Can an AppleScript tell if it was activated by the LogIn Items?

Question

I want to use a single script to act as a StartUp (LogIn) item that does a task automatically and that acts as an app that is clickable with dialog-box options.
So far, I have the script recognize that it's in the StartUp folder or in the loginwindow.plist file, that the other secondary app that the script activates isn't already running, and it checks to see how long the user has been logged in.
I have (do shell script "w") to get minutes logged in. I set my script to run the StartUp portion if the login time is 0 (by way of (if ReadThisSucka contains " --" then). It has worked OK so far, but I'd rather replace it with something more reliable and accurate like this:
if process of login tasks is active
or if thisApp was activated by user "login task doer" then...
*on run*
--Is the other app running?
tell application "Finder"
set OtherAppStatus to (get exists of application process "application2")
end tell
--Is the MagicScript a login item?
set theFileContents to (read file ((path to preferences as text) & "loginwindow.plist"))
--Gets the time logged in
set CurrentDate to (do shell script "w")
--If logged in time is - - then it will act like a startup item
if (CurrentDate contains " - -") then
set BeginUpTime to "1"
else
set BeginUpTime to "0"
end if
--If it is a login item, it will use this app
if (theFileContents contains "MagicScript") and (OtherAppStatus is false) and (BeginUpTime is "1") then
do shell script "wow, I'm a shell script"
else
--If it isn't a LogIn Item, it will do this
if OtherAppStatus is false then
display dialog "To run the function of application2, click App2." buttons {"Cancel", "App2"} with icon 1
if button returned of result = "App2" then
do shell script "wow, I'm a shell script"
end if
else
display dialog "To stop the App2, click Stoppit." buttons {"Cancel", "Stoppit"} with icon 1
if button returned of result = "Stoppit" then
--do shell script "killall App2"
tell application "App2" to quit
end if
end if
end if
end run
Message was edited by: Joey Delli Gatti
Message was edited by: Joey Delli Gatti

Answer 1

I realized that I had two viable solutions:
1. Have the script check and see if it is in the LogIn Items and if the login timer (part of the OS) started less than 1 minute ago.
2. Create a second app for the startup script that automatically starts.
I'd be open to a third option, but this works for now.