	The AppleEvent Builder/Printer	

	The AppleEvent Builder/Printer	

Page i		15 July 1992


7/8/94	Apple Confidential	Page i


		

	The AppleEvent Builder/Printer	

	The AppleEvent Builder/Printer	

Page i	Apple Confidential	15 July 1992


7/8/94	Apple Confidential	Page i


	The AppleEvent Builder/Printer	

15 July 1992		Page i


	The AppleEvent Builder/Printer	

	The AppleEvent Builder/Printer


Page i		15 July 1992


15 July 1992		Page i


	The AppleEvent Builder/Printer

15 July 1992		Page i


DocTitle	DraftNum	7/8/94

i	VOLUME_OR_PART_IDENTIFIER

		I N D E X	i

DocTitle	DraftNum	7/8/94


Apple Events	The ® Builder/Printer
Version 1.3.3















Jens Peter Alfke
11 October 1993
AppleScript Team
© Apple Computer, Inc. 1991Ð1993

Contents
Contents	iii
Introduction	1
OK, What Is It?	1
WhatÕs New?	2
How To Call the Functions	3
AEBuild	3
AEBuildParameters	4
AEBuildAppleEvent	4
AEPrint	5
Descriptor-String Syntax	6
Basic Types	6
Coercion	7
Lists	8
Records	8
Apple Events	9
Substituting Parameters	10
Descriptor-String Grammar	11
An Example & Timing Comparison	13
C Code Using Object-Packing Library	13
Descriptor String	15
AEBuild Call	16
Timing Conclusions	17
The Demo Program	18
The Header Files	19
AEBuild.h	19
AEBuildGlobals.h	20
AEPrint.h	20

Introduction
OK, What Is It?
Even with the helpful Object Support Library routines that assemble common 
Apple event object descriptors, building descriptors and events is still a pain. IÕve 
written a library of two functions that make it quick and easy to build or display 
Apple event descriptors and the Apple events themselves.
The AEBuild function takes a format string Ñ a description in a very simple 
language of an Apple event descriptor Ñ and generates a real descriptor (which 
could be a record or list or event) out of it. The AEPrint function does the reverse: 
given an Apple event descriptor, list or record, it prettyprints it to a string. (The 
resulting string, if sent to AEBuild, would reproduce the original AEDesc 
structure.)
AEBuild can plug variable parameters into the structures it generates Ñ as with 
printf, all you do is put marker characters in the format string and supply the 
parameter values as extra function arguments.
The benefits of using this library are fourfold:
	i	ItÕs easier for you to write the code to build Apple event structures. You 
only have to remember one function call and a few simple syntax rules. 
Your resulting code is also easier to understand.
	i	As of version 1.2, your code is even faster: AEBuild is three to four times 
as fast as the regular Apple Event Manager routines at constructing 
complex structures. (Your mileage may vary.)
	i	Your code is smaller: the code for AEBuild and the AEStream library is 
about 6k in size, and the overhead for each call is minimal. (Most of the 
descriptor string consists of the same four-letter codes youÕd be using in 
your program code anyway, and the strings can even be stored in 
resources for more code savings.)
	i	AEPrint helps in debugging programs, by turning mysterious AEDesc 
structures into human-readable text.
 WhatÕs New?
In version 1.3:
¥	A new function, AEPrintSize, computes how long the string built by AEPrint 
would be, without actually creating it. This is useful if you want to allocate 
storage for the string dynamically.
¥	AEPrint no longer truncates hex dumps (of unknown descriptors) after 32 
bytes.
And in version 1.3.2:
¥	AEPrint no longer uses the stdio library. This should help reduce code size 
(and eliminate some problems in code resources) but to do it I had to cripple 
floating-point display. Floating-point descriptors now print as the integer part 
followed by Ò.XXXXÓ.
And in version 1.3.3:
¥	After a brilliant suggestion by Rob Dye, AEPrint now uses the built in float-
to-text coercion to display floating-point descriptors.
¥	Fixed a possible problem with AEBuild input strings containing Return 
characters, in the MPW version of the library.
How To Call the Functions
These are all C functions. They all take variable number s of arguments, so theyÕd 
be difficult or impossible to call from Pascal, anyway. (And remember, kids: there 
are no Pascal compilers for the PowerPC chipÉ)
AEBuild

