Subroutines
Making functions and calling them

Table of Contents:

AppleScript Resources

Function Calls

Closure

AppleScript Resources

Apple is one of the best resources for AppleScript documentation. Here's some files you might want to check out:

• AppleScript Language Guide (880 K) - Indepth description of AppleScript's syntax.
• Scripting Additions Guide (340 K) - Everything you ever wanted to know about Scripting Additions-- how to use them, and even make them.
• AS Guide to Scriptable Apps (630 K)- An out of date list of all AppleScriptable apps.
• Language at a glance (70 K) - HyperCard stack. It is the best reference I know of for quickly finding a short overview of any part of AppleScript's syntax! Get it!
• Using AppleScript (50 K) - Really short documentation on how to use Script Editor.

Non-Apple files:

• Danny Goodman's AppleScript Quick Reference (80 K) - Drop this AppleGuide into the same folder as your Script Editor and enjoy. It's a little more descriptive than Apple's "Language at a glance" and supports copy/paste of examples inside AppleGuide. However, since it's an AppleGuide it can be sluggish.

Internet resources:

• ScriptWeb - MacOS scripting resource. You can find almost anything you need from this site.
• www.scripting.com - Userland Software's web site. The makers of "Frontier".

 

Function calls

This is the syntax of how to define a subroutine or function:

( on|to ) subroutineName    ¬
      [of | in directParameterVariable]¬
      [subroutineParamLabel paramVariable]¬
 [given label:paramVariable [,label:paramVariable]]
  [global variable [, variable]]
  [local variable [, variable]]
  [statement]
end [subroutineName]

This is the syntax of how to call a subroutine or function defined as the above:

subroutineName [(of | in)directParameter]¬
 [subroutineParamLabel  parameterValue]¬
  | [ with labelForTrueParam [, labelForTrueParam] ¬
      [ ( and | or | , ) labelForTrueParam ] ] ¬
    | [without labelForFalseParam [,labelForFalseParam]¬
     [ ( and | or | , ) labelForFalseParam ] ] ¬
 [given label:parameterValue [,label:parameterValue]]]

This is an alternate syntax of how to define a subroutine or function:

(on | to) subroutineName (paramVariable [,paramVariable])
     [global variable [, variable ]
     [local variable [, variable ]
     [statement]
   end [subroutineName]

This is an alternate syntax of how to call a subroutine or function:

subroutineName (parameterValue [, parameterValue])

Examples: (taken from the "Language at a glance" HyperCard stack.)

-- A simple handler

on foo (x)

return x ÷ 2

end foo

-- calling syntax:

foo (3)

-- => 1.5

 

-- more examples

on getEnd from stringIn at searchString

global aString

local x, y, z

-- some statements

end getEnd

-- calling syntax:

getEnd from "a string" at "str"

 

on insertString into stringIn at searchString given insertString:insertText

-- some statements

end insertString

set myString to "this is a line of text"

-- calling syntax:

insertString into myString at "line" given insertString:"*BIG* "

 

-- you can use the "with" and "without" to pass in boolean data

on getdata from fileName given fastRead:booleanflag1, recordLock:booleanflag2, message:msgString

return {booleanflag1, booleanflag2, msgString}

end getdata

-- calling syntax:

getdata from "hd:file" with fastRead without recordLock given message:"hi"

-- ==> {true, false, "hi"}

 

-- calling syntax:

getdata from "hd:file2" without fastRead and recordLock given message:"cool!"

-- ==> {false, false, "cool!"}

Closure

Dan Zink made a few other fun Ircle bot scripts relating to Workshop #2. (This text will be moved there after today.) One listens for questions on an IRC channel, and then repeats a random question every 10 seconds. The other translates everything said on a channel to "op" langauge... it is almost like a pig-latin converter.

There is much more to AppleScript than what I have gone over. Hopefully this will be enough of a starter to get you interested in learning more about it.

Some examples of things not yet covered:

«event betamsgA» this is the semi-internal way AppleScript "tokenizes" scripts.
records and fields just sub-variables of "containers".
containers/objects the italicised items at the left when viewing an AppleScript dictionary