Apple

On May 27, 2011, at 18:39, Shane Stanley wrote:

The AppleScript team has frowned on using "alias someHFSPath" in a try block, but it's solid and quick. The shell command test might be another alternative.

Let them frown. We've been using it for well over a decade. As Shane says "it's solid and quick". It takes about 0.001 seconds to run, although it's a trifle slower in a Finder Tell block. It's versatile.

set theFile to "Thor:Users:chris:test_directory:file.txt.falseExtension"

try

theFile as alias

on error errMsg number errNum

set e to "Error: " & errMsg & return & "Error Number: " & errNum

end try

set theFile to "/Users/chris/test_directory/file.txt.falseExtension"

try

alias POSIX file theFile

on error errMsg number errNum

set e to "Error: " & errMsg & return & "Error Number: " & errNum

end try

tell application "Finder"

try

POSIX file theFile as alias

on error errMsg number errNum

set e to "Error: " & errMsg & return & "Error Number: " & errNum

end try

end tell

References:
	>Re: tell app, name in string var (From: Shane Stanley <email@hidden>)