MacOS – How to call a specific subroutine of an AppleScript from another AppleScript

applescriptmacos

I understand that it is possible to trigger an .scpt file that is saved somewhere on my computer from within a different .scpt file.

Can I call a specific subroutine of that .scpt file from a different .scpt file? I want to skip over the entire script, and only run the code that is found in one, specific subroutine

I understand that I can simply copy the subroutine into its own, dedicated .scpt file and accomplish what I want that way. This method is demonstrated in this answer. However, I would prefer not to have to do this, for the sake of convenience.

In addition, is it possible to also pass variables to that subroutine? My current need does not require this ability, but I am still curious.

Best Answer

AppleScript's `load script`

AppleScript's load script command will do what you want.

Example

On your Desktop, save a .scpt file containing the following saySomething handler:

on saySomething()
    say "hello"
end saySomething

Then within another script you can call saySomething:

set myOtherScript to load script (alias ((path to desktop folder as string) & "external.scpt"))
myOtherScript's saySomething()

The returned object from load script is a script object. Once loaded, the script object is treated as local and can have its local handles called, including with parameters.

See Can I put shared applescript code in a separate file and load it in various scripts? for more examples.

Related Solutions

MacOS – How to mount a specific file system on a disk image in OSX

You should parse the output of hdiutil, and mount the filesystems you're interested in - because you can't do what you're trying to do with mount.

The first few lines of the man page show supported syntax:

 mount [-adfruvw] [-t lfs | external_type]
 mount [-dfruvw] special | node
 mount [-dfruvw] [-o options] [-t lfs | external_type] special node

Notice for -a, there are no options to specify a node path, which makes your command invalid syntax.

(Also, I'd suggest testing with a proper image file - one that is an actual CD image. Your image is a hard-disk type, with an Apple Partition Map, and no non-HFS partitions. In Disk Utility, choose New -> Blank Image and note all the selections carefully. You want "CD/DVD"; you can then edit the partition map after you've created it; say, to change to two partitions.)

In an AppleScript, how to call/reuse a subroutine from another AppleScript

Save this as text.scpt in Script Libraries folder

on removeText(searchText, sourceText)
    set {TID, text item delimiters} to {text item delimiters, searchText}
    set sourceText to text items of sourceText
    set text item delimiters of AppleScript to ""
    set sourceText to sourceText as text
    set text item delimiters to TID
    return sourceText
end removeText

Call it like this in another script:

set theSentence to "I love Windows and I will always love Windows."
tell script "text" to set theSentence to removeText("Windows", theSentence)