[MacPerl] from Applescript to AEBuild

[Bart Lateur <bart.mediamind@tornado.be>]

I have looked over Matthias's AppleEvent cookbook, (called the "Perl
Anarchist's Cookbook"), where he describes five distinct ways to do the
same thing: controlling an app using AppleEvents.

I have a strong feeling that not only the result is the same, but that
the underlying technicalities are basically the same too. In other
words: I expect that an Applescript, when compiled, results in basically
the same tree, as the one you can build yourself manually, using
AEBuild, which is Matthias's recommended method.

If that is correct, I'm willing to put a *lot* more energy into building
a general Applescript decompiler, than into learning how to build an
AEBuild structure for every (or even only one) application I want to
script.
 
The idea is that you would write a script in Applescript, test it, and
when it does what you want it to do, save it as a compiled script. 

You might use easily recognizable strings for future Perl variables, or
even the future variable names, including the leading '$'.

Then the compiled script can be extracted from the file by reading the
'scpt' resource.


I want to be able to convert this into plain text, preferably a list of
MacPerl AEBuild instructions, that, finally, you could paste into your
app controlling script.


Now, the problem is that I don't know where to start. I know there are
some knowledgeable people in this field, on the mailing list. Could you
please give me some info or pointers?

I've already downloaded Anarchie just to see what the Matthias's recipe
scripts compile into. And no, I don't even have a modem on my Mac.

And please, don't just tell me to look it up in the "Inside Macintosh"
books, unless you can also tell me specifically *where* to look. I just
can't find *anything* of any use in this pile of junk. Yes, I've been
browsing those books for hours now, and I still don't know where to
start.

p.s. If I ever get this to work properly, this will be made available to
anybody interested in it. Of course. :)

-- 
		Bart Lateur
		Gent (Ghent, Gand),
		Belgium,
		Europe,
		3rd planet from the sun.


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