Chapter 5 - Objects and References
Objects are the things in applications, the Operating System, or AppleScript that can respond to commands. For example, application objects are objects stored in applications and their documents. Usually, they are identifiable items that users can manipulate in applications, such as windows, words, characters, and paragraphs in a text-editing application. Objects can contain data, in the form of values, properties, and elements, that can change over time.Each object belongs to an object class, which is a category for objects that have similar characteristics and respond to the same commands. To find out what types of data an object contains, or which commands it can respond to, you
can check its object class definition. To refer to objects from scripts, you use references, which are compound names, similar to paths or addresses, that identify objects or groups of objects.This chapter describes how to interpret object class definitions and how to use references to specify objects. For examples of object class definitions provided by an application, see "Scriptable Text Editor Object Class Definitions," which begins on page 318.
Most objects are contained in applications. It is also possible to create another type of object, called a script object, that can be stored in scripts or saved in files. For information about script objects, see Chapter 9, "Script Objects."
Chapter Contents
- Using Object Class Definitions
- Properties
- Element Classes
- Commands Handled
- Default Value Class Returned
- References
- Containers
- Complete and Partial References
- Reference Forms
- Using the Filter Reference Form
- References to Files and Applications
- References to Files
- References to Applications
- References to Local Applications
- References to Remote Applications