AppleEvents is the underlying messaging language that applications use for
complex communication with other applications. For the user, Apple
event-aware applications are applications that can use services of other
applications, either on the same machine or across the network. These
applications use Apple-event messages as intelligent hooks to share
functionality with other applications. AppleEvent implementation is
application-specific, in that different types of programs will implement
different sets of AppleEvents (for example, databases will use different
sets of AppleEvents than word processors). All implementations will support
a set of core events, which are defined by Apple.
Here are several examples:
* An accounting package can pass inventory data to a spreadsheet and
retrieve a graph of that data for display in its own report.
* Utility packages like spell checkers, thesauruses, or formula editors can
work generically with Apple event-aware applications.
* An application can request that a more sophisticated program display a
specialized graphics format like TIFF in the requesting application
window.
Applications vary in terms of how they implement AppleEvents. Check with
your specific software manual for details about how to use this feature
with your chosen software.