Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!midway!gsbacd.uchicago.edu!gft_robert
From: gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu (opcode ranger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: 3 (very basic) AppleEvent programming questions
Message-ID: <1991Feb6.185413.1@gsbacd.uchicago.edu>
Date: 7 Feb 91 00:54:13 GMT
Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator)
Organization: University of Chicago
Lines: 34

-- 
I have 3 basic System 7 questions:

1) How do you tell if you've actually been passed a default reply to your AE
handler?  (The docs seem to say that it's an optional thing that the client can
request or not). Check reply.dataHandle to see if it's not nil?

2) If you want to handle all core AE's in order to "System 7 friendly", but
your app doesn't print, should you just return noErr from your 'Print Docs' AE
handler?

3) I'm a bit confused about how all AEDesc's are substitutable for one another.
If the typedef for the basic AEDesc is of this form:

	DescType descriptorType;
	Handle dataHandle;
	
and an AppleEvent == AERecord == AEDescList == AEDesc, does this mean that an
AppleEvent -- in addition to containing the keyword descriptors for attributes
and parameters -- also has a descriptorType and dataHandle itself? (obviously I
have no idea what I'm talking about, so feel free to straighten me out :->;
I've read the relevant section of IM VI numerous times, but I  guess I'm just
missing the new paradigm and trying to make the AE's not abstract enough).

Any help much appreciated!


Robert

============================================================================
= gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu * generic disclaimer: * "It's more fun to =
=            		         * all my opinions are *  compute"         =
=                                * mine                *  -Kraftwerk       =
============================================================================