open
object as
method
open
applicationPath
open
documentPath with
in
applicationPath
Object yields an object with an appropriate I/O manager. Method yields the name of an I/O method. DocumentPath and applicationPath yield file paths to a document file and an application file, respectively.
The open
command, when given an object with an appropriate I/O manager (e.g., a file
or URL
), opens an object for reading or writing. If the object is a file
and the file does not exist, the file
I/O manager creates it.
If the parameter to the open
command does not have an appropriate I/O manager or is not an object, or if the with
or in
parameter is given, the open
command launches an application or document. The open
command without a with
or in
parameter first looks for applications, then documents. The open
command with a with
or in
parameter opens the file documentPath with the application applicationPath regardless of what application would normally open the file. In OpenXION, the locations searched for applications and documents are determined by the applicationPaths
and documentPaths
properties, respectively. In HyperTalk, the locations searched for applications and documents are determined by the global variables Applications
and Documents
.
The following example opens a file, reads a line of data from it, then closes the file:
on printALine open file "MyFile" read from file "MyFile" put it close file "MyFile" end printALine
The following example opens a URL with the user's default web browser:
on myLink open url "http://www.openxion.org" end myLink
The following example opens a URL and reads its contents:
on readURL open URL "http://www.openxion.org/" as "text" read from URL "http://www.openxion.org/" until eof put it close URL "http://www.openxion.org/" end readURL
The following example queries the user for a document and application before executing the open
command:
on openSomething answer file "Select a document:" if it is not empty then put it into doc answer file "Select an application:" if it is not empty then open doc with it end if end openSomething
If the open
applicationPath or open
documentPath with
applicationPath form is used and the specified application or document cannot be found, the interpreter must present a prompt to the user asking them to select the appropriate file. To avoid this prompt, you can use the appPath
, appFile
, docPath
, docFile
, appOrDocPath
, or appOrDocFile
functions. If the function returns empty
, then the application or document cannot be found.
To launch applications and documents, OpenXION's security settings must allow the FILE_LAUNCH
security key. To open an object with an I/O manager, any security keys required are determined by the I/O manager (e.g., file
or URL
); see the documentation for the I/O manager itself. If the required security key is denied, a script error will be triggered.
HyperTalk does not support the as
parameter or reading from or writing to URLs.