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written educational and utility freeware, and became an early regular contributor to the online journal TidBITS. In 1995, Matt became an editor for MacTech Magazine. He is also the author of "Frontier: The Definitive Guide" and "REALbasic: The Definitive Guide" for O'Reilly.

Colophon

The animal on the cover of AppleScript: The Definitive Guide is a Boston terrier. The youngest breed in the American Kennel Club (AKC), the Boston is a cross between various types of bulldogs and bull terriers. Originally bred in England, the breed stabilized in the United States, where it was initially favored as a fighter in the underworld rat pits of the seedier areas of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Boston. By the late nineteenth century, however, people started to admire the beauty of the breed's compact, elegant build—the "American Gentleman," as the Boston terrier is now known, had been discovered.

In 1889, the AKC rejected the Stud Book applications put forth by the "American bull terrier" owners only to accept the breed in 1893 under its new name, Boston terrier. Today, its gentle yet playful and protective nature, combined with its willingness to be trained, make it a popular family pet—especially, of course, in Boston, the metropolitan area in which O'Reilly maintains a large editorial and production staff. Although the Boston terrier's fighting days are in its past, the sportsmen and sportswomen at Boston University evoke the breed's heritage each time they take the field or ice.

The cover font is Adobe ITC Garamond. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed.

Table of Contents

AppleScript: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition

Preface

The Scope of This Book

Versions

How This Book Is Organized

Part I, AppleScript Overview

Part II, The AppleScript Language

Part III, AppleScript in Action

Part IV, Appendixes

Conventions Used in This Book

How to Contact Us

Safari® Enabled

Acknowledgments (First Edition)

Acknowledgments (Second Edition)

I. AppleScript Overview

1. Why to Use AppleScript

1.1. The Nature and Purpose of AppleScript

1.2. Is This Application Scriptable?

1.3. Calculation and Repetition

1.4. Reduction

1.5. Customization

1.6. Combining Specialties

2. Where to Use AppleScript

2.1. Script Editor

2.1.1. Apple's Script Editor

2.1.2. Smile

2.1.3. Script Debugger

2.2. Internally Scriptable Application

2.3. Script Runner

2.4. Automatic Location

2.5. Application

2.5.1. Applet

2.5.2. AppleScript Studio

2.5.3. Cocoa

2.6. Unix

2.7. Hyperlinks

2.8. Automator

3. Basic Concepts

3.1. Apple Events

3.1.1. Reply

3.1.2. Scriptability

3.1.3. The Life of an Apple Event

3.1.4. What an Apple Event Looks Like

3.1.5. Go and Catch an Apple Event

3.1.6. What All This Has to Do with AppleScript

3.2. The Open Scripting Architecture

3.2.1. Components

3.2.2. Other Scripting Languages

3.2.3. Talking to a Scripting Component

3.2.4. Maintenance of State

3.3. Script

3.3.1. Script as Drive

3.3.2. Script as Program

3.3.3. Script as Script Object

3.3.4. Script as Scripting Component Operand

3.3.5. Script as File

3.4. Compiling and Decompiling

3.4.1. Compiling

3.4.2. Decompiling

3.5. Compiled Script Files

3.5.1. Compiled Script File Formats

3.5.2. Run-only Scripts

3.6. Script Text File

3.7. Applet and Droplet

3.8. Scripting Addition

3.9. Dictionary

3.9.1. Dictionary Formats

3.9.2. Dictionary Troubles

3.10. Missing External Referents

3.10.1. Application Missing at Compile Time

3.10.2. Application Missing at Decompile Time

3.10.3. Application Missing When a Compiled Script Runs

3.10.4. Application Missing When an Applet Launches

3.10.5. Scripting Addition Missing

3.11. Modes of Scriptability

3.11.1.