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AppleScript: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

Name: AppleScript: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition
Author: Matt Neuburg
ISBN: 9780596102111

by Matt Neuburg

January 2006

Beginner

592 pages

16h 55m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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AppleScript: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition
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Preface
The Scope of This Book
Versions
How This Book Is Organized
Part I, AppleScript OverviewPart II, The AppleScript LanguagePart III, AppleScript in ActionPart IV, Appendixes
Conventions Used in This Book
How to Contact Us
Safari® Enabled
Acknowledgments (First Edition)
Acknowledgments (Second Edition)

I. AppleScript Overview
1. Why to Use AppleScript
1.1. The Nature and Purpose of AppleScript
1.2. Is This Application Scriptable?
1.3. Calculation and Repetition
1.4. Reduction
1.5. Customization
1.6. Combining Specialties
2. Where to Use AppleScript
2.1. Script Editor2.1.1. Apple's Script Editor2.1.2. Smile2.1.3. Script Debugger
2.2. Internally Scriptable Application
2.3. Script Runner
2.4. Automatic Location
2.5. Application
2.5.1. Applet2.5.2. AppleScript Studio2.5.3. Cocoa
2.6. Unix
2.7. Hyperlinks
2.8. Automator
3. Basic Concepts
3.1. Apple Events3.1.1. Reply3.1.2. Scriptability3.1.3. The Life of an Apple Event3.1.4. What an Apple Event Looks Like3.1.5. Go and Catch an Apple Event3.1.6. What All This Has to Do with AppleScript
3.2. The Open Scripting Architecture
3.2.1. Components3.2.2. Other Scripting Languages3.2.3. Talking to a Scripting Component3.2.4. Maintenance of State
3.3. Script
3.3.1. Script as Drive3.3.2. Script as Program3.3.3. Script as Script Object3.3.4. Script as Scripting Component Operand3.3.5. Script as File
3.4. Compiling and Decompiling
3.4.1. Compiling3.4.2. Decompiling
3.5. Compiled Script Files
3.5.1. Compiled Script File Formats3.5.2. Run-only Scripts
3.6. Script Text File
3.7. Applet and Droplet
3.8. Scripting Addition
3.9. Dictionary
3.9.1. Dictionary Formats3.9.2. Dictionary Troubles
3.10. Missing External Referents
3.10.1. Application Missing at Compile Time3.10.2. Application Missing at Decompile Time3.10.3. Application Missing When a Compiled Script Runs3.10.4. Application Missing When an Applet Launches3.10.5. Scripting Addition Missing
3.11. Modes of Scriptability
3.11.1. Recordability3.11.2. Attachability
II. The AppleScript Language
4. Introducing the Language
4.1. A Little Language
4.2. Extensibility and Its Perils
4.3. The "English-likeness" Monster
4.4. Object-likeness
4.5. LISP-likeness
4.6. The Learning Curve
5. Syntactic Ground of Being
5.1. Lines5.1.1. Line-Break Characters5.1.2. Line-Break Characters in Strings5.1.3. Continuation Character
5.2. Result
5.2.1. Explicit Result5.2.2. Implicit Result
5.3. Comments
5.4. Abbreviations and Synonyms
5.5. Blocks
5.6. The
6. A Map of the World
6.1. Scope Blocks
6.2. Levels and Nesting
6.3. The Top Level
6.4. Code and the Run Handler
6.5. Variables
7. Variables
7.2. Assignment and RetrievalReference SectionReference Section7.2.1. Set by Reference7.2.2. Multiple Assignment7.2.3. Retrieval
set
copy
7.3. Declaration and Definition of Variables
7.3.1. Definition7.3.2. Initialization7.3.3. Typing
7.4. Variable Names
7.4.1. Case-Insensitivity of Variable Names7.4.2. Memory of Variable Names7.4.3. Variable Names and Vertical Bars
8. Script Objects
8.1. Script Object Definition
8.2. Run Handler
8.3. Script Properties
8.4. Script Objects as Values
8.5. Top-Level Entities
8.5.1. Accessing Top-Level Entities8.5.2. Persistence of Top-Level Entities8.5.2.1. What reinitializes top-level entities8.5.2.2. File-level persistence
8.6. Compiled Script Files as Script Objects
Reference SectionReference SectionReference Section8.6.1. Data Storage8.6.2. Library
load script
run script
store script
8.7. Inheritance
8.7.1. Polymorphism8.7.2. Continue8.7.3. The Implicit Parent Chain8.7.4. Non-Script Parent8.7.5. Handler Calls, Commands, and Script Objects
9. Handlers
9.1. Handler Definition
9.2. Returned Value
