Inside Macintosh: AppleScript Language Guide / Part 2 - AppleScript Language Reference

Chapter 8 - Handlers / Subroutine Definitions and Calls

Subroutines With Positional Parameters /

Subroutine Call, Positional Parameters

A subroutine call for a subroutine with positional parameters lists the parameters in the same order as they are specified in the subroutine definition.

SYNTAX

subroutineName ( [ parameterValue [, parameterValue ]...] )

where

subroutineName (an identifier) is the name of the subroutine.

parameterValue is the value of a parameter, which can be any valid expression. If there are two or more parameters, they must be listed in the same order in which they were specified in the subroutine definition.

The parentheses that enclose the series of positional parameters are a required part of the language. They are shown in bold to distinguish them from parentheses that show grouping but are not part of the language. The parentheses must be included even if the subroutine definition doesn't include any parameters.

NOTES

A subroutine call must include all the parameters specified in the subroutine definition. There is no way to specify optional parameters.

You can use a subroutine call as a parameter of another subroutine call. Here's an example.

minimumValue(2, maximumValue(x, y))

The second parameter of the call to minimumValue is the value from the subroutine call to maximumValue. (The minimumValue subroutine is defined in the next section.)

A call to a subroutine with positional parameters can include parameters that aren't literals as long as they evaluate to a pattern defined for the subroutine. Similarly, the properties of a record passed to a subroutine don't have to be given in the same order they are given in the subroutine's declaration, as long as all the properties required to fit the defined pattern are present. The examples that follow include subroutines with positional parameters that define a pattern.