Classic Mode Scripting Reliable?

I’ve only been scripting about a year so I’ve never really done any scripting for OS 9 and previous. However, where I am there is still plenty of work for OS 9 folks, particularly in the print industry. I have a few opportunities for automation jobs for OS 9 workflows but the only machines I have access to are new Macs running Panther. I do have an old 7200 but it’s a little too ancient to use as a good dev/test machine.

Anyway, I was curious about the reliability of scripting with the old Script Editor in Classic Mode. I have all the necessary third party software that I can install for Classic such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign etc. They don’t run optimally, obviously, but it’s not too bad. Will I be able to write reliable scripts for use on OS 9 native systems from within Classic Mode and the old Script Editor? Furthermore, what goes for the same regarding FaceSpan? I know 3.5 will run in Classic Mode, but will it work properly and compile reliably? Any info is great.

Thanks :slight_smile:

I have no experience scripting classic from X, but I would try booting from a OS 9 partition, then working in a clean OS 9 environment, just to avoid conflicts. → just an idea

of course this would be ideal but unfortunately all of the macs i own are too new and do not have the ability to boot into OS 9.

If you have time enough, you can format one of your new macs with two partitions: one for X, one for 9. Same disk, same HD space, two OSs. I needed recently run OS 9 nativelly, so I bougth an external HD (I also needed some extra GBs) and created two partitions for two different OSs, so I can boot now in three different OSs (when I need it). Making some tests, when I boot in OSX and run Classic, the AppleScript extension in OS 9 is disabled, so I can’t launch the OS 9 Script Editor nor run applescripts nativelly. When I try running them from Script Manager XT or ScriptMaster XT Demo (yes, damn Quark 4 is the guilty!), it simply crashes. So, I run the scripts from X, targetting classic apps.
If this behaviour is true around the world, my advice is “be careful”. Some chunks of code which work under the OS X environment won’t work under a native OS 9. Event, a native OS 9 script may not run properly under 8.6 (not to talk about previous versions).

i was under the impression that new Macs, as in ones being sold currently by Apple, are not physically able to boot in to OS 9 at all. aren’t all the new machines “locked” in hardware or firmware from booting into anything other than X?

Hmmm… I ignore such detail… I own two g4’s, and installed OS 9 in a partition in an external disk, so I can’t confirm… :?

[edit]

Just googled it, and you are true: G5 can’t boot in OS 9.

i thought you were hiding a secret! yeah, as of about a year now new Macs are unable to boot OS 9. they removed key ROM support and other things. it require nothing short of a serious hardware hack. i’m going to see what i can get done in Classic mode. maybe even my atom-splitting 75mhz 7200. :shock:

I’ve been scripting Cumulus 5 (running in Classic) from OS X for some time. I’ve never had an issue and it has worked remarkably well. However, I can’t speak to other applications’ reliability in classic.

That’s good to know. Thanks, from one T.J. to another. :slight_smile:

You don’t say?
I knew only one other T.J. in my life. We were in elementary school together. About 20 years ago.

Nice to meet you, T.J.
:slight_smile:

cheers. heh, i had the honor of growing up around 4 other T.J.s as a kid. and come to think of it we’re all kind of cut from the same cloth.
T.J. is Thee J!