9.3. Handlers as Values
9.4. Parameters
9.5. Pass by Reference
9.6. Syntax of Defining and Calling a Handler
9.6.1. Optional Parameters9.6.2. No Parameters9.6.3. Positional Parameters9.6.4. Prepositional Parameters9.6.5. Named Parameters
9.7. Event Handlers
9.8. The Run Handler
9.9. Recursion
9.10. Power Handler Tricks
9.10.1. Handler and Script Object as Parameter9.10.2. Handler and Script Object as Result
10. Scope
10.1. Regions of Scope
10.2. Kinds of Variable
10.3. Scope of Top-Level Entities
10.4. Scope of Locals
10.5. Scope of Globals
10.5.1. Global Declarations: The Downward Effect10.5.2. Global Declarations: The Upward Effect10.5.2.1. Global as static10.5.2.2. Global as script property10.5.2.3. The double effect of global declarations
10.6. Scope of Undeclared Variables
10.7. Declare Your Variables
10.8. Free Variables
10.9. Redeclaration of Variables
10.10. Closures
10.10.1. Closures and Handlers10.10.2. Closures and Stored Script Objects
11. Objects
11.1. Messages
11.2. Attributes
11.3. Class
11.4. Target
11.4.1. Direct Object11.4.2. Tell Block11.4.3. Of11.4.4. The Chain of Ofs and Tells11.4.5. Terms in Scope11.4.6. Nested Targets
11.5. Get
11.6. It
11.7. Me
11.8. Properties and Elements
11.9. Element Specifiers
11.9.1. Name11.9.2. Index11.9.3. ID11.9.4. Some11.9.5. Every11.9.6. Range11.9.7. Relative11.9.8. Boolean Test
11.10. Operations on Multiple References
11.11. Assignment of Multiple Attributes
11.12. Object String Specifier
12. References
12.1. Reference as Target
12.2. Reference as Incantation
12.2.1. Preresolution of Terminology12.2.2. Being Careful with References
12.3. Creating a Reference
12.4. Identifying References
12.5. Dereferencing a Reference
12.6. Trouble with Contents
12.7. Creating References to Variables
12.8. Reference as Parameter
13. Datatypes
13.1. Application
13.2. Machine
13.3. Data
13.4. Boolean
13.5. Integer, Real, and Number
13.6. Date
13.6.1. Date Properties
13.7. String
13.7.1. String Properties13.7.2. String Elements
13.8. Unicode Text
13.8.1. Forming Unicode Text13.8.2. Other Text Classes
13.9. File and Alias
13.9.1. Alias13.9.2. Other File Classes13.9.3. File Properties13.9.4. File Classes in Applications
13.10. List
13.10.1. List Recursion13.10.2. Secondary List Classes13.10.3. List Properties13.10.4. List Elements
13.11. Record
13.11.1. Record Properties
14. Coercions
14.1. Implicit Coercion
14.2. Explicit Coercion
Reference SectionReference Section14.2.1. Coercion by AppleScript14.2.2. Coercion by a Scriptable Application
as
get... as
14.3. Boolean Coercions
14.4. Number, String, and Date Coercions
14.5. File Coercions
14.6. List Coercions
14.7. Unit Conversions
15. Operators
15.1. Implicit Coercion
15.2. Arithmetic Operators
+
-
*
/
div
mod
^
15.3. Boolean Operators
and
or
not
15.4. Comparison Operators
= (is)
≠ (is not)
<
>
≤
≥
15.5. Containment Operators
contains, does not contain, is in, is not in
begins with
ends with
15.6. Concatenation Operator
&
15.7. Parentheses
15.8. Who Performs an Operation
15.8.1. Direct Operations15.8.2. Boolean Test Element Specifiers
16. Global Properties
16.1. Strings
return
tab
quote
space
text item delimiters
16.2. Numbers
pi
minutes
hours
days
weeks
16.3. Miscellaneous
version
17. Constants
true , false
yes, no, ask
missing value
null
plain, bold, italic, outline, shadow, underline, superscript, subscript, strikethrough, small caps, all caps, all lowercase, condensed, expanded, hidden
case, diacriticals, white space, hyphens, expansion, punctuation, numeric strings
application responses
current application
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
18. Commands
18.1. Application Commands
launch
activate
reopen
quit
18.2. Standard Commands
count
18.3. Logging Commands
log
stop log, start log
19. Control
19.1. Branching
19.2. Looping
19.2.1. Repeat Forever19.2.2. Repeat N Times19.2.3. Repeat While19.2.4. Repeat Until19.2.5. Repeat With19.2.6. Repeat With... In
19.3. Tell
19.4. Using Terms From
19.5. With
19.5.1. Timeout19.5.2. Transaction
19.6. Considering/Ignoring
19.6.1. Ignoring Application Responses19.6.2. String Considerations
19.7. Errors
19.7.1. Throwing an Error19.7.2. Catching an Error
