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Re: Reading a file in the user's home Documents
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Re: Reading a file in the user's home Documents


  • Subject: Re: Reading a file in the user's home Documents
  • From: Dave Stewart <email@hidden>
  • Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 10:00:39 -0700

On Thursday, September 11, 2003, at 07:15 PM, Paul Berkowitz saved me by offering:


After a half an hour trying to figure out the syntax of:

set theUserCodePath to (((path to current user folder) as text) &
"Documents:updateScriptKey" as POSIX file)

so I can

set theFileToRead to open for access theUserCodePath

I give up.


Is there any particular reason why you're trying to get a POSIX file? (Let
alone why you've arranged your parentheses so that only the last bit -the
bit of the path from "Documents" on - has that unusual criterion applied to
it.)

Honesty is the best policy, right? I was modeling this after the tutorial example in /Documents/Examples/AppleScript Studio/Plain Text Editor and in that example they open the file as a POSIX file. I've seen that on occasion on the list here, so it seemed like the thing to do. The parentheses are entirely my fault, though (it seemed to make sense at the time).


set theFileToRead to alias ((path to "docs" as Unicode text) &
"updateScriptKey" )

The magical incantation that I desperately needed, many many thanks!


AppleScript uses colon-delimited path names. You only need POSIX files for
'do shell script' (i.e. Unix operations) and AppleScript Studio (i.e.
Cocoa). And TextEdit, as mangled by a developer who didn't know AppleScript.

Ah, that clears things up somewhat. I am doing a "do shell script" in this script, but not in this section of code (this part is just reading something from a file, the contents will be used in a do shell script but I think I have that part worked out.)


Only
AppleScript can make this simple an operation so convoluted that I have
to ask the list how to do it. Any other language and I would have
figured it out 29 minutes ago.


It _is_ simple. Why do you find it necessary to berate AppleScript for your
own lack of knowledge? Try reading the AppleScript Language Guide to learn
about AppleScript.

More honesty due here. Why did I find it "necessary"? Because I was frustrated and it was the end of the day. Does that excuse me? No. Was it "AppleScripts" fault? No. Should I have included that little frustrated rant (did it belong in the post at all)? Lamentably, no. My apologies for that, I should have known better than to vent like that (read: stupid mistake). I should point out that I was looking at the ASLG last night (and again this morning) but couldn't find anything that was helpful in this situation (it's typically one of the first places I look now when I'm lost, it usually gets me by. That and this list, both through it's archives and the very helpful responses people like you offer when I'm very stuck).

Either way, that doesn't excuse "the little rant that should not have been" and for that I'm truly sorry.

Many thanks again! Also, allow me to extend thanks to Matthew Smith and Walter Kaye, who also pointed out that the POSIX part wasn't needed and in fact causing the problem.


Dave Stewart
Aqua-flo Supply (Goleta)
email@hidden

Be nice to other people; they outnumber you 5.6 billion to 1
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