AppleScript: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

What's in a Dictionary

Dictionaries are not presented to you as a verbal explanation with instructions for their use. They are structured in tabular form and typically displayed through a special dictionary viewer window within a script editor application. It takes time and practice to learn to use this dictionary viewer and to get the most out of its display . You need to be adept at reading and understanding a dictionary display if you are to communicate successfully with scriptable applications and scripting additions.

The good news is that, starting in Tiger, the Script Editor 's dictionary display has been improved (for the first time since the dawn of AppleScript). Back in the bad old days, the dictionary was shown in a simple, primitive way (Figure 20-1). Its table of contents was a simple scrolling list down the left side, organized by "suites" that were not alphabetically arranged. Because you didn't know what "suite" a particular item was in, you had to scroll through the list looking for it in each suite. Clicking an entry in the list displayed its information in the main pane; that information was static and terse.

In Tiger, the list on the left is an outline whose headings can be opened and closed; alternatively, you can use a columnar browser at the top of the window (Figure 20-2). A search field at the top lets you jump directly to a desired entry. The information for an entry is more copious: you learn not only what elements a class contains but also what classes it ...