Common Scripting Tasks

Table A-1 lists common scripting tasks and provides links to sections in this book with related sample scripts or overview material.

Table A-1 Links to sample scripts and other useful information

Working With Applications
Launching an application	Launch
Moving data from a database to a spreadsheet	Repeat Until
Quitting an application	Quit
Reopening an application	Reopen
Running an application	Run
Specifying an application on a remote machine	References to Remote Applications
Working With Constants
Arithmetic, Boolean, Consider and Ignoring, Date and Time, Miscellaneous, Save Option, String, Text Style, and Version	Constants
Working With Error Handling
Handling a User Cancelled error returned from the Display Dialog scripting addition command	Try
Setting a timeout interval	With Timeout
Using a Try statement to handle errors	Error
(See also Miscellaneous Tasks in this table.)

Working With Files and Documents
Creating a new application document	Make
Opening a file	Open
Printing a document	Print
Printing all open documents with a Repeat loop and Exit statement	Exit
Saving a document	Save
Searching for a string in a list of documents	Examples of Subroutines With Labeled Parameters
Specifying a file by alias, by file specification, or by reference	References to Files and Applications
Working With the Finder
Cleaning up a Finder window	Dictionaries
Counting files in a folder	Using Results
Counting files on a disk	Count
Deleting a file on the startup disk	Delete
Determining if a file exists	Characteristics of Control Statements ; If Statements
Determining if a folder exists	Exists
Duplicating a file on the startup disk	Duplicate
Examining files by file type	Filter
Moving a file to a different folder	Move
Opening all the aliases in a folder	Figure 2-3
Opening files and folders by ID	ID
Special disk and folder names the Finder understands (`control panels folder` , `startup disk` , `system folder` , and others)	Viewing a Result in the Script Editor's Result Window
Working With Handlers and Subroutines
Handling pathnames of files dropped on a script application	Open Handlers
Working with libraries of subroutines	Saving and Loading Libraries of Subroutines
Writing an idle handler	Idle Handlers
Writing a minimum value subroutine	A Sample Subroutine
Writing a quit handler	Quit Handlers
Writing a recursive subroutine	Recursive Subroutines
Working with references
Overview of references and containers	References
Summary of reference forms	Reference Forms
Working with reference filters	Using the Filter Reference Form
Working with references to files and applications	References to Files and Applications
Working with the Reference value class	Reference
Working With the Script Editor
Compiling a script with the Script Editor	Compiling Scripts With the Script Editor
Entering raw data in a script	Entering Script Information in Raw Format
Examining an application's dictionary	Dictionaries
Using comments in a script	Comments
Using the Script Editor's Event Log window	Debugging Scripts
Working With Text
Getting a paragraph of text	Get
Moving text within a document	Relative
Replacing text in a word processing document	Styled Text
Styled Clipboard Text	Styled Clipboard Text
Unicode and International Text	Unicode Text and International Text
Working With Value Classes
Common value classes	Table 3-1
Coercing values	Coercing Values
Dates	Date ; Date-Time Arithmetic ; Working With Dates at Century Boundaries
Measurements of length, area, cubic and liquid volume, mass, and temperature	Unit Type Value Classes
RGB Colors	RGB Color
Working With Windows
Closing a window	Close
Closing a window on a remote computer	Tell (Compound Statement)
Getting the screen position of a window	Copy
Miscellaneous Tasks
Changing Text Item Delimiters	AppleScript Properties
Comparing strings	Greater Than, Less Than ; Considering/Ignoring
Creating variables	Creating Variables ;
Debugging a script	Debugging Scripts
Getting and setting Clipboard data	Styled Clipboard Text
Inserting and accessing items in large lists	List ; The A Reference To Operator
Rules for naming identifiers	Identifiers
Scope of properties and variables	Scope of Script Variables and Properties
Speaking text from a script	Debugging Scripts
Working with script objects	Script Objects