| FEATURES: |
Program Linking. AppleScript Language Mac OS X version 10.0 through 10.0.4 did not support Program Linking. With Mac OS X version 10.1 and later, and AppleScript version 1.7 and later, Program Linking works between Mac OS X machines as well as between Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X machines.
When targeting applications running on a Mac OS X machine, you must use TCP/IP networking and addressing; AppleTalk is not supported. (In addition, AppleScript 1.7 now supports encoding the login name and password into the "eppc" URL.) For a Mac OS X machine to respond to Program Linking requests, "Allow Remote Apple Events" must be enabled in the Sharing panel of System Preferences.
SOAP and XML-RPC Support. AppleScript 1.7 for Mac OS X 10.1 can use Internet applications as targets of Tell blocks. The syntax is:
tell application "http://server.domain.com/application"
call xmlrpc {methodName:"XMLRPCMethod", parameters: {"hello", 25}}
-- or
call soap {methodName:"SOAPMethod", ¬
method namespace uri: "urn:xmethodsTest", ¬
parameters: {{name:"Fred", age:32}}, ¬
SOAPAction:"urn:xmethodsTest#Test"}
end tell
The URL for the application reference must be a correct URL for a SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) or XML-RPC (eXtended Markup Language Remote Procedure Call) Web server.
An alternate syntax is:
tell application "webapplication" of machine "http://server.domain.com"
but this form will be converted to the form above when the script is compiled.
New Icons. AppleScript 1.7 includes new icons for script files, scripting additions, and applets and droplets in Mac OS X. You should note that the new icons for compiled and uncompiled script files are more similar in X than they were in 9; you can tell the difference by the word "TEXT" in the icon for uncompiled text. Note also that while scripting additions and script files will appear with new icons automatically after a 10.1 upgrade, applets and droplets will not get the new icons until they are opened in Script Editor 1.7 and re-saved.
File Extensions. Like most other Mac OS X functions, AppleScript now supports file extensions (as well as the historical file types) on all the file kinds it deals with. The file types for AppleScript are:
| script text | .applescript |
| compiled script | .scpt |
| scripting addition | .osax |
| scripting dictionary | .asdictionary |
Line Endings. Because many Mac OS X files use "UNIX-style" line endings (using the linefeed character, or ASCII character 10), AppleScript versions 1.7 and later explicitly support embedding the linefeed character in strings with \\n. Scripts that use this feature can be run on older versions of AppleScript, but if decompiled, the linefeed character will not be visible in the decompiled output (but will recompile correctly).
Applets. Prior to AppleScript 1.4.3, script applications (applets) were stored in a "universal" format that worked on both 680x0-based and Power PC-based Macintosh models. Because that format was 680x0-based, it would not work on Mac OS X, so a "Mac OS X applet" format was introduced in AppleScript 1.4.3. With improvements in Mac OS X since that time, it is now possible to produce a script application that works on 680x0-based, Power PC-based Mac OS 9, and Mac OS X configurations. Script Editor 1.7 again offers only one choice for saving script applications. Older formats continue to work on the configurations they were saved for.
Command-Line Tools. The osacompile and osascript tools now have an "include" option ('-i') that allows you to specify application terminology to be used when compiling the given scripts. This frees you from having to specify applications in Tell blocks in the script itself. You can also use this to specify the static terminology for an application with dynamic terms, so you can prevent that application from being launched when you compile the script.
| BUG FIXES: |
AppleScript Language In AppleScript 1.5 through 1.6, a script's global variables could be lost under certain rare circumstances. If a script contains a Tell block that targets a variable, and that variable specifies an application that does not exist, the "Where is application <name>?" dialog would be presented when the script is executed. After that point, further references to global variables in the handler that included the Tell block would fail. This has been fixed in AppleScript 1.7 for Mac OS X and Classic.
