspoon console```
  

• The specific attributes and parameterized attributes supported by a given application differ and can be discovered with the hs.axuielement:getAttributeNames and hs.axuielement:getParameterizedAttributeNames methods.