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What are the features of AppleScript 1.3? Where in the Mac OS is there more info about AppleScript?
DISCUSSION
- Native PowerPC code - AppleScript has been completely rewritten in native PowerPC code. As a result, scripts can now run as much as five times faster (depending on the task being scripted).
- Dictionaries - The dictionaries for the Finder, many other system software components, and the Mac OS scripting additions (Standard Additions file) have been consolidated, cleaned up and organized. Items have been organized by functional groups, making it easier to understand a component's scriptable functionality.
- Scripts folder - The new Scripts folder inside the System Folder provides a central, stable location for your scripts. AppleScripts dropped onto the System Folder are automatically placed in this folder:
- The Folder Action Scripts folder inside the Scripts folder contains the folder actions scripts included with the Mac OS.
- Control panels - Appearance, Apple Menu Options, File Exchange, Location Manager
- Extensions - Application Switcher, ColorSync Extension
- Applications - Apple Help Viewer, Apple System Profiler, Desktop Printer Manager, Disk First Aid, Find, Network Setup Scripting
AppleScript 1.3 provides the following improved performance and usability features:
Performance and Usability
New scriptable system software components - The following system software components are now scriptable:
New scripting additions and features - Most Apple-supplied scripting additions (file type "osax") are now unified into one file, the Standard Additions file. Scripting additions expand the capabilities of AppleScript, providing additional commands that you can use in your scripts. The Standard Additions file includes these new features: Using the Clipboard, Pausing a script, Displaying lists, Mounting remote volumes, Speaking text, Summarizing text, and Timed dialog boxes.
Unit types - You can now convert data expressed as units of measure - including length, weight, volume, area, and temperature - between different measurement systems.
Internet suite - For advanced scripters, AppleScript 1.3 includes standard-event terminology for processing Common Gateway Interface (CGI) requests from an HTML form. (A CGI is a helper application for server software that processes the information sent from an HTML form.) Previously, the only way to write AppleScript CGIs scripts was to use the raw Apple event codes. The new suite provides the appropriate terminology.
Folder Actions - Folder actions allow you to run AppleScripts when you interact with a folder in any of the following ways: Open a folder, Close a folder, Add items to an open folder, Remove items from an open folder, and Move or resize a folder window.
By using folder actions, you can make tasks you do frequently take place automatically. For example, you can specify that when a file is placed in a folder, it's always copied into another folder as well. If a folder has folder actions attached to it, the folder's icon displays a small script icon badge:
To assign a folder action to a folder, press and hold the control key while clicking on the folder. Select Attach a Folder Script from the contextual menu that appears.