In AppleScript 1.5 and 1.6 for Mac OS X, scripting additions behaved fundamentally differently than in Mac OS 9: they were only installed in certain applications that were AppleScript-aware. If a scripting addition command (such as 'display dialog') was sent to an application that was not AppleScript-aware, the event would instead be executed in the application running the script (e.g. Script Editor); that means the dialog would come up in the Script Editor layer, not the Tell target application. In AppleScript 1.7 in Mac OS 10.1, the scripting additions mechanism has been redesigned to behave more like Mac OS 9, and scripting addition commands sent to applications will be executed in the process space and window layer of the target application.
AppleScript 1.5 through 1.6 often launched applications unnecessarily in order to get their terminology, and often used the terminology of the script editing application (such as Script Debugger) instead of application terminology. This has been fixed in AppleScript 1.7.
In AppleScript 1.5 through 1.6 for Mac OS X, the version property of AppleScript or an application would be displayed as raw data rather than a string (unless the version property was explicitly converted to a string). This has been fixed in AppleScript 1.7.
In AppleScript 1.5 and 1.6 for Mac OS X, certain operations with 'file' object specifiers (e.g. '"file Mac OS X:Applications:Terminal.app:" as alias) would fail, when similar operations would succeed on AppleScript 1.3 through 1.6 for Mac OS 9. These operations now work in AppleScript 1.7 for Mac OS X. Note that, as always, while you can pass a 'file' object specifier as a parameter to an event, or perform certain operations on it (like assignment and coercion), simply evaluating '"file pathname"' is itself an AppleScript error.
AppleScript 1.5 and 1.6 for Mac OS X could not target Mac OS 9 control panels running in the Classic environment. This has been fixed in AppleScript 1.7. Note that the Classic environment only supports a small number of control panels from Mac OS 9 (such as the Launcher).
Accessing paragraphs of AppleScript strings did not work correctly in AppleScript 1.5 through 1.6 if the line endings were Windows-style (CRLF). The result would be only the first half of the text paragraphs, interspersed with an equal number of blank strings. This has been fixed in AppleScript 1.7 and later.
Occasionally with AppleScript 1.5 and 1.6, recompiling a script would get an End of File error reading an application's terminology. This has been fixed in AppleScript 1.7.
In AppleScript 1.6, under certain circumstances calling a handler in an applet that has not been launched could cause an "Cannot continue" error. This has been fixed in AppleScript 1.7 and later.
In AppleScript 1.6, Unicode text values stored in script properties of a saved script could not be reloaded reliably. This has been fixed in AppleScript 1.7.
In AppleScript 1.6, Unicode text received from certain applications that included a Unicode byte-order mark would behave incorrectly; the text would appear to begin with the Euro symbol, and some operations would fail. AppleScript 1.7 handles Unicode text with byte-order marks correctly.
In somewhat rare circumstances, comparing two references to the same file for equality can fail even if both references refer to the same file. This is true in AppleScript 1.0 through 1.6 and has been fixed in AppleScript 1.7.
Due to a problem in AppleScript's script parser, the language formations "isn't", "doesn't", and possessives ending with "'s" would all accept a vertical bar or a double-quote character in place of the "s" or "t" following the apostrophe. In AppleScript 1.7 and later, these constructions (for example, "doesn'|" or "AppleScript'" version") are correctly noted as syntax errors.
Script Applications ("applets") In AppleScript 1.5 and 1.6, a running AppleScript applet will become non-responsive to any events (except command-period) after processing more than one incoming event. This has been fixed in AppleScript 1.7.
Script Editor In Script Editor 1.6 for Mac OS X 10.0.0 through 10.0.4, you could not choose the Finder with the "Browse" option from the "Open Dictionary..." dialog box. This has been fixed by Standard Additions 1.7 on Mac OS 10.1.
In Script Editor 1.6 in Mac OS X, attempting to paste Unicode text into the script window would result in an error. This has been fixed in Script Editor 1.7.
In Script Editor 1.6, printing a script to the printer would result in random characters being printed in the place of the script file name. This has been fixed in Script Editor 1.7.
Under certain circumstances in Mac OS 10.0.0 through 10.0.4, double-clicking generic TEXT files in the Finder would cause them to be opened by the Script Editor. This has been fixed in Script Editor 1.7, which will now be chosen to open only AppleScript-generated script text files. Script Editor 1.7 can also open files with the file extension ".applescript" even if they have no file type.