OSErr
	AEBuild(  AEDesc *desc, const char *descriptorStr, ... ),
	vAEBuild( AEDesc *desc, const char *descriptorStr, void *args );

AEBuild reads a null-terminated descriptor string (usually a constant, although it 
could come from anywhere), parses it and builds a corresponding AEDesc 
structure. (DonÕt worry, IÕll describe the syntax of the descriptor string in the 
next section.) If the descriptor string contains magic parameter-substitution 
characters (Ò@Ó) then corresponding values of the correct type must be supplied 
as function arguments, just as with printf.
(vAEBuild is analogous to vprintf: Instead of passing the parameters along with 
the function, you supply a va_list, as defined in <stdarg.h>, that points to the 
parameter list. ItÕs otherwise identical.)
AEBuild returns an OSErr. Any errors returned by Apple Event Manager routines 
while building the descriptor will be sent back to you. The most likely results are 
memFullErr and errAECoercionFail. Also likely is aeBuildSyntaxErr, resulting 
from an incorrect descriptor string. (Make sure to debug your descriptor strings, 
perhaps using the demo application, before you put them in programs!)
The basic version of AEBuild just reports that a syntax error occurred, without 
giving any additional information. If you want to know more (perhaps the string 
came from a user, to whom youÕd like to report a helpful error message) you can 
use the other version of the library. This version includes a wee bit of extra code, 
and two global variables that will contain useful information after a syntax error:

extern AEBuild_SyntaxErrType
	AEBuild_ErrCode;
extern long
	AEBuild_ErrPos;

AEBuild_ErrCode is an enumerated value that will contain a specific error code. 
The error codes are defined in AEBuild.h. AEBuild_ErrPos will contain the index 
into the descriptor string at which the error occurred: usually one character past 
the end of the offending token.
AEBuildParameters

OSErr	AEBuildParameters(  AppleEvent *event, const char *descriptorStr, ... );

AEBuildParameters adds parameters and/or attributes to an existing Apple 
event. descriptorStr specifies the parameters (required and optional) and 
attributes. Its syntax is described below (see especially the Apple Event 
Descriptor Strings subsection); itÕs almost the same as the syntax for AEBuild, 
with a few additions and modifications.
(vAEBuildParameters is analogous to vprintf: Instead of passing the parameters 
along with the function, you supply a va_list, as defined in <stdarg.h>, that 
points to the parameter list. ItÕs otherwise identical.)
AEBuildAppleEvent

AEBuildAppleEvent(	AEEventClass theClass, AEEventID theID,
					DescType addressType, void *addressData, long addressLength,
					short returnID, long transactionID,
					AppleEvent *event,
					const char *descriptorStr, ... );

AEBuildAppleEvent is like AEBuild but builds an Apple event, including 
parameters and attributes. Or, you could say that itÕs like AEBuildParameters but 
creates the event from scratch.
Most of the parameters are just like the parameters to AECreateAppleEvent, 
although you pass the target address data directly, instead of via a pre-built 
descriptor. The resulting Apple event will appear in the event parameter.
descriptorStr specifies the parameters (required and optional) and attributes. 
The syntax is described below (see especially the Apple Event Descriptor Strings 
subsection); itÕs almost the same as the syntax for AEBuild, with a few additions 
and modifications.
(vAEBuildAppleEvent is analogous to vprintf: Instead of passing the parameters 
along with the function, you supply a va_list, as defined in <stdarg.h>, that 
points to the parameter list. ItÕs otherwise identical.)
AEPrint

OSErr AEPrint( AEDesc *desc, char *bufStr, long bufSize );