19.8. Second-Level Evaluation
III. AppleScript In Action
20. Dictionaries
20.1. Resolution of Terminology20.1.1. Loading the Dictionary20.1.2. Translating the Terms20.1.2.1. The innermost application dictionary20.1.2.2. Hunting for each term
20.2. Terminology Clash
20.2.1. Compile-time Error20.2.2. Runtime Error20.2.3. No Error, Surprising Behavior20.2.4. Detecting Terminology Clash20.2.5. No Terminology Clash20.2.6. Resolving Terminology Clash20.2.7. Clash Between Dictionaries
20.3. Nonsensical Apple Events
20.4. Raw Four-Letter Codes
20.5. Multiple-Word Terms
20.6. What's in a Dictionary
20.6.1. Value Types20.6.2. Enumerations20.6.3. Classes20.6.3.1. Plurals20.6.3.2. Class inheritance20.6.4. Properties and Elements20.6.5. Records20.6.6. Events20.6.7. Suites
20.7. The 'aeut ' Resource
20.8. Inadequacies of the Dictionary
20.8.1. Defects in the Object Model20.8.2. Defective Element Specifiers20.8.3. Properties with Eponymous Classes20.8.4. Clashes with AppleScript20.8.5. Wrong Value Types20.8.6. Wrong Parameter Details20.8.7. Make20.8.8. Selection20.8.9. Idioms for Common Tasks20.8.10. Events and Classes20.8.11. Coercions20.8.12. Bad Grammar20.8.13. Multiple Listings20.8.14. Busted Scriptability20.8.15. Bad Comments
21. Scripting Additions
21.1. Pros and Cons of Scripting Additions
21.2. Classic Scripting Additions
21.3. Loading Scripting Additions
21.4. Standard Scripting Addition Commands
21.4.1. Dialogs21.4.2. Noises21.4.3. File and Machine Information21.4.4. File Data21.4.5. String and Clipboard21.4.6. Numbers and Dates21.4.7. Miscellaneous
display dialog
display alert
choose from list
choose file
choose folder
choose file name
choose application
choose URL
choose remote application
choose color
beep
get volume settings
set volume
say
system info
system attribute
path to
path to
path to resource
list disks
list folder
info for
open for access
read
write
get eof
set eof
close access
ASCII character
ASCII number
offset
summarize
set the clipboard to
clipboard info
the clipboard
round
random number
current date
time to GMT
delay
mount volume
scripting components
open location
22. Speed
22.1. Tools of the Trade
22.2. Apple Events
22.3. List Access
22.4. Scripting Additions
22.5. Context
23. Scriptable Applications
23.1. Targeting Scriptable Applications23.1.1. Local Applications23.1.2. Remote Applications23.1.3. XML-RPC and SOAP
23.2. Some Scriptable Applications
23.2.1. iApps and Utilities23.2.2. Finder23.2.3. System Events23.2.4. SpeechRecognitionServer23.2.5. URL Access Scripting23.2.6. Keychain Scripting23.2.7. Image Events23.2.8. Database Events
24. Unscriptable Applications
24.1. Historical Perspective
24.2. Getting Started with Accessibility
24.3. GUI Scripting Examples
25. Unix
25.1. Do Shell Script
25.2. Osascript
26. Triggering Scripts Automatically
26.1. Digital Hub Scripting
26.2. Folder Actions
26.3. CGI Application
26.4. Timers, Hooks, Attachability, Observability
27. Writing Applications
27.1. Applets27.1.1. Applet Options27.1.2. Editing an Applet27.1.3. Applet Event Handlers27.1.4. Droplets27.1.5. Persistence27.1.6. Applet Scriptability
27.2. AppleScript Studio
27.2.1. Cocoa and AppleScript Studio27.2.2. The Pieces of AppleScript Studio27.2.3. AppleScript Studio Example27.2.4. Automator Actions
27.3. Cocoa Scripting
27.4. AppleScript Studio Scriptability
IV. Appendixes
A. The AppleScript Experience
A.1. The Problem
A.2. A Day in the Life
A.2.1. Caught in the Web of WordsA.2.2. One for All and All for OneA.2.3. Seek and Ye Shall FindA.2.4. Turning the TablesA.2.5. Refiner's FireA.2.6. Naming of PartsA.2.7. Practice Makes PerfectA.2.8. Finder's KeepersA.2.9. I've Got a Little List
A.3. Conclusions, Lessons, and Advice
B. Apple Events Without AppleScript
B.1. Pure Raw Apple Events
B.2. JavaScript
B.3. UserTalk
B.4. Perl
B.5. Python
C. Tools and Resources
C.1. Scripting Software and Tools
C.2. Scriptable Software
C.3. AppleScript Documentation
C.4. Writing a Scripting Addition
C.5. Writing a Scriptable Application
C.6. Portals, Instruction, and Repositories
C.7. Mailing Lists
C.8. Books
C.9. Unix Scripting
About the Author
Colophon
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