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Re: "a reference to"
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Re: "a reference to"


  • Subject: Re: "a reference to"
  • From: Chris Page <email@hidden>
  • Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:06:26 -0800

On Jan 19, 2008, at 7:44 AM, has wrote:

On 19 Jan 2008, at 10:45, Brennan wrote:

As a result I almost never have problems with a missing 'get'. If it does happen, it can almost always be resolved with adding more carefully placed parentheses, such as;

set dr to (display dialog (name of (info for (choose file))))

1. Parenthesis do not insert implicit "get"s.

2. Parenthesis are required around commands within an expression.

2b. Some commands look like properties to humans and so can be confused with part of an object specifier, e.g., "current date", but they must be enclosed in parenthesis to separate them from a surrounding object specifier, for example, "year of (current date)".

2c. The AppleScript compiler will automatically insert parenthesis around commands in some cases. e.g., "command + 1" becomes "(command) + 1" and "info for choose file" becomes "info for (choose file)", but you must explicitly put parenthesis around "(info for ...)" to separate it from the "name of ..." specifier.

There is nothing in that expression that requires an explicit 'get'; the parentheses are solely to disambiguate AppleScript's ambiguous syntax so that it can parse without compiler error. (That parentheses should be necessary simply to prevent the compiler tripping over itself is a design flaw, although AppleScript isn't unique in this regard; only worse than unusual.)


It is an error to put a command in an object specifier, so the parenthesis are required around "info for" and "choose file". Here's the minimum parenthesis for the example above:

  set dr to display dialog name of (info for (choose file))

This is an error

  set dr to display dialog name of info for (choose file)

And this

  set dr to display dialog name of (info for choose file)

automatically becomes this

  set dr to display dialog name of (info for (choose file))

--
Chris Page

 The other, other AppleScript Chris

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References: 
 >Re: "a reference to" (From: Brennan <email@hidden>)
 >Re: "a reference to" (From: has <email@hidden>)

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