David Smiley wrote:
> I've also successfully gotten the following to work from
> within Mail:
> function perform_mail_action_with_messages (ae_params)
> {
> MacOS.beep();
> }

Hi, David. I've never scripted Mail with either AppleScript or
JavaScript, but I gave it a shot today.

There is an AppleScript called "Sample Rule Action Script" that
comes with Mail. I translated this document into JavaScript OSA:

function perform_mail_action_with_messages( ae_param )
{
// A JavaScript OSA function that responds to an AppleEvent
// has all of the event's parameters in a single parameter
// variable. 'of' refers to the direct parameter.
//
var theMessages = ae_param.of ;
var theMailboxes = ae_param.in_mailboxes;
var theRule = ae_param.for_rule ;

var MAIL = MacOS.appBySignature( 'emal' );

var theText =
"This JavaScript is intended to be used as a JavaScript " +
"rule action, but is also an example of how to write scripts " +
"that act on a selection of messages or mailboxes.\n\n" +
"To view this script, hold down the option key and select " +
"it again from the Scripts menu.";

var eachMessage, theSubject, theRuleName;

for ( var i=0; i<theMessages.length; i++ )
{
eachMessage = theMessages[i];
theSubject = eachMessage.subject;
try
{ // If this is not being executed as a rule action,
// getting the name of theRule variable will fail.
//
theRuleName = theRule.name;
theText =
"The rule named '" + theRuleName + "' matched this " +
"message:\n\nSubject: " + theSubject;

// Note: Scripting Addition commands should be called
// as 'methods' of an application, and 'interface'
// commands like 'display dialog' should be sent
// to the frontmost document.
//
MAIL.display_dialog( theText );
theText = "";
}
catch(e){}
if ( theText ) MAIL.display_dialog( theText, null, ["OK"], 1 );
}
}

> I'm trying to operate on the ae_params apple event thingy but I'm
> getting nowhere. I even created an elaborate debugging function to
> print out simple values and the top-level of objects:

Yeah, I created my own:

function perform_mail_action_with_messages( ae_param )
{
var MAIL = MacOS.appBySignature( 'emal' );

for ( var v in ae_param )
{
MAIL.display_dialog
( "ae_param[ '" + v + "' ] == " + ae_param[v].toString()
);
}
}

When this gets run on some selected messages, what you get back are
AppleEvent descripter stuff that looks like this:

"ae_param[ 'of' ] == obj { from:obj { from:obj { from:'null'()...."

"ae_param[ 'for_rule' ] == null"

"ae_param[ 'in_mailboxes' ] == obj { from:'null'(), want:'prop',...."

To get more "readable" information, we would have to use the
.valueOf( asType ) method, however, it's hard to use this without
knowing what the data is in the first place, ie: the 'for (var in obj)'
syntax isn't particularly useful for general purpose examining of
application-supplied objects.

> ... printdebug(ae_params) ... Evaluating the xxx[x] killed it.
> Any ideas on what is happening?

Yeah, I tried to work through your script, but I wasn't able to
pin-point specific problems, sorry.

> Also... The documentation is a bit sparce. I didn't know I was
> supposed to have an ae_params as an argument to the handler, I thought
> I could have the parameters for the apple event themselves be the
> parameters for the function. I wonder why they must be accessed
> indirectly.

There is a document called "Introducing JavaScript OSA.pdf" which
talks
about functions used to respond to AppleEvents. I think? this document
came
with Script Debugger. I don't know if Mark has a seperate link to it
somewhere.

{ Arthur J. Knapp;
<mailto:arthur@...>;

What...? Oh...!
}