Language Guide

CHAPTER 5
Objects and References
122 References
The definition in Figure 5-1 shows that all paragraph objects respond to
the Copy, Count, Cut, Data Size, Delete, Exists, Get, Make, Move, Select,
and Set commands.
Default Value Class Returned 5
Each object has a value. For example, the value of a paragraph object is a string
that includes style and font information. You can get the value of a system or
application object by sending it a Get command or simply referring to it in a
script. If the Get command doesn’t specify a value class for the value returned,
the default value class is used. For example, according to the definition of a
paragraph in Figure 5-1 a Get command that specifies a paragraph without
specifying a value class returns styled text.
References 5
A reference is a phrase that specifies one or more objects. You use references to
identify objects within applications. An example of a reference is
word 5 of paragraph 10 of document "Work in Progress"
which specifies a word object in the document named Work in Progress.
A reference describes what type of object you’re looking for, where to look for
the object, and how to distinguish the object from other objects of the same
type. These three types of information—the class, or type; the container, or
location; and the reference form, or distinguishing information—allow you to
specify any object of an application.
In general, you list the class and distinguishing information at the beginning of
a reference, followed by the container. In the previous example, the class of the
object is word. The container is the phrase paragraph 10 of document
"Work in Progress". The distinguishing information (the reference form) is
the combination of the class, word, and an index value, 5, which together
indicate the fifth word.