AEPrint reads the Apple event descriptor desc and writes a corresponding 
descriptor string into the string pointed to by bufStr. It will write no more than 
bufSize characters, including the trailing null character. Any errors returned by 
Apple Event Manager routines will be returned to the caller; this isnÕt very likely 
unless the AEDesc structure is somehow corrupt.
The descriptor string produced, if sent to AEBuild, will build a descriptor 
identical to the original one. AEPrint tries to detect AERecords that have been 
coerced to other types and print them as coerced records. Structures of unknown 
type that canÕt be coerced to AERecords are dumped as hex data.
AEPrint can also print complete Apple events as well as regular descriptors. The 
syntax of the resulting string for an event is like that used by AEBuildParameters 
and AEBuildAppleEvent, except that:
¥	The string begins with the event class and ID separated by a backslash.
¥	the parameter list is surrounded by curly braces.
¥	Attributes are also displayed; they look like parameters but are preceded by 
Ò&Ós.
u	The builder functions do not accept this event syntax yet.ÊÊu
AEPrintSize

OSErr AEPrintSize( AEDesc *desc, long *bufSizeNeeded );

AEPrintSize computes the buffer size that AEPrint would require if given the 
same descriptor. (The size is equal to the string length, plus 1 byte for the trailing 
null.) This is handy for pre-flighting AEPrint, if you want to allocate the buffer 
dynamically  instead of relying on one of fixed size .
Descriptor-String Syntax
The real meat of all this, of course, is the syntax of the descriptor strings. ItÕs 
pretty simple: basic data types like numbers and strings can be described 
directly, and then built up into lists and records. IÕve even provided a pseudo-
BNF grammar (next section) for those of you who actually enjoy reading those 
things.
Basic Types
The fundamental data types are:

Type	Examples	Type-code	Description
Integer	1234
-5678	'long' or
'shor'	A sequence of decimal digits,
optionally preceded by a minus
sign.
Enum/Type
Code	whos
longint
'long'
<=
'8-)'
ÔZQ 5Õ
m	'enum'
(Use coercion
to change to
'type')	A magic four-letter code. Will be
truncated or padded with spaces
to exactly four characters. If you
put straight or curly single-
quotes around it, it can contain
any characters. If not, it canÕt
contain any of: @Ô'ÒÓ:-,([{}])
and canÕt begin with a digit.
String	ÒA String.Ó
ÒMultiple lines
are okay.Ó	'TEXT'	Any sequence of characters
within open and close curly
quotes. WonÕt be null-terminated.
Hex Data	Ç4170706C65È
Ç0102 03ff
 e b 6 cÈ	??
(Must be
coerced to
some type)	An even number of hex digits
between French quotes (Option-
\, Option-Shift-\). Whitespace is
ignored.
u	Yes, you have to use the actual four-letter codes for enums, type codes, 
keywords and object types, instead of the mnemonic constants. Luckily the 
codes are semi-mnemonic anyway. I did it this way to avoid the massive 
overhead, both in code size and execution speed, of a symbol table. You can 
find the definitions of the constants in the text file ÒAEObjects.pÓ, which is 
part of the Apple Events Object Support Library.ÊÊu
Coercion
Any basic element (except a hex string) by itself is a descriptor, whose 
descriptorType is as given in the table. You can coerce a basic element to a 
different type by putting it in parentheses with a type-code placed before it. Here 
are some examples:

	sing(1234)
	type(line)
	long(CODE)
	hexd(ÒA StringÓ)
	'blob'(Ç4170706C65È)

u	Coercions of numeric values are effected by calling AECoerceDesc; if the 
coercion fails, youÕll get an errAECoercionFail error returned to you. 
Coercions of other types just replace the descriptorType field of the AEDesc.ÊÊu
u	Hex strings must be coerced to something, since they have no intrinsic type.ÊÊu
You can also coerce nothing, to get a descriptor with zero-length data:

	emty()

Even the type can be omitted, leaving just (), in which case the type is 'null'.
Lists
To make an AEDescList, just enclose a comma-separated list of descriptors in 
square brackets. For example:

	[123, -456, Òet ceteraÓ]
	[sing(1234), long(CODE),
	 [ÒwheelsÓ, Òwithin wheelsÓ]]
	[]

The elements of a list can be of different types, and a list can contain other lists or 
records (see below) as elements.
Lists cannot be coerced to other types; the type of a list is always 'list'.
Records
An AERecord is indicated by a comma-separated list of elements enclosed in curly 
braces. Each element of a record consists of a keyword (a type-code, as described 
under Basic Types) followed by a Ò:Ó, followed by a value, which can be any 
descriptor: a basic type, a list or another record. For example:

	{x:100, y:-100}
	{'origin': {x:100, y:-100}, extent: {x:500, y:500},
	 cont: [1, 5, 25]}
	{}

The default type of a record is 'reco'. Many of the Apple Events Object Model 
structures are AERecords that have been coerced to some other data type, like 
'indx' or 'whos'. You can coerce a record structure to any type by preceding it 
with a type code. For example:

	rang{ star: 5, stop: 6}

s	Warning	Coercing to an existing type, such as 'bool' or 'TEXT', is a bad 
idea. Anyone parsing the descriptor (including AEPrint) will 
recognize the type and assume that the data has the normal 
interpretation, which in this case it wouldnÕt. Bad to awful things 
would happen. DonÕt do it.
Apple Events
The syntax of the formatting string for an entire Apple event (as passed to 
AEBuildAppleEvent) is almost identical to that of a record. Each keyed element 
specified in the string becomes a parameter or attribute of the event. The 
differences are:
¥	There are no curly-braces at the beginning and end of the string.
¥	The character Ò~Ó before a parameter keyword makes it optional.
HereÕs an example of how to construct an Open Selection event for the Finder:

	AliasHandle parent, itemToOpen;
	const OSType finderSignature = 'MACS';
	AppleEvent event;
	OSErr err;

	// Construct the aliases here (not shown)

	err= AEBuildEppleEvent(
			'FNDR', 'SOPE',
			typeApplSignature, @finderSignature, sizeof(finderSignature),
			kAutoGenerateReturnID, kAnyTransactionID,
			&event,										// Event to be created
			"----: alis(@@), fsel: [alis(@@)]",			// Format string
				parent,									// param for 1st @@
				itemToOpen								// param for 2nd @@
	);
Substituting Parameters
To plug your own values into the midst of a descriptor, use the magic Ò@Ó 
character. You can use Ò@Ó anywhere you can put a basic element like an integer. 
Each Ò@Ó is replaced by a value taken from the parameter list sent to the AEBuild 
function. The type of value created depends on the context in which the Ò@Ó is 
used: in particular, how itÕs coerced.

