AppleScript_ The Definitive Guide - Matt Neuburg [17]
An application can act as a script runner in a noncustomizable way as well. For example, an application might incorporate scripts as ordinary menu items. This makes sense when an application is scriptable and can best implement a command's functionality by taking advantage of its own scriptability. Mail's File → Import Mailboxes menu item works this way.
There is also a Script Menu provided by Apple that gives systemwide access to scripts; this is particularly helpful when a script needs to be available from every application, or when its target application has no Script menu of its own. It appears as a status menu item (on the right side of the menu bar) in the form of a black scrolled s-shaped icon. If you don't see it, you can turn it on with the AppleScript Utility. The menu items in the Script Menu represent the folders and script files inside /Library/Scripts and ~/Library/Scripts; AppleScript Utility provides an option for toggling the visibility of the /Library/Scripts items. The menu is global, but there is a special convention for specifying that a script should appear only when a particular application is frontmost: create a folder called ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/ Warning Apple's global Script Menu is a nice idea, but it should not, in my view, be seen as preferable to Script menus in individual applications (especially in view of the latter's speed advantage). Unfortunately, it is beginning to look as if that's just how Apple does see it. Apple's Mail program had a Script menu in Panther, but in the Tiger version this has been removed. I'm guessing that this is because Apple would prefer that you use the global Script Menu. If this is a trend, it's an ominous one. A utility similar to the Script Menu, with some advantages such as keyboard menu shortcuts and easier creation of application-specific folders, is Red Sweater's FastScripts . An alternative of a completely different kind, using contextual menus instead of a drop-down menu in the menu bar, is Ranchero's Big Cat . And Xendai's Bellhop lets you run a script from the Services menu that appears in most applications. Still another script runner interface is provided by a launcher application. A launcher is a utility used to open things (folders, applications, files); many launchers will "open" a compiled script file by running it. My favorite is DragThing . DragThing's primary interface is a "dock" with clickable icons, where each icon is a file or folder; launching a compiled script with DragThing either runs it or opens it for editing, depending on whether you're holding down the Option key. An icon can also be assigned a keyboard shortcut that launches it, and docks can be set to be active only in a particular application or set of applications. Other examples of launchers are iKey and Keyboard Maestro . Automatic Location
An automatic location is much like a script runner. But there's a significant difference. A script runner finds compiled script files in a prearranged location and offers you an interface so that you can run them when you want to. An automatic location is a place where an application finds compiled script files and runs them automatically, with no intervention on your part. The application runs the script when it wants to—typically in reponse to the occurrence of certain events or stimuli. This doesn't mean you've no involvement, though; you were involved when you arranged for the application to find this script