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| 55 | <H1><A NAME="SECTION005200000000000000000"> |
| 56 | 3.2 <tt class="module">aetools</tt> -- |
| 57 | OSA client support</A> |
| 58 | </H1> |
| 59 | |
| 60 | <P> |
| 61 | <A NAME="module-aetools"></A> |
| 62 | <p class="availability">Availability: <span |
| 63 | class="platform">Macintosh</span>.</p> |
| 64 | |
| 65 | <P> |
| 66 | The <tt class="module">aetools</tt> module contains the basic functionality |
| 67 | on which Python AppleScript client support is built. It also |
| 68 | imports and re-exports the core functionality of the |
| 69 | <tt class="module">aetypes</tt> and <tt class="module">aepack</tt> modules. The stub packages |
| 70 | generated by <tt class="module">gensuitemodule</tt> import the relevant |
| 71 | portions of <tt class="module">aetools</tt>, so usually you do not need to |
| 72 | import it yourself. The exception to this is when you |
| 73 | cannot use a generated suite package and need lower-level |
| 74 | access to scripting. |
| 75 | |
| 76 | <P> |
| 77 | The <tt class="module">aetools</tt> module itself uses the AppleEvent support |
| 78 | provided by the <tt class="module">Carbon.AE</tt> module. This has one drawback: |
| 79 | you need access to the window manager, see section <A href="osx-gui-scripts.html#osx-gui-scripts">1.1.2</A> |
| 80 | for details. This restriction may be lifted in future releases. |
| 81 | |
| 82 | <P> |
| 83 | The <tt class="module">aetools</tt> module defines the following functions: |
| 84 | |
| 85 | <P> |
| 86 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 87 | <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-142' xml:id='l2h-142' class="function">packevent</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 88 | <td><var>ae, parameters, attributes</var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 89 | <dd> |
| 90 | Stores parameters and attributes in a pre-created <code>Carbon.AE.AEDesc</code> |
| 91 | object. <code>parameters</code> and <code>attributes</code> are |
| 92 | dictionaries mapping 4-character OSA parameter keys to Python objects. The |
| 93 | objects are packed using <code>aepack.pack()</code>. |
| 94 | </dl> |
| 95 | |
| 96 | <P> |
| 97 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 98 | <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-143' xml:id='l2h-143' class="function">unpackevent</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 99 | <td><var>ae</var><big>[</big><var>, formodulename</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 100 | <dd> |
| 101 | Recursively unpacks a <code>Carbon.AE.AEDesc</code> event to Python objects. |
| 102 | The function returns the parameter dictionary and the attribute dictionary. |
| 103 | The <code>formodulename</code> argument is used by generated stub packages to |
| 104 | control where AppleScript classes are looked up. |
| 105 | </dl> |
| 106 | |
| 107 | <P> |
| 108 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 109 | <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-144' xml:id='l2h-144' class="function">keysubst</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 110 | <td><var>arguments, keydict</var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 111 | <dd> |
| 112 | Converts a Python keyword argument dictionary <code>arguments</code> to |
| 113 | the format required by <code>packevent</code> by replacing the keys, |
| 114 | which are Python identifiers, by the four-character OSA keys according |
| 115 | to the mapping specified in <code>keydict</code>. Used by the generated suite |
| 116 | packages. |
| 117 | </dl> |
| 118 | |
| 119 | <P> |
| 120 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 121 | <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-145' xml:id='l2h-145' class="function">enumsubst</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 122 | <td><var>arguments, key, edict</var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 123 | <dd> |
| 124 | If the <code>arguments</code> dictionary contains an entry for <code>key</code> |
| 125 | convert the value for that entry according to dictionary <code>edict</code>. |
| 126 | This converts human-readable Python enumeration names to the OSA 4-character |
| 127 | codes. |
| 128 | Used by the generated suite |
| 129 | packages. |
| 130 | </dl> |
| 131 | |
| 132 | <P> |
| 133 | The <tt class="module">aetools</tt> module defines the following class: |
| 134 | |
| 135 | <P> |
| 136 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 137 | <td><nobr><b><span class="typelabel">class</span> <tt id='l2h-146' xml:id='l2h-146' class="class">TalkTo</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 138 | <td><var></var><big>[</big><var>signature=None, start=0, timeout=0</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 139 | <dd> |
| 140 | |
| 141 | <P> |
| 142 | Base class for the proxy used to talk to an application. <code>signature</code> |
| 143 | overrides the class attribute <code>_signature</code> (which is usually set by subclasses) |
| 144 | and is the 4-char creator code defining the application to talk to. |
| 145 | <code>start</code> can be set to true to enable running the application on |
| 146 | class instantiation. <code>timeout</code> can be specified to change the |
| 147 | default timeout used while waiting for an AppleEvent reply. |
| 148 | </dl> |
| 149 | |
| 150 | <P> |
| 151 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 152 | <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-147' xml:id='l2h-147' class="method">_start</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 153 | <td><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 154 | <dd> |
| 155 | Test whether the application is running, and attempt to start it if not. |
| 156 | </dl> |
| 157 | |
| 158 | <P> |
| 159 | <dl><dt><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr valign="baseline"> |
| 160 | <td><nobr><b><tt id='l2h-148' xml:id='l2h-148' class="method">send</tt></b>(</nobr></td> |
| 161 | <td><var>code, subcode</var><big>[</big><var>, parameters, attributes</var><big>]</big><var></var>)</td></tr></table></dt> |
| 162 | <dd> |
| 163 | Create the AppleEvent <code>Carbon.AE.AEDesc</code> for the verb with |
| 164 | the OSA designation <code>code, subcode</code> (which are the usual 4-character |
| 165 | strings), pack the <code>parameters</code> and <code>attributes</code> into it, send it |
| 166 | to the target application, wait for the reply, unpack the reply with |
| 167 | <code>unpackevent</code> and return the reply appleevent, the unpacked return values |
| 168 | as a dictionary and the return attributes. |
| 169 | </dl> |
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