Composer 9.61, scripts and quotes

[mm2270]

Hey all,
Not sure if anyone else has seen this, or is having the same issue, but I just noticed that, at least with version 9.61 of Composer, if I add in a script, like a postinstall script and I type directly into it, it INSISTS on converting all my quotes (double or single) into curly quotes. No matter what I do I cannot stop it from doing that, short of writing the script in an external application like TextWrangler (I usually do this anyway) and then copying/pasting it into the script editing window in Composer. Then it retains the straight quotes format, but typing directly in, no go.
And there is no option I see in Composer's preferences to stop it from doing this. It doesn't seem linked to an external app like TextEdit either. I already changed TextEdit's preferences not to use curly quotes long ago. Restarting Composer hasn't helped. The bizarre behavior remains.

I would think this has to be a bug. This is a script writing window, not a fancy text editor. It should not be converting quotes!

So, is anyone else seeing this same behavior?

EDIT: In doing some more testing, it turns out I can bypass the curly quotes by adding 'Control' into the mix, so to get straight double quotes its Shift + Control + " For straight single quotes, its just Control + '
That's fine, but I still think for a script editing window, making quotes auto change to curly quotes makes no sense at all. The older version of Composer did not do this to my knowledge, so this is new and unexpected behavior. Had I not seen that, my script would have failed completely due to the curly quotes it was entering. That's a bad user experience in my opinion.

[mm2270 · Accepted solution]

So just as a follow up, I got word from our JAMF TAM today that this issue is actually a known defect and JAMF is planning on fixing it in an update in the future. So it will eventually be addressed it seems. For the moment, just something to be conscious of if you create any scripts manually in Composer.

[SeanA]

It has been awhile since I have used Composer, however, I would agree that is bad experience.

[nkalister]

You can turn that off from the edit menu. Edit->Show Substitutions-> uncheck that crap. You have to have the script editor window open and an active cursor in the editor window for the options to be available.

Aaaand . . . .they revert to being enabled each time you launch Composer.

Verdict: HORRIBLY BROKEN

bad jamf. i'd hit you with a rolled up newspaper if I could.

[andyinindy]

http://s.sudre.free.fr/Software/Packages/about.html

[nkalister]

andy's always the voice of reason.

[mm2270]

Yeah, I'm aware of Packages.app and have it and use it at times. But, frankly, sometimes its overkill for a simple package dropping a payload or running a script.
Anyway, it doesn't excuse this horrible behavior by Composer. Its beyond silly that it even has the option built in to substitute and format text in a script editing window. Whoever decided to include that "feature" was not thinking straight. It needs to be removed unless someone can explain logically why its there.

[rtrouton]

The use of smart quotes may actually be coming from the OS, instead of Composer. I have a post on smart quotes and how to turn them off available from here:

http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/disabling-smart-quotes-in-mavericks/

[nkalister]

Smart quotes were already disabled at the OS level on my machine. Composer still does them.

[mm2270 · Accepted solution]

So just as a follow up, I got word from our JAMF TAM today that this issue is actually a known defect and JAMF is planning on fixing it in an update in the future. So it will eventually be addressed it seems. For the moment, just something to be conscious of if you create any scripts manually in Composer.

[nkalister · Accepted solution]

seems like it was fixed in 9.62

[mm2270]

Yes, confirmed, its fixed in 9.62. Good news.