Apple’s Script Editor was not really a development tool and it had some serious omissions, like textual find and replace, and the ability to compile up to 32k of text. However, the current version adds this and other features, such as attachability and plug-ins.
Late Night Software offers Script Debugger, one of the better available script editors of all times, which allows you to step through your script, debug code and extend it using scripts, clippings, use libraries, etc.
Satimage’s Smile is both an AppleScript editor for beginners, and an integrated environment for AppleScript developers (appart from a powerful graphics engine). Smile is scriptable, attachable (its objects have scripts), recordable, and factored (internally scripted). It also builds the ability to create interfaces for your scripts and manipulate PDF holders (create vectors on-the-fly). You can also extend its capabilities using SmileLab, which allows you construct and manipulate 2D and 3D objects.
Main Event Software offered Scripter (OS 9 and back). In addition to allowing you to step through your scripts and watch local variables, it had script building features and a collections window to store links to your most frequently used scripts. Scripter’s debugging features include Observe and Instant windows which let you watch variables in your script and quickly test short scripts.
You can also check out the “Direct d/l Script Editors” section of our home page. These programs include freeware and commercial software with a wide range of features. We strongly suggest you download and explore demo versions of the programs before making any buying decisions.