Standard Additions All disks formatted as Enhanced Macintosh File System ("HFS Plus") are able to store files with file names greater than 32 characters and stored as Unicode text. When older software accesses such files, those names are represented in an encoded form (with something like "#28AF" in the name). With AppleScript 1.6 and earlier, the results of many Standard Additions commands (like 'path to', 'info for', and 'list folder'), as well as creation and display of alias objects, would require and return encoded names. In AppleScript 1.7, long and Unicode file names in aliases and for scripting additions are represented by styled or Unicode text. Encoded file names are no longer supported.
From AppleScript 1.1, the 'offset' scripting addition command has not worked correctly when the direct parameter is styled text. It also has not worked correctly with the newly-introduced Unicode text type. In Standard Additions 1.7 and later it produces correct results with both styled and Unicode text.
In versions of Standard Additions prior to 1.7, the 'choose URL' command's 'using editable URL' parameter was present in the Scripting Additions dictionary but was nonfunctional (URLs were always editable regardless of the setting of the parameter). It behaves correctly in Standard Additions 1.7 and later: if set to false, the user can choose a URL only by browsing, not by editing the URL in the text box.
The 'choose from list' command in Scripting Additions 1.4 through 1.6 allowed the scripter to create a situation where it would return an empty selection even if the scripter specifically disallowed that case. (This can be done by supplying a default item that does not appear in the list). In Scripting Additions 1.7 and later, the "OK" button will not be enabled in such cases.
In Mac OS X, the 'info for' scripting addition in Standard Additions 1.7 now returns additional record items that provide information about the file's extensions. The 'displayed name' item returns the name of the item as the user sees it in the Finder or file dialogs, and the 'name extension' item now returns the file extension (if any) that is on the indicated file (without the ".", which is considered a separator, and not part of either the name or the extension). Both of these fields (along with the 'name' field itself) are Unicode text values.
In Standard Additions 1.6 and earlier, the 'info for' scripting addition would fail if any piece of information in the requested file or directory was unavailable. On UFS (Mac OS X ) disks and mounted NFS volumes, the file creation date is unavailable, and accessing it causes a -8850 error (in trying to convert it to Universal Time). Starting with Standard Additions 1.7, any missing piece of information in the 'info for' result is provided as the value 'missing value' without failure. In AppleScript 1.6 and earlier, magnitude comparisons (<, ≤, >, ≥) against the 'missing value' would signal a coercion error for most types; i n 1.7 and later, these comparisons always return 'false' without error. These two changes ensure that scripts that use 'info for' against UFS and NFS volumes do not fail, though they may not get correct results because any comparison to the creation date is always false.
In Standard Additions 1.6 on both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X, the 'info for' scripting addition would return an error -1401 for a nonexistent file, rather than the normal -35 returned in previous versions. In Standard Additions 1.7 trying to get the info for a nonexistent file (or a file in a nonexistent directory or inaccessible disk) will return the -35 error.
The 'read' command in Scripting Additions 1.6 had specific problems with the "using delimiters" parameter: in previous versions, 'read f as list using delimiters {tab}' would return a list, but in AppleScript 1.6, it returns a list of one-item lists. In AppleScript 1.7 and later it behaves as it did prior to version 1.6
The 'read' command in Scripting Additions 1.6 had specific problems with the 'before' and 'until' parameters if used in conjunction with the 'as' parameter. Instead of returning a value of a given type, it would return random data or an error. This has been fixed in Scripting Additions 1.7 and later.
Mac OS 9.1 introduced the concept of a "package", that is, a file composed of a folder of several files and folders, which is treated as an integral file by the Finder and other applications. The 'info for' scripting addition in AppleScript 1.6 and earlier treated such packaged data application files as folders, not files, and would not return file- or application-related information about them. In Standard Additions 1.7 and later, getting the information for any directory (including package folders) returns an additional record item "package folder" (if this Boolean value is true, then the directory is a package), and the file's type and creator.