Type Coerced to:	Type of fn parameter read:	Comments:
No coercion	AEDesc*	A plain Ò@Ó will be replaced with a
descriptor parameter.
Numeric (bool, shor,
long, sing, doub, exte)	short, short, long, float,
short double, double	Remember that THINK CÕs double
corresponds to type 'exte'!
TEXT	char*	Pointer to a null-terminated C string.
Any other type	long followed by void*	Expects a length parameter followed by
a pointer to the descriptor data.
s	Important	Note particularly: that TEXT parameters must be null-terminated 
strings, although the resulting descriptor data will not be null-
terminated; and that the general case expects two parameters: the 
dataÕs size and location. ÊÊs
In addition, you can substitute data from a handle by using two @ signs. An Ò@@Ó 
parameter will read a single handle from the parameter list and use the data 
pointed to by that handle as the value of the descriptor. The Ò@@Ó must be 
coerced so that AEBuild will know what type to make the descriptor; however, 
the type coerced to can be anything (the table above is ignored.)
This mechanism is still a bit limited, and may well be improved in the future.
Descriptor-String Grammar
Since no language, however small, can be taken seriously unless it comes fully 
equipped with a formidable-looking BNF grammar specification, I here present 
one. No attempt has been made to prevent Messrs. Backus and/or Naur from 
rolling over in their respective graves.
Character Classification:
whitespace	Ô Õ, Ô\rÕ, Ô\nÕ, Ô\tÕ
digit	0 É 9
paren, bracket,
braces	(, ), [, ], {, }
single-quote	'
double quotes	Ò, Ó
hex quotes	Ç, È
colon	:
comma	,
at-sign	@
identchar	any other printable character
Tokens:
ident ::=	identchar (identchar | digit)*	ÑPadded/truncated
	' character* '	to exactly 4 chars
integer ::=	[ - ] digit+	ÑJust as in C
string ::=	Ò (character)* Ó
hexstring ::=	Ç (hexdigit | whitespace)* È	ÑEven no. of digits, please
Grammar Rules for AEBuild:
formatstring ::=	obj	ÑThis is the top level of syntax
obj ::=	data	ÑSingle AEDesc; shortcut for (data)
	structure	ÑUn-coerced structure
	ident structure	ÑCoerced to some other type
structure ::=	( data )	ÑSingle AEDesc
	[ objectlist ]	ÑAEList type
	{ keywordlist }	ÑAERecord type
objectlist ::=	ÇblankÈ	ÑComma-separated list of things
	obj [ , obj ]*
keywordpair ::=	ident : obj	ÑKeyword/value pair
keywordlist ::=	ÇblankÈ	ÑList of said pairs
	keywordpair [ , keywordpair ]*
data ::=	@	ÑGets appropriate data from fn param
	integer	Ñ'shor' or 'long' unless coerced
	ident	ÑA 4-char type code ('type') unless coerced
	string	ÑUnterminated text; 'TEXT' type unless coerced
	hexstring	ÑRaw hex data; must be coerced to some type!
Grammar Rules for AEBuildAppleEvent:
eventstring ::=	evtkeywordlist	ÑTop level syntax for AEBuildAppleEvent
evtkeywordpair ::=	[~] ident : obj	ÑKeyword/value pair
evtkeywordlist ::=	ÇblankÈ	ÑList of said pairs
	evtkeywordpair [ , evtkeywordpair ]*
There. Now itÕs all crystal-clear, right?
An Example & Timing Comparison
As an example, IÕll take a C function to generate an object descriptor (taken from 
a Pascal example in the Object Model ERS, fleshed out and with gobs of error 
checking added) and turn it into a call to AEBuild. The object descriptor we want 
to generate is:
First line of document 'Spinnaker' whose first word is 'April'
and whose second word is 'is'
Then IÕll execute both functions and compare their execution times.
C Code Using Object-Packing Library
OSErr
BuildByHand( AEDesc *dDocument, AEDesc *theResultObj )
{
	OSErr err;
	AEDesc dObjectExamined, dNum, dWord1, dWord2, dAprilText, dIsText,
		   dComparison1, dComparison2, dLogicalTerms, dTheTest, dLineOne, dTestedLines;
	
	dObjectExamined.dataHandle =	/* Zero things to start out with so we can safely */
		dNum.dataHandle =				/* execute our fail code if things don't work out */
		dWord1.dataHandle =
		dWord2.dataHandle =
		dAprilText.dataHandle =
		dIsText.dataHandle =
		dComparison1.dataHandle =
		dComparison2.dataHandle =
		dLogicalTerms.dataHandle =
		dTheTest.dataHandle =
		dLineOne.dataHandle =
		dTestedLines.dataHandle =
			NIL;

	if( err= AECreateDesc( 'exmn', NIL, 0, &dObjectExamined ) )
		goto fail;

	if( err= MakeIndexDescriptor(1,&dNum) )
		goto fail;
	if( err= MakeObjDescriptor( 'word', &dObjectExamined, formIndex, &dNum,
					false, &dWord1) )
		goto fail;
	if( err= AECreateDesc( 'TEXT', "April", 5, &dAprilText ) )
		goto fail;

	AEDisposeDesc(&dNum);
	if( err= MakeIndexDescriptor(2,&dNum) )
		goto fail;
	if( err= MakeObjDescriptor( 'word', &dObjectExamined, formIndex, &dNum,
					true, &dWord2) )
		goto fail;
	if( err= AECreateDesc( 'TEXT', "is", 2, &dIsText ) )
		goto fail;

	if( err= MakeCompDescriptor( '=   ', &dAprilText, &dWord1, true, &dComparison1 ) )
		goto fail;
	if( err= MakeCompDescriptor( '=   ', &dIsText,	  &dWord2, true, &dComparison2 ) )
		goto fail;

	if( err= AECreateList( NIL, 0, false, &dLogicalTerms ) )
		goto fail;
	if( err= AEPutDesc( dLogicalTerms, 1, dComparison1 ) )
		goto fail;
	if( err= AEPutDesc( dLogicalTerms, 2, dComparison2 ) )
		goto fail;
		
