AppleScript 1.6 for Mac OS 9.1 Now Available
AppleScript 1.6 for Mac OS 9.1 Now Available
- Subject: AppleScript 1.6 for Mac OS 9.1 Now Available
- From: Chris Espinosa <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 16:06:54 -0800
Folks,
Today Apple posted AppleScript 1.6 for Mac OS 9.1 to Automatic Software
Update and to the software download website. This version of
AppleScript for mac OS 9.1 is substantially similar to AppleScript 1.6
for Mac OS X, and is identical to the version of AppleScript installed
in your Mac OS 9.1 system by the Classic environment of Mac OS X.
(Note that the Classic only updates AppleScript extension, the Script
Editor, and the Standard Additions, while the Automatic Software Update
and download will update all AppleScript components, including Folder
Actions, the Folder Actions Contextual Menu Module, the Folder Actions
scripts, and the AppleScript Read Me file. Of these files, the only
change is a cosmetic change to one of the Folder Action scripts).
Following is a summary of the notable changes from AppleScript 1.5.5. A
more complete set of notes will be posted shortly on the AppleScript web
page.
Regards,
Chris Espinosa
Manager, Components & Scripting
Apple
AppleScript 1.6
AppleScript 1.6 for Mac OS 9.1 can be installed in three ways: via
Automatic Software Update, by software download from Apples software
update servers, and by running the Classic environment on a Mac OS X
system.
AppleScript 1.6 for Mac OS 9 is functionally compatible with AppleScript
1.6 for Mac OS X, though there are differences in behavior due to
differences between 9 and X.
Whats New in AppleScript 1.6 from AppleScript 1.5.5
AppleScript 1.6 for Mac OS 9.1 (like AppleScript 1.6 for Mac OS X) has
several substantial changes and bug fixes from version 1.5.5 of
AppleScript that comes with Mac OS 9.1. If you are using the Unicode
Text or Read/Write Commands features of AppleScript, we strongly
recommend you upgrade to AppleScript 1.6 for Mac OS 9. Note that like
AppleScript 1.5.5, AppleScript 1.6 will function only on Mac OS 9.1 or
later.
Stability and Reliability AppleScript 1.6 fixes a longstanding problem
in AppleScript in which scripts may claim to run out of memory, even
when plenty of memory is available. AppleScript 1.4.3 and 1.5.5 also
had rare problems with applets losing track of global variables; these
problems have been fixed in AppleScript 1.6.
Support for Large Files in Read/Write Commands The Read/Write commands
in Standard Additions 1.6 now can work with files greater than 2
Gigabytes in size. In addition, all of the problems introduced in the
Read/Write commands in AppleScript 1.5 and 1.5.5 have been fixed, and
several long-standing problems with reading and writing lists and
records have been fixed.
Note AppleScript 1.6 introduces a known problem with the read command
when using both the as list and using delimiters parameters. Where
previous versions would return a list of strings, AppleScript 1.6
returns a list of one-item lists. Also, using the read command with the
before or until parameter and an as parameter of a type other than text
will return erroneous results. These problems will be addressed in a
future release of AppleScript.
Support for Unicode The unicode text data type has been growing in
functionality since version 1.3 and is now comparable in functionality
with the string data type. Not only can Unicode text strings be
received from and sent to applications, they display properly in the
Results and Event Log windows of the Script Editor (and third-party
editors); they can be accessed with the character, word, paragraph, and
text item element classes and the first, last, middle, some, and every
access forms; they can be operated on with the & (concatenation)
operator; and they can be compared with the less than, greater than,
less than or equal to, greater than or equal to, equals, contains, is
contained by, begins with, and ends with operators. For text item
elements of a Unicode string, the text item delimiters can be either
string or Unicode text values. When comparing Unicode strings, the
considering and ignoring constructs are supported for case, diacriticals
and punctuation.
Support for Mac OS X AppleScript 1.6 supports many changes in general
system operation introduced in Mac OS X. It can use applications and
scripting additions that are stored as "bundles" or "packages" for Mac
OS X. It can load scripts and application terminologies from files that
do not have traditional Mac OS resource forks. It accommodates the fact
that many Mac OS X applications actually have a .app extension that is
hidden from the user.
No dependence on Security Library The Standard Additions functionality
in 1.5.5 depended on the presence of the Security Library extension in
order to function. In Standard Additions 1.6, if the Security Library
is missing or disabled, only the mount volume commands ability to use
the Keychain will be disabled, but all other Standard Additions features
will be available.
Other Changes and Improvements AppleScript 1.6 has improvements to the
random number command, to make random numbers more evenly distributed
and less predictable; it returns more correct results from certain
unusual operations (item 0 of a list, set text item delimiters to {},
strings of a string, strings of a list that doesn't contain strings)
where previous versions of AppleScript would return unhelpful results or
fail to signal appropriate errors.
Note AppleScript 1.6 introduces a known problem with using the mount
volume command to mount volumes hosted on certain kinds of servers,
especially Windows 2000 machines. This problem will be addressed in a
future version of AppleScript.