skylartaylor
33393aa3d8
Pin the reviewed fork and shared dependencies, adapt input and rendering to the new frame lifecycle, and preserve bounded capture handling and font notices. Add representative accessibility checks and meaningful control labels. Validation: full repository CI passed all ten stages, with 2,249 tests passed, zero failed and one existing timing test ignored. Native workflows and paired performance qualification remain documented separately.
7.8 KiB
GridCraft control protocol
Start the desktop app with a control port:
gridcraft --control 7979 # or GRIDCRAFT_CONTROL_PORT=7979
Then send newline-delimited JSON to 127.0.0.1:7979. Every request line gets one reply line:
{"id": 1, "method": "engine.execute", "params": {"command": "cell.set", "params": {"cell": "B2", "input": "=SUM(A1:A9)"}}}
{"id": 1, "ok": true, "result": {"cell": "B2", "value": "45"}}
Errors come back as {"id": …, "ok": false, "error": "…"}. Asynchronous work that
finishes later than the reply (a ui.screenshot capture) adds its own request token to
the reply so the client can match it; a capture that completes after its 8 s deadline returns
the timeout error and writes no file.
A line that is not a JSON object with a string method (an HTTP request, text that isn't JSON,
bytes that aren't UTF-8, a line over 64 MiB) gets one error reply and the server closes the
connection; nothing sent after it runs. Blank lines are skipped.
Methods
| Method | Params | What it does |
|---|---|---|
engine.execute |
{command, params} |
Runs any engine command (see engine.commands or gridcraft-cli commands). edit.goTo, edit.goToSpecial, selection.set and selection.move scroll the active cell into view, as Go To does in the window |
engine.commands |
{search?} |
Every command: id, label, ribbon path, shortcut, params doc, enabled; search keeps those whose id, label or ribbon path contains it (case-insensitive) |
engine.journal |
Commands run so far (replayable). Passwords (password, …Password params) are left out, so a replayed Protect Sheet has no password. Capped at 10,000 entries and 64 MB (serialized); past either cap the oldest entries go |
|
document.inspect |
Workbook summary: sheets, used ranges, tables, charts, names, selection, undo labels | |
sheet.read |
{range?, sheet?, formulas?, formatted?} |
Values (or formulas / displayed text) of a range |
cell.get |
{cell?} |
One cell: value, formula, displayed text, style, merge, comment, link |
ui.inspect |
UI state: ribbon tab, editor, open dialog, Backstage page, message, grid rect, scroll, perf | |
ui.click / ui.drag / ui.move |
{x, y, toX?, toY?, button?, count?, shift?, cmd?, alt?} |
Real pointer input in window points; refused with an error if it would leave more than 10,000 pointer events queued |
ui.cell.click / ui.cell.drag |
{cell} / {from, to} |
Pointer input at a cell's centre (works in point mode while editing); same 10,000-event queue limit |
ui.key / ui.text |
{key, shift?, cmd?, alt?, ctrl?} / {text} |
Keyboard input (typing in the grid starts editing) |
ui.edit.begin / ui.edit.text / ui.edit.commit / ui.edit.cancel |
{text?} / {move?: down|right|up|left|none} |
Drive the cell editor |
ui.ribbon |
{tab} |
Switch ribbon tab |
ui.dialog / ui.dialog.set / ui.dialog.confirm / ui.dialog.cancel |
{name} / {field, value} |
Open, fill in and confirm dialogs; confirm runs the dialog's command with the same parameters as its OK button |
ui.backstage (via engine.execute) |
{page?: home|new|open|info|saveAs|print|export|options|account|close} |
Open the File tab's Backstage view on a page, or close it (ui.inspect reports the open page as backstage) |
ui.screenshot |
{path?} |
PNG of the window (base64 when no path). Animations are settled first: the picture shows the final state. On the native app it works while hidden or occluded when the platform still reports the current content size (the request asks for a hidden paint); a minimized window has no capturable size, so its request stays queued until the window is restored and otherwise reports the 8 s timeout. In a hidden browser tab the web runner does not implement that paint request, so the capture waits until the tab is shown again or reports the 8 s timeout. Up to 4 outstanding requests, 128 MiB per image and 256 MiB aggregate, reserving the largest image the ±1-pixel rounding rule can retain; a request that would exceed a budget is refused without evicting earlier ones. A resize/DPI/zoom/visibility/occlusion change during capture is retried within the bounded retry budget or reported instead of saving stale pixels; the identity intentionally includes zoom and occlusion even though the expected physical size may be unchanged, so a capture never crosses layout generations. Every reply — success, refusal or timeout — carries the request token as request |
ui.set |
{dark?, formulaBar?, ribbonCollapsed?, animations?} |
UI preferences (formulaBar runs view.formulaBar) |
ui.resize / ui.focus |
{width, height} |
Window control |
app.open / app.save / app.quit |
{path, password?} / {path?} |
Files and lifetime. password opens a password-protected workbook; without it, such a workbook returns an error (never a dialog) |
Any other method name that is a command id (e.g. home.bold) runs that command.
Use engine.execute with {command: "view.theme", params: {mode: "system"}}
to choose the display theme; mode accepts "system", "light", or "dark".
System follows live OS appearance changes and falls back to Light when the platform supplies no preference.
The saved choice remains System; new users still start in Light. The legacy
view.darkMode command and ui.set {dark} select a fixed Light or Dark theme.
{command: "view.animations", params: {on: false}} turns motion in the UI off (the selection
outline then jumps to a new selection instead of gliding there); without on it toggles. It is
the View ▸ Animations checkbox, saved with the other UI preferences and on by default.
{command: "app.language.set", params: {language: "ja"}} switches the interface language
(code is accepted as an alias for language); app.language.english and
app.language.japanese are shortcuts. engine.commands lists every code it takes (en, es,
zh, ja, ko, ru, pt, de, cs, fr, sr), as does the error for an unknown one. Only
interface chrome is translated, never command ids or document text. The choice is saved in ui.json; with nothing saved the desktop app follows the
system language.
{command: "file.open", params: {path: "Secret.xlsx", password: "…"}} opens a password-protected
workbook (Agile or Standard encryption). Without password it returns an error containing
"is password-protected. Enter its password to open it." and never opens a dialog; a wrong
password returns "The password is incorrect." The password is left out of the journal and never
quoted in an error. The opened workbook has no save path, so Save asks where to save it, without
the password, and never replaces the encrypted original.
For a headless equivalent (no window), use gridcraft-cli mcp or gridcraft-cli run;
see mcp.md and cli.md.
Native printing
Desktop engine.commands {"search":"print"} (and connected MCP list_commands)
lists ui.printSettings and ui.printSubmit with their parameter and result fields.
engine.execute can call ui.printSettings with {} to inspect the printer list, selected
printer, copies, duplex, grayscale, discovery/submission status and backend receipt/error.
{"refresh":true} starts background discovery; poll the same command until discovering is
false. Set printer to a discovered name, integer copies from 1 to 999, duplex to
printerDefault, off, longEdge or shortEdge, and boolean grayscale. Invalid updates are
rejected without changing earlier settings. ui.printSubmit explicitly submits the current
print-ready PDF without opening a dialog; inspect ui.printSettings until busy becomes false
and check status/detail. The browser keeps its own print hook. PDF export remains separate.
GridCraft accepts the existing file.print sheet/pagination params on ui.printSubmit; the engine file.print command returns the PDF without spooling.