	AEDisposeDesc(&dComparison1);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dComparison2);
	
	if( err= MakeLogicalDescriptor( &dLogicalTerms, 'AND ', true, &dTheTest) )
		goto fail;
	
	if( err= MakeObjDescriptor(classLine,&dDocument,formTest,&dTheTest,true,
									&dTestedLines) )
		goto fail;

	if( err= MakeIndexDescriptor(1,&dLineOne) )
		goto fail;
	if( err= MakeObjDescriptor( classLine, &dTestedLines, formIndex, &dLineOne,
			true, theResultObj ) )
		goto fail;
	return noErr;
	
fail:											/* Clean up in case we couldn't build it */
	AEDisposeDesc(theResultObj);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dObjectExamined);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dNum);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dWord1);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dWord2);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dAprilText);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dIsText);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dComparison1);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dComparison2);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dLogicalTerms);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dTheTest);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dLineOne);
	AEDisposeDesc(&dTestedLines);
	
	return err;
}

MPW 3.2b5 C compiled this into 816 bytes of object code.
I found that the average time to execute this function was 0.0188 seconds 
(Quadra 700) or 0.0113 seconds (IIfx).  Use this figure for comparison only; your 
times may vary. The timing is especially dependent on the number of blocks in 
the heap, since so many block allocations and disposals are happening.
Descriptor String
obj{ want:type('line'),
     from: obj{ want: type('line'), from: @, form: 'test',
                seld: logi{
                           term: [comp{ relo:=, obj1:ÒAprilÓ,
                                        obj2:
                              obj{ want:type('word'), from:exmn(), form:indx, seld:1 }},
                                  comp{ relo:=, obj1:ÒisÓ,
                                        obj2:
                              obj{ want:type('word'), from:exmn(), form:indx, seld:2 }}
                                 ],
                           logc:AND
                         }
              },
     form: 'indx',
     seld: 1
}

AEBuild Call
char descriptor[] =				/* Same descriptor string as above. Note clever */
"obj{ want:type('line'),"		/* method used to break string across lines. */
    "from: obj{ want: type('line'), from: @, form: 'test',"		/* Note parameter here */
               "seld: logi{"
                          "term: [comp{ relo:=, obj1:ÒAprilÓ,"
                                       "obj2:"
                             "obj{ want:type('word'), from:exmn(), form:indx, seld:1 }},"
                                 "comp{ relo:=, obj1:ÒisÓ,"
                                       "obj2:"
                             "obj{ want:type('word'), from:exmn(), form:indx, seld:2 }}"
                                "],"
                          "logc:AND"
                        "}"
             "},"
    "form: 'indx',"
    "seld: 1"
"}";

void PackWordDesc( AEDesc *dDocumentObject )	/* ÒSpinnakerÓ descriptor is a parameter */
{
	err = AEBuild(&theResultObj,
					descriptorString,
					dDocumentObject);					/* AEDesc* parameter for "@" */
}

MPW 3.2b5 C compiled this into 42 bytes of object code, plus 310 bytes of data 
storage for the string.
I found that the average time to execute this function was 0.0049 seconds 
(Quadra 700) or 0.0070 seconds (IIfx). Use this figure for comparison only; your 
times may vary. The timing is dependent on the number of blocks in the heap, 
since heap blocks are being allocated and resized.
Timing Conclusions
With previous versions of this library, there was a 70% increase in execution time 
when using the AEBuild routine. After delivering the bad news, I wrote:
However, if speed does become an issue, there is always the option of 
turbocharging AEBuild by having it directly build descriptors without going 
through the Apple Event Manager functions at all. This would save an incredible 
number of Memory Manager calls and probably increase performance 
severalfold. Anyone using AEBuild will get all these improvements for free.
This is exactly what I did in version 1.1. In fact, I wrote a library (AEStream) to 
do it, so you can do it too. ItÕs easy.
AEBuild is now 1.5 to 4 times as fast (depending on CPU) as the using the Apple 
Event Manager and/or Object Packing Library routines. (This means that 
AEStream was responsible for a threefold speed-up in AEBuild. Not bad, when 
you take into account other overhead like parsing the format string!)
Needless to say, if you were already using AEBuild you get this speed increase 
absolutely free. Enjoy!
The Demo Program
IÕve included a demonstration program in the distribution. This is a program I 
used to debug the library. It reads a line of input, uses AEBuild to translate it into 
an AEDesc, uses AEPrint to translate the AEDesc back into a string, and prints 
each resulting string. Error codes are reported, including syntax-error messages. 
The source code is provided in case you want to see how the functions are called.
s	Warning	The demo tool does not handle parameter substitution (the Ò@Ó 
character). If you try to substitute parameters, messy and 
unpleasant things may happen. Use some numeric value in place 
of parameters, and then replace it with Ò@Ós after you paste the 
string into your program.ÊÊs
The Header Files
Here for your convenience are printouts of the header files as of 21 July 1992.
AEBuild.h
#define aeBuild_SyntaxErr	12345			/* Let's get an Official OSErr code someday */

