Pathnames in AppleScript

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Classic Mac OS
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#1

I need to check the existance of a folder (among other things) in a script I’m writing, and I was wondering if there is an alternative to specifying the entire path to folder. A lot of languages, if you refer to a file/folder, its usually relative to the folder the app/script is running from…does AppleScript not do it this way?

Also, I need to use a 2 dimensional array in the script I’m writing, but I’ve only gotten it to work by predefining how many lists are within the list (i.e. set db to {{},{},{},etc…}). Is there a way to easily add another list? I’ve tried:

set db to {1,2,3}
set db to {db,{4,5,6}}
set db to {db,{7,8,9}}

But, when I do it this way, the brakets get all weird - {{{1,2,3},{4,5,6}},{7,8,9}} - or something like that, which screws it all up.

Thanks.

#2

To check for the existence of an item that is located in the same folder as the script or application looking for it try:

tell application "Finder" to set myPath to folder of (path to me) as string

I’m a little foggy on your bracket problem. Are you looking to build a list of 3 sublists?

Try:

set moo to {}

copy {1, 2, 3} to the end of moo
copy {4, 5, 6} to the end of moo
copy {7, 8, 9} to the end of moo
#3

Sweetness! That fixes both my problems. Thank you :D.

Another question, how do property variables work? As I understand it, property variables values are saved after a script runs…is this right?

Also, how would I go about reading/writing that 2-dimensional array to a file?

Thanks again :).

#4

Apple does a better job than I ever could on explaining that…
[url=http://developer.apple.com/documentation/AppleScript/Conceptual/AppleScriptLangGuide/AppleScript.9e.html#17207]http://developer.apple.com/documentation/AppleScript/Conceptual/AppleScriptLangGuide/AppleScript.9e.html#17207[/url]

To my knowledge, you cannot write a 2D array, let alone just a list to a file, it has to be coerced to a stringified datatype before writing to a file. You could, I suppose, build your variable as a delimited string and write that to a file. Then, read the file and get the text items to get your 3 sublists.

--=============================
--Build your variable and write to a file
set moo to ""

set moo to moo & {1, 2, 3} & return
set moo to moo & {4, 5, 6} & return
set moo to moo & {7, 8, 9} & return

write moo to "Mac HD:Some File"

--=============================

--=============================
--Read your file and get your data
set mooRead to read "Mac HD:Some File" as text using delimiter return
--result is a list of 3 items
--=============================

Best,