Unique Macintosh Identification (Follow-Up)

[Ken Ray]

(Cross-posted to MC list)

Hey, everyone: Here is what I ended up doing that not only retrieves the MAC Address, but also solves a reported problem of being unable to quit Apple System Profiler:

In order to get the MAC Address from Apple System Profiler, you first need to know that ASP refers to this as the "AppleTalk Address", and that it returns the address in AppleScript's list format (ex: {"00.0a.27.d6.9d.06"}). Secondly, you need to know where ASP *is*, otherwise you'll get the dreaded "Please locate Apple System Profiler:" dialog box. I discovered that if you can let MC locate it (through whatever means you need - directories(), files(), etc.), you need to make sure that the default directory is set to the location of ASP, otherwise you'll get the "Please locate:" box. 

On my Mac (and I believe most modern OS8-9 Macs), ASP is located in the Apple Menu Items folder. So here's the script (assuming MC has found it in the Apple Menu Items folder):

function GetMACAddress
  local tResult
  set the directory to specialFolderPath("apple")
  put "tell application" && quote & "Apple System Profiler" & quote & cr & \
    "get appletalk address" & cr & "end tell" into getMACScript
  put "tell application" && quote & "Apple System Profiler" & quote & cr & \
    "close window" && quote & "Apple System Profiler" & quote & cr & "end tell" into quitASPScript
  
  set the directory to specialFolderPath("apple")
  do getMACScript as AppleScript
  put the result into retVal
  do quitASPScript as AppleScript
  replace "{" with "" in retVal
  replace "}" with "" in retVal
  replace quote with "" in retVal
  return retVal
end GetMACAddress

Note that although you can't send "quit" to ASP, you CAN say "close window 'Apple System Profiler'" and it does the same thing!

Enjoy!

Ken Ray
Sons of Thunder Software
Email: kray at sonsothunder.com
Web Site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/
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