/Doc/library/aetypes.rst

  1
  2:mod:`aetypes` --- AppleEvent objects
  3=====================================
  4
  5.. module:: aetypes
  6   :platform: Mac
  7   :synopsis: Python representation of the Apple Event Object Model.
  8   :deprecated:
  9.. sectionauthor:: Vincent Marchetti <vincem@en.com>
 10.. moduleauthor:: Jack Jansen
 11
 12The :mod:`aetypes` defines classes used to represent Apple Event data
 13descriptors and Apple Event object specifiers.
 14
 15Apple Event data is contained in descriptors, and these descriptors are typed.
 16For many descriptors the Python representation is simply the corresponding
 17Python type: ``typeText`` in OSA is a Python string, ``typeFloat`` is a float,
 18etc. For OSA types that have no direct Python counterpart this module declares
 19classes. Packing and unpacking instances of these classes is handled
 20automatically by :mod:`aepack`.
 21
 22An object specifier is essentially an address of an object implemented in a
 23Apple Event server. An Apple Event specifier is used as the direct object for an
 24Apple Event or as the argument of an optional parameter. The :mod:`aetypes`
 25module contains the base classes for OSA classes and properties, which are used
 26by the packages generated by :mod:`gensuitemodule` to populate the classes and
 27properties in a given suite.
 28
 29For reasons of backward compatibility, and for cases where you need to script an
 30application for which you have not generated the stub package this module also
 31contains object specifiers for a number of common OSA classes such as
 32``Document``, ``Window``, ``Character``, etc.
 33
 34.. note::
 35
 36   This module has been removed in Python 3.x.
 37
 38
 39
 40The :mod:`AEObjects` module defines the following classes to represent Apple
 41Event descriptor data:
 42
 43
 44.. class:: Unknown(type, data)
 45
 46   The representation of OSA descriptor data for which the :mod:`aepack` and
 47   :mod:`aetypes` modules have no support, i.e. anything that is not represented by
 48   the other classes here and that is not equivalent to a simple Python value.
 49
 50
 51.. class:: Enum(enum)
 52
 53   An enumeration value with the given 4-character string value.
 54
 55
 56.. class:: InsertionLoc(of, pos)
 57
 58   Position ``pos`` in object ``of``.
 59
 60
 61.. class:: Boolean(bool)
 62
 63   A boolean.
 64
 65
 66.. class:: StyledText(style, text)
 67
 68   Text with style information (font, face, etc) included.
 69
 70
 71.. class:: AEText(script, style, text)
 72
 73   Text with script system and style information included.
 74
 75
 76.. class:: IntlText(script, language, text)
 77
 78   Text with script system and language information included.
 79
 80
 81.. class:: IntlWritingCode(script, language)
 82
 83   Script system and language information.
 84
 85
 86.. class:: QDPoint(v, h)
 87
 88   A quickdraw point.
 89
 90
 91.. class:: QDRectangle(v0, h0, v1, h1)
 92
 93   A quickdraw rectangle.
 94
 95
 96.. class:: RGBColor(r, g, b)
 97
 98   A color.
 99
100
101.. class:: Type(type)
102
103   An OSA type value with the given 4-character name.
104
105
106.. class:: Keyword(name)
107
108   An OSA keyword with the given 4-character name.
109
110
111.. class:: Range(start, stop)
112
113   A range.
114
115
116.. class:: Ordinal(abso)
117
118   Non-numeric absolute positions, such as ``"firs"``, first, or ``"midd"``,
119   middle.
120
121
122.. class:: Logical(logc, term)
123
124   The logical expression of applying operator ``logc`` to ``term``.
125
126
127.. class:: Comparison(obj1, relo, obj2)
128
129   The comparison ``relo`` of ``obj1`` to ``obj2``.
130
131The following classes are used as base classes by the generated stub packages to
132represent AppleScript classes and properties in Python:
133
134
135.. class:: ComponentItem(which[, fr])
136
137   Abstract baseclass for an OSA class. The subclass should set the class attribute
138   ``want`` to the 4-character OSA class code. Instances of subclasses of this
139   class are equivalent to AppleScript Object Specifiers. Upon instantiation you
140   should pass a selector in ``which``, and optionally a parent object in ``fr``.
141
142
143.. class:: NProperty(fr)
144
145   Abstract baseclass for an OSA property. The subclass should set the class
146   attributes ``want`` and ``which`` to designate which property we are talking
147   about. Instances of subclasses of this class are Object Specifiers.
148
149
150.. class:: ObjectSpecifier(want, form, seld[, fr])
151
152   Base class of ``ComponentItem`` and ``NProperty``, a general OSA Object
153   Specifier. See the Apple Open Scripting Architecture documentation for the
154   parameters. Note that this class is not abstract.
155