Language Guide

CHAPTER 5
Objects and References
146 References to Files and Applications
References to Applications 5
You can use this form to refer to any application:
application applicationNameString ¬
[ of machine computerName [ of zone AppleTalkZoneName ] ]
where
applicationNameString is either a string of the form "Disk:Folder1:Folder2:
...:ApplicationName" that specifies where the application is stored on the
local computer or a string that consists of the name of the application. Disk
specifies the disk on the local computer on which the application is stored,
Folder1:Folder2:... specifies the sequence of folders that you would have to
open to find the application on the local computer, and ApplicationName specifies
the name of the application. If it is located on a remote computer, the application
must be running and applicationNameString must be the name of the applica-
tion as listed in the Application menu on that computer. AppleScript doesn’t
distinguish uppercase letters from lowercase letters in application names.
computerName (a string) is the Macintosh Name assigned in the Sharing
Setup control panel of the computer on which the specified application is
running. This portion of the reference is required if the application is located
on a remote computer.
AppleTalkZoneName (a string) is the name of the zone, if any, in which the
specified remote computer is located. The name must appear in the list of
AppleTalk Zones displayed in the Chooser.
After a script is compiled, a reference to an application on the local computer
identifies the application no matter where it is located on that computer.
This behavior resembles the behavior of an alias. However, a reference to
an application on a remote computer won’t compile unless the application
is running and several other conditions are met; see “References to Remote
Applications” on page 148 for details.
The actions you can perform on a specific application depend on the way
the application that created the file defines an application object. AppleScript
always locates the application as described in the sections that follow, but uses