Maybe I’m going crazy, but this is really stumping me. Here is a little script that works perfectly fine on its own:
set myCharacterId to 100
set newChar to character id myCharacterId
When I use it in an Applescript studio project, it still works fine when used like this:
on clicked theObject
set myCharacterId to 100
set newChar to character id myCharacterId
end clicked
But as soon as I add the “tell window… - end tell” lines like so:
on clicked theObject
tell window "main"
set myCharacterId to 100
set newChar to character id myCharacterId
end tell
end clicked
I get this error message:
replacing “character id” with “unicode text id” or “string id” doesn’t work either.
However… it does work when using the deprecated “ASCII character” command:
on clicked theObject
tell window "main"
set myCharacterId to 100
set newChar to ASCII character myCharacterId-- ASCII character is supposed to be deprecated since applescript 2.0
end tell
end clicked
I’d rather not use “ASCII character” since I’m not too sure how future-proof this will make my script, it seems I have no choice though. Am I doing the right thing here?
AppleScript: 2.0.1
Browser: Safari 525.20
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.5)
What’s the purpose to target the window? character id belongs to AppleScript itself and mustn’t be used in a tell block,
because unlike ASCII character there could be a terminology clash with the keyword id
These lines are actually part of a much larger script. I simplified the example to show the part where things went wrong. In the actual script, there is a reason to have it inside a tell-block, honestly
I remember reading up on terminology clashes in Matt Neuburg’s book. It had something to do with using vertical bars to contain the offending command. I haven’t got the book nearby, but if that’s the solution, I’m sure I can figure it out. Thanks.
There is always a way to put those lines outside the tell block or split a large tell block into smaller parts
Anyway it’s recommended to reduce tell blocks to just the lines which should be targeted.
Alternatively use a handler, the tell block isn’t valid outside its scope
on clicked theObject
tell window "main"
set newChar to my getCharacterID(100)
end tell
end clicked
on getCharacterID(ch)
return character id ch
end getCharacterID
A similar thing happens with text item delimiters. If you use the terms “text item delimiters” inside a tell block then it doesn’t work, but it can work if you preface it with “Applescript’s” text item delimiters. So I’m wondering if the same applies here… could you say:
Applescript’s character id?
EDIT:
I tried it in applescript and all of these scripts work so I’m confused as to the problem…
character id 65
tell application "Finder"
character id 65
end tell
tell application "Finder"
tell window 1
character id 65
end tell
end tell
tell application "Finder"
tell window 1
AppleScript's character id 65
end tell
end tell