typedef enum{								/* Syntax Error Codes: */
	aeBuildSyntaxNoErr = 0,						/* (No error) */
	aeBuildSyntaxBadToken,						/* Illegal character */
	aeBuildSyntaxBadEOF,							/* Unexpected end of format string */
	aeBuildSyntaxNoEOF,							/* Unexpected extra stuff past end */
	aeBuildSyntaxBadNegative,					/* "-" not followed by digits */
	aeBuildSyntaxMissingQuote,					/* Missing close "'" */
	aeBuildSyntaxBadHex,							/* Non-digit in hex string */
	aeBuildSyntaxOddHex,							/* Odd # of hex digits */
	aeBuildSyntaxNoCloseHex,						/* Missing "È" */
	aeBuildSyntaxUncoercedHex,					/* Hex string must be coerced to a type */
	aeBuildSyntaxNoCloseString,					/* Missing "Ó" */
	aeBuildSyntaxBadDesc,						/* Illegal descriptor */
	aeBuildSyntaxBadData,						/* Bad data value inside (É) */
	aeBuildSyntaxNoCloseParen,					/* Missing ")" after data value */
	aeBuildSyntaxNoCloseBracket,				/* Expected "," or "]" */
	aeBuildSyntaxNoCloseBrace,					/* Expected "," or "}" */
	aeBuildSyntaxNoKey,							/* Missing keyword in record */
	aeBuildSyntaxNoColon,						/* Missing ":" after keyword in record */
	aeBuildSyntaxCoercedList,					/* Cannot coerce a list */
	aeBuildSyntaxUncoercedDoubleAt				/* "@@" substitution must be coerced */
} AEBuild_SyntaxErrType;

// In all the "v..." functions, the "args" parameter is really a va_list.
// It's listed as void* here to avoid having to #include stdarg.h.

// Building a descriptor:

OSErr
	AEBuild(  AEDesc *dst, const char *src, ... ),
	vAEBuild( AEDesc *dst, const char *src, const void *args );

// Adding a parameter to an Apple event:

OSErr
	AEBuildParameters( AppleEvent *event, const char *format, ... ),
	vAEBuildParameters( AppleEvent *event, const char *format, const void *args );

// Building an entire Apple event:

OSErr
	AEBuildAppleEvent( AEEventClass theClass, AEEventID theID,
						DescType addressType, const void *addressData, long addressLength,
						short returnID, long transactionID, AppleEvent *result,
						const char *paramsFmt, ... ),
	vAEBuildAppleEvent( AEEventClass theClass, AEEventID theID,
						DescType addressType, const void *addressData, long addressLength,
						short returnID, long transactionID, AppleEvent *resultEvt,
						const char *paramsFmt, const void *args );
AEBuildGlobals.h
/*
 *	AEBuildGlobals.h							Copyright ©1991 Apple Computer, Inc.
 */


extern AEBuild_SyntaxErrType
	AEBuild_ErrCode;					/* Examine after AEBuild returns a syntax error */
extern long
	AEBuild_ErrPos;					/* Index of error in format string */
AEPrint.h
/*
 *	AEPrint.h										Copyright ©1991 Apple Computer, Inc.
 */

OSErr AEPrint( AEDesc *desc, char *bufStr, long bufSize );


  Yes, it really took half again as long on a Quadra! I think that cache flushing during the PACK 
call is responsible. (It barely slows down at all when you disable the caches.)

