Some time ago I shared a free AppleScript interface I put together for accessing the Mac OS X keychain with some degree of speed and grace. The download, named “Usable Keychain Scripting” was my frustrated response to the more or less completely unusable Keychain Scripting interface in Mac OS X.

Usable Keychain Scripting was awesome, completely spanking Apple’s scripting support in speed and functionality. Frankly, I was hoping that by the time Leopard rolled around, they might have fixed the built-in scripting support, but unfortunately, they have not. So UKS still has a place in this world. As luck would have it, I don’t find myself particularly needing to script the keychain so often these days, but since I shared the resource in August, 2006, a few of you have gotten in the habit of using it. Some of you even wrote in to let me know that it was itself rather broken (and therefore unusable) as of Leopard. Thanks for the tip!

As I was addressing a confusing issue for Leopard (basically the keychain items all lost their “name” attributes), I also discovered something much more sinister. UKS was exceedingly unusable on Intel-based Macs, thanks to a classic “OSType < -> String” conversion problem, which didn’t account for byte order on Intel CPUs.

Long story short? If you’re one of the few who needs Usable Keychain Scripting, you’ll be a lot happier with the 1.0b3 release, which I’ve just posted.

Download UKS 1.0b3

If you’ve got an older version of UKS installed, be sure to get rid of it completely so it doesn’t get “addressed” when you write your script. To be sure, run the script:

version of app "Usable Keychain Scripting"

And make sure it’s 1.0b3. If it’s not, you’ll have to kill all off any running copy of UKS and throw out the old copy of the app. The safest bet is to throw away the old app and reboot your computer.

If you’re not one of the people already using it, keep it in mind the next time you get completely frustrated by how insanely unusable Apple’s keychain scripting is.

I just posted MarsEdit 2.0.5, a modest fixes-and-nuisances update.

Improved Handling Of HTML Entities In Categories

WordPress has an issue in which category names end up literally containing the HTML entity codes for things like ampersands, etc. If you were bit by this problem, you’d notice MarsEdit listing these in the category table. I now work around the problem by double-sanitizing the category name for maximum prettiness.

Support For Specifying Number Of Posts From Blogger

Blogger users may have noticed that the “recent posts” setting in MarsEdit doesn’t seem to affect the number of posts that are fetched from their blog. Starting with 2.0.5, the number should be respected and directly correlate to the number of posts that are downloaded.

Restored Automated Publishing AppleScript Command

If you’ve tried to automate weblog publishing with AppleScript since 2.0 was released, you’ve discovered that the “send post to weblog” command was irreparably broken. It’s not perfect now, but at least it works again. Stay tuned for more AppleScript fixes in the future.

A Couple Squashed Bugs

Two things that may have annoyed you: incessant “check for update” reminders after you selected “remind me later,” and a bug with the Media Manager’s “Insert” button not changing back to “New Post” after you close the last document.

As the owner of a fast-growing software business, my thoughts are turning increasingly to the question of whether I should hire help, and if so, how can I locate the right help. So many factors come into play. Personality. Ability. Style. And most important of all, passion for the products I’d be asking this person to work on.

Fortunately, the Mac software business mimics every other aspect of life, in the sense that unless you’re already the best at something, there’s always value in listening to others with more experience. In this instance, Wil Shipley comes through with what is quite possibly the best “Help Wanted” ad I’ve ever read.

If you wanna work for me, laddy 
There's a price you pay 
I'm a stickler for design 
You gotta write code the right way 
If you want an ADA
I can make your wish come true
You gotta make a big impression 
I gotta like what you do 

I couldn’t have put it any better myself. Instant classic.

In my previous post, I expressed excitement over the recent review of MarsEdit 2 in Macworld magazine.

Well, this week is just getting better and better. Today, I learned that Macworld has awarded MarsEdit the prestigious Eddy Award, their annual award to products chosen for their excellence by the editorial staff.

Look at that statue closely, he’s holding a classic Mac. How cute is that?

It probably goes without saying that this kind of recognition is extremely gratifying, and will surely help to fuel another year of hard work on my part. Thanks so much, Macworld, for choosing to recognize my product.

If that wasn’t enough, MacBreak Weekly episode 70 has been released (to the iTunes feed, not updated yet on the web page), and I received some great recognition in this episode from Andy Ihnatko, a well-known and long-time Mac journalist. He is actually trying out MarsEdit himself, but reserving final judgment until he spends more time with it. But he took the opportunity to check out Black Ink, which he selected as his MacBreak Weekly “software pick of the week.” He says Black Ink is “an incredibly Mac-like app. It’s perfect for filling in crossword puzzles.” Thanks, Andy! I appreciate it very much. If you’re interested in hearing all of his comments, be sure to keep listening through 1:21:40.

MarsEdit and Black Ink are making waves this week, and I’m loving the ride!

But on a more gracious note …

MarsEdit is getting a lot of new recognition these days thanks to the hard work I’ve been putting into it, but it’s worth remembering the hard work that Brent Simmons put into the original version. The vast majority of that code is still running today and is the basis on which all of today’s excellence is built. Gus Mueller of Flying Meat also deserves a lot of credit for taking the reins for the 1.1 era of the product’s development history.

And … and … (awards ceremony music starts playing) … thanks to Bryan Bell for helping me to revitalize MarsEdit’s look with a whole new set of toolbar icons. I believe those touches were the icing on the cake for 2.0.

And thanks to all the users who offer nearly-continuous encouragement.