Standard Additions 1.5 through 1.6 changed the way that the random number seed worked in the 'random number' scripting addition. Older versions used the system clock as the seed value if no seed value (or a seed value of 0) was provided; Scripting Additions 1.5 and 1.6 always use a seed value of 0 in these cases. In Scripting Additions 1.7 the older behavior has been restored. In addition, the seed value is now taken from the 60Hz 'ticks' counter rather than the system clock, because the increased speed of new machines makes it more likely that two consecutive random number calls may receive the same system clock time as their seed value.
In Mac OS X 10.0 through 10.0.4, the 'choose file name' scripting addition in Standard Additions 1.6 would crash if given an empty string ("") as the default file name. This has been fixed in Standard Additions 1.7. In addition, on Mac OS X the default file name can be a Unicode string.
Command-Line Tools For the osacompile and osascript command-line tools, the requirement that they be invoked with full paths (i.e. /usr/bin/osacompile) has been eliminated. They can now be invoked with implicit paths like any other command-line tool.
In Mac OS X 10.0.0 through 10.0.4, the '-l' and '-d' options for the osalang tool did not work as documented. In Mac OS X 10.1 and later, -l prints the subtype, manufacturer, flags, and name; and -L also prints the description in parentheses after the name.
The osacompile and osascript tools previously had a limit of 32K of input text. This limit has been lifted in Mac OS 10.1.
The osacompile and osascript tools execute as background applications; they cannot involve any user interface. If you want to call 'display dialog', 'choose from list', or other user-interface scripting additions from a script being executed by osascript, you must enclose it in a Tell block targeting a running application (such as the Finder).
| KNOWN PROBLEMS: |
AppleScript In AppleScript 1.0 and later, when you save a script using the 'store script' command it saves the script's entire parentage chain (which includes the script that calls the 'store script' command). This results in a stored script size that is much larger than would be expected. This is necessary in order for the script to have access to its parent's properties, globals, and handlers.
AppleScript 1.1 and later has a 32,767-character limit on string literals at compile time. If you need to compile scripts that contain string literals longer than 32K, use concatenation.
In AppleScript 1.1 and later, comparing two strings for equality will fail if one string contains more than 32,767 characters, even if the strings are obviously different.
In AppleScript 1.2 and later, certain mathematical operations on a small percentage of real numbers will return unexpected results. This is because many exact decimal fractions cannot be represented accurately in binary numbers. For example, (2.32 * 100) div 1 will compute to 231 rather than 232.
AppleScript supports recursive lists and records, that is, lists or records that include themselves. These are of limited utility. While they are handled correctly inside AppleScript itself, they cannot be sent to other applications or scripting additions, or a Stack Overflow error will result.
AppleScript compiles 4294967296 as 0, and numbers larger than that to their value minus 4294967296. The workaround is to use real-number format (e.g. 4294967296.0) instead.
If a script sends a Quit event to an application, the application will be launched if it is not running and be told to quit immediately. To prevent this, check the Processes class of the Finder to see if the application is running before sending it the Quit event.
The values of a list can be filtered by type with the syntax <plural class> of <list> or every <class> of <list>, e.g "integers of {1, 2.0, 3, true, "string"}. This does not work, however, with the class 'class': "classes of {string, 2, integer, "goodbye"}" returns an empty list, not {string, integer} as expected.
In AppleScript 1.6 and later, compiling certain numbers in scientific notation (such as 1.0e-12) will decompile in decimal form (i.e. 0.000000000001).
If an application object has an illegal URL in its "machine" container (e.g. application "Finder" of machine "eppc:/www.apple.com" -- notice only one "/"), the "machine" container will be omitted and the application object will target the local machine, not a remote machine.
Pathnames of 'alias' objects may have problems if they contain accented characters. They may fail to compile, or produce errors on attempting to display them.
Script Editor In very rare circumstances, on some computers, Script Editor 1.6 and later will stop displaying results in the Results window after a multi-line result has been displayed. Quit the Script Editor and re-launch it to see results again.
When resizing a Script Editor script window in Mac OS X, the vertical line at the left of the window is not drawn correctly. Minimize and reopen the window to redraw it correctly.
