1. AppleScript Overview

   1. Chapter 1 Ways to Use AppleScript

      1. The Nature and Purpose of AppleScript
      2. Is This Application Scriptable?
      3. Calculation and Repetition
      4. Reduction
      5. Customization
      6. Combining Specialties

   2. Chapter 2 Places to Use AppleScript

      1. Script Editor
      2. Scripting Environment
      3. Internally Scriptable Application
      4. Script Runner
      5. Automatic Location
      6. Application
      7. Unix

   3. Chapter 3 The AppleScript Experience

      1. The Problem
      2. A Day in the Life
      3. Conclusions, Lessons, and Advice

   4. Chapter 4 Basic Concepts

      1. Apple Event
      2. The Open Scripting Architecture
      3. Script
      4. Compiling and Decompiling
      5. Script Text File
      6. Applet and Droplet
      7. Scripting Addition
      8. Dictionary
      9. Scriptable, Recordable, Attachable

2. The AppleScript Language

   1. Chapter 5 Introducing AppleScript

      1. A "Little Language"
      2. Extensibility and Its Perils
      3. The "English-likeness" Monster
      4. Object-likeness
      5. LISP-likeness
      6. The Learning Curve

   2. Chapter 6 Syntactic Ground of Being

      1. Lines
      2. Result
      3. Comments
      4. Abbreviations and Synonyms
      5. Blocks
      6. The

   3. Chapter 7 Variables

      1. Assignment and Retrieval
      2. Declaration and Definition of Variables
      3. Variable Names
      4. Scoping of Variables
      5. Script Properties
      6. Lifetime of Variables

   4. Chapter 8 Handlers

      1. Returned Value
      2. Parameters
      3. Syntax of Defining and Calling a Handler
      4. Pass By Reference
      5. Scoping of Handlers
      6. Handlers as Values

   5. Chapter 9 Script Objects

      1. Scoping of Script Objects
      2. Top-Level Entities
      3. Script Object's Run Handler
      4. Handler Calls
      5. Script Objects as Values
      6. Compiled Script Files as Script Objects
      7. Inheritance

   6. Chapter 10 Objects

      1. Class
      2. Target
      3. Get
      4. It
      5. Me
      6. Properties and Elements
      7. Element Specifiers
      8. Properties of Multiple References
      9. Object String Specifier

   7. Chapter 11 References

      1. References as Incantations
      2. Creating a Reference
      3. Identifying References
      4. Dereferencing a Reference
      5. Creating References to Local Variables
      6. Reference as Parameter

   8. Chapter 12 Control

      1. Branching
      2. Looping
      3. Tell
      4. Using Terms From
      5. With
      6. Considering/Ignoring
      7. Errors
      8. Second-Level Evaluation

   9. Chapter 13 Datatypes

      1. Boolean
      2. Integer, Real, and Number
      3. Date
      4. String
      5. Unicode Text
      6. Styled Text
      7. File
      8. Alias
      9. Application
      10. Machine
      11. Data
      12. List
      13. Record

   10. Chapter 14 Coercions

       1. Implicit Coercion
       2. Explicit Coercion
       3. Boolean Coercions
       4. String, Number and Date Coercions
       5. File Coercions
       6. List Coercions
       7. Unit Conversions

   11. Chapter 15 Operators

       1. Arithmetic Operators
       2. Boolean Operators
       3. Comparison Operators
       4. Containment Operators
       5. Concatenation Operator
       6. Parentheses
       7. Who Performs an Operation

   12. Chapter 16 Global Properties

       1. Strings
       2. Numbers
       3. Miscellaneous

   13. Chapter 17 Constants

   14. Chapter 18 Commands

       1. Application Commands
       2. Logging Commands

3. AppleScript In Action

   1. Chapter 19 Dictionaries

      1. Resolution of Terminology
      2. Resolution Difficulties
      3. What's in a Dictionary
      4. The 'aeut' Resource
      5. Inadequacies of the Dictionary

   2. Chapter 20 Scripting Additions

      1. Pros and Cons of Scripting Additions
      2. Scripting Additions and Speed
      3. Classic Scripting Additions
      4. Loading Scripting Additions
      5. Standard Scripting Addition Commands

   3. Chapter 21 Scriptable Applications

      1. Targeting Scriptable Applications
      2. Some Scriptable Applications

   4. Chapter 22 Unscriptable Applications

      1. Getting Started with Accessibility
      2. GUI Scripting Examples

   5. Chapter 23 Unix

      1. Do Shell Script
      2. Osascript

   6. Chapter 24 Writing Applications

      1. Applets
      2. Digital Hub Scripting
      3. Folder Actions
      4. CGI Application
      5. AppleScript Studio

4. Appendixes

   1. Appendix A The 'aeut' Resource

   2. Appendix B Tools and Resources

      1. Scripting Software
      2. Other Software Mentioned in This Book
      3. Apple Documentation
      4. Portals, Instruction, and Repositories
      5. Mailing Lists
      6. Books
      7. Unix Scripting

1. Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal on the cover of AppleScript: The Definitive Guide is a Boston terrier. The youngest breed in the American Kennel Club (AKC), the Boston is a cross between various types of bulldogs and bull terriers. Originally bred in England, the breed stabilized in the United States, where it was initially favored as a fighter in the underworld rat pits of the seedier areas of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Boston. By the late nineteenth century, however, people started to admire the beauty of the breed's compact, elegant build--the "American Gentleman," as the Boston terrier is now known, had been discovered.

In 1889, the AKC rejected the Stud Book applications put forth by the "American bull terrier" owners only to accept the breed in 1893 under its new name, Boston terrier. Today, its gentle yet playful and protective nature combined with its willingness to be trained make it a popular family pet--especially, of course, in Boston, the metropolitan area in which O'Reilly maintains a large editorial and production staff. Though the Boston terrier's fighting days are in its past, the sportsmen and-women at Boston University evoke the breed's heritage each time they take the field or ice. Genevieve d'Entremont was the production editor and proofreader for AppleScript: The Definitive Guide. Nancy Kotary was the copyeditor; Claire Cloutier and Phil Dangler provided quality control. Mary Agner provided production assistance. Ellen Troutman-Zaig wrote the index.

Ellie Volckhausen designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is an original illustration created by Susan Hart. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

Melanie Wang designed the interior layout, based on a series design by David Futato. This book was converted by Julie Hawks to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Sarah Jane Shangraw.