In Mac OS X, if you change your primary Language preference in System Preferences while the Script Editor is open, the Script Editor will partially -- but not completely -- adopt the new language choice. It will be better if you quit the Script Editor and restart it, but only complete after you log out and log back in again.
If you are using the Event Log window to show event results, if the result of any event contains more than 20,000 characters, the script will terminate with an error -20013. Turn off 'Show Event Results' or close the Event Log.
Script Applications ("applets") AppleScript applets handle incoming events in a last-in, first-out manner. If an applet is executing a script in response to an incoming event, and receives another incoming event, the second event will be completed before execution of the first event resumes. This is necessary so that events generated by the applet's script itself can be processed, but this may have an effect on applications (such as web servers) that send events to applets. If an applet receives a lot of events in a short period of time, the earlier events may receive timeout errors while the later events are processed.
In Script Editor 1.7, editing an applet saved as a Classic script application ("applet") and re-saving it will change its format to a "universal" applet. It can then be run in either Mac OS 9, Classic, or Mac OS X, but by default if double-clicked it will run in Mac OS X. If the applet is intended to be run in Classic (for example, if it uses Classic scripting additions), it may not function correctly. To fix this, use the Finder's Get Info command and check the "Open in the Classic environment" check box in the General Information pane.
In AppleScript 1.6 for Mac OS X, the 'Disable Startup Screen' menu item in script applications does not work. Open the script application in the Script Editor and save it again, checking the "Never show startup screen" checkbox.
Scripting Additions The Keychain Scripting application has a 'volume' property that conflicts with the 'set volume' Scripting Addition command. To set the 'volume' property in Keychain Scripting, enclose the volume property reference in parenthesis:
tell application "Keychain Scripting"
set (volume of AppleShare key 1 of current keychain) to "Matia"
end tell
In AppleScript 1.5 and later on Mac OS X, the 'choose application' dialog box does not handle application aliases and symbolic links well. They may show up in the 'choose application' dialog box but won't necessarily behave correctly if chosen.
In AppleScript 1.5 and later in Mac OS X, using the 'choose application' scripting addition (or choosing an application during compilation) can take a long time to come up if you are connected to a network with a large number of applications on remote servers.
The prompt in the 'choose from list' command does not display correctly if it is long or contains return characters.
The Standard Additions dictionary shows many possible parameters for the 'path to' command, some of which are only available on Mac OS 9 and others that are only available on Mac OS X. In addition, the command works on many other values ("four-character codes") that do not have terms defined for them.
When using the 'path to' scripting addition, if the request is for a system folder that does not exist, it will not be created; instead, the error 'Folder is not available in this operating system version' is returned.
When the direct parameter of the 'path to' scripting addition is an application object, the result is always the path to the current application, regardless of which application is indicated by the application object.
Using the 'mount volume' command with an AppleTalk server name in a 'on server' parameter does not work in this version of Mac OS X. To mount a volume using AppleTalk, use the AppleTalk URL syntax: 'mount volume 'afp:/at/ServerName/VolumeName'. You can supply the user name and password either in their optional parameters, in the URL, or let the user enter them. Note that because this is a URL, you may need to percent-escape special characters (such as spaces and punctuation) in the server and volume names.
When using the 'mount volume' command with a stored password in the Keychain, note that in Mac OS 10.1 it presents a server login dialog with the name and password filled in; the user must click OK or press Enter to mount the volume and allow the script to proceed.
In Standard Additions 1.7, if you use the 'write' command to write to a file that does not exist without using 'open for access' beforehand, the error message "Can't make file <path> into a file" is displayed, instead of the more familiar and accurate "File not found" error.
The Apple event manager performs coercions incorrectly from large-magnitude real numbers to integers. For example, the statement:
tell application "Finder"
get capacity of disk 1 as integer
end tell
will succeed if the disk is under 2GB in size, but will return exactly 2GB for all larger disks (when it should fail). This problem is seen primarily in applications that return values as real numbers and don't handle the 'as' parameter themselves (the Finder is one such application). If you do the conversion separately from the event that gets the value, AppleScript will signal an error if the value is out of range (AppleScript integers can only hold values up to 512M-1).