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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <title>37.3. aepack — Conversion between Python variables and AppleEvent data containers — Python 2.7.5 documentation</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/default.css" type="text/css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="../_static/pygments.css" type="text/css" /> <script type="text/javascript"> var DOCUMENTATION_OPTIONS = { URL_ROOT: '../', VERSION: '2.7.5', COLLAPSE_INDEX: false, FILE_SUFFIX: '.html', HAS_SOURCE: true }; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/jquery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/underscore.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/doctools.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="../_static/sidebar.js"></script> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" title="Search within Python 2.7.5 documentation" href="../_static/opensearch.xml"/> <link rel="author" title="About these documents" href="../about.html" /> <link rel="copyright" title="Copyright" href="../copyright.html" /> <link rel="top" title="Python 2.7.5 documentation" href="../index.html" /> <link rel="up" title="37. 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MacPython OSA Modules</a> »</li> </ul> </div> <div class="document"> <div class="documentwrapper"> <div class="bodywrapper"> <div class="body"> <div class="section" id="module-aepack"> <span id="aepack-conversion-between-python-variables-and-appleevent-data-containers"></span><h1>37.3. <a class="reference internal" href="#module-aepack" title="aepack: Conversion between Python variables and AppleEvent data containers. (deprecated) (Mac)"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">aepack</span></tt></a> — Conversion between Python variables and AppleEvent data containers<a class="headerlink" href="#module-aepack" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1> <p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#module-aepack" title="aepack: Conversion between Python variables and AppleEvent data containers. (deprecated) (Mac)"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">aepack</span></tt></a> module defines functions for converting (packing) Python variables to AppleEvent descriptors and back (unpacking). Within Python the AppleEvent descriptor is handled by Python objects of built-in type <tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AEDesc</span></tt>, defined in module <a class="reference internal" href="carbon.html#module-Carbon.AE" title="Carbon.AE: Interface to the Apple Events toolbox. (deprecated) (Mac)"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">Carbon.AE</span></tt></a>.</p> <div class="admonition note"> <p class="first admonition-title">Note</p> <p class="last">This module has been removed in Python 3.x.</p> </div> <p>The <a class="reference internal" href="#module-aepack" title="aepack: Conversion between Python variables and AppleEvent data containers. (deprecated) (Mac)"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">aepack</span></tt></a> module defines the following functions:</p> <dl class="function"> <dt id="aepack.pack"> <tt class="descclassname">aepack.</tt><tt class="descname">pack</tt><big>(</big><em>x</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>forcetype</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#aepack.pack" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p>Returns an <tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AEDesc</span></tt> object containing a conversion of Python value x. If <em>forcetype</em> is provided it specifies the descriptor type of the result. Otherwise, a default mapping of Python types to Apple Event descriptor types is used, as follows:</p> <table border="1" class="docutils"> <colgroup> <col width="33%" /> <col width="67%" /> </colgroup> <thead valign="bottom"> <tr class="row-odd"><th class="head">Python type</th> <th class="head">descriptor type</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody valign="top"> <tr class="row-even"><td><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">FSSpec</span></tt></td> <td>typeFSS</td> </tr> <tr class="row-odd"><td><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">FSRef</span></tt></td> <td>typeFSRef</td> </tr> <tr class="row-even"><td><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">Alias</span></tt></td> <td>typeAlias</td> </tr> <tr class="row-odd"><td>integer</td> <td>typeLong (32 bit integer)</td> </tr> <tr class="row-even"><td>float</td> <td>typeFloat (64 bit floating point)</td> </tr> <tr class="row-odd"><td>string</td> <td>typeText</td> </tr> <tr class="row-even"><td>unicode</td> <td>typeUnicodeText</td> </tr> <tr class="row-odd"><td>list</td> <td>typeAEList</td> </tr> <tr class="row-even"><td>dictionary</td> <td>typeAERecord</td> </tr> <tr class="row-odd"><td>instance</td> <td><em>see below</em></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>If <em>x</em> is a Python instance then this function attempts to call an <tt class="xref py py-meth docutils literal"><span class="pre">__aepack__()</span></tt> method. This method should return an <tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AEDesc</span></tt> object.</p> <p>If the conversion <em>x</em> is not defined above, this function returns the Python string representation of a value (the repr() function) encoded as a text descriptor.</p> </dd></dl> <dl class="function"> <dt id="aepack.unpack"> <tt class="descclassname">aepack.</tt><tt class="descname">unpack</tt><big>(</big><em>x</em><span class="optional">[</span>, <em>formodulename</em><span class="optional">]</span><big>)</big><a class="headerlink" href="#aepack.unpack" title="Permalink to this definition">¶</a></dt> <dd><p><em>x</em> must be an object of type <tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">AEDesc</span></tt>. This function returns a Python object representation of the data in the Apple Event descriptor <em>x</em>. Simple AppleEvent data types (integer, text, float) are returned as their obvious Python counterparts. Apple Event lists are returned as Python lists, and the list elements are recursively unpacked. Object references (ex. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">line</span> <span class="pre">3</span> <span class="pre">of</span> <span class="pre">document</span> <span class="pre">1</span></tt>) are returned as instances of <a class="reference internal" href="aetypes.html#aetypes.ObjectSpecifier" title="aetypes.ObjectSpecifier"><tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">aetypes.ObjectSpecifier</span></tt></a>, unless <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">formodulename</span></tt> is specified. AppleEvent descriptors with descriptor type typeFSS are returned as <tt class="xref py py-class docutils literal"><span class="pre">FSSpec</span></tt> objects. AppleEvent record descriptors are returned as Python dictionaries, with 4-character string keys and elements recursively unpacked.</p> <p>The optional <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">formodulename</span></tt> argument is used by the stub packages generated by <a class="reference internal" href="gensuitemodule.html#module-gensuitemodule" title="gensuitemodule: Create a stub package from an OSA dictionary (Mac)"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">gensuitemodule</span></tt></a>, and ensures that the OSA classes for object specifiers are looked up in the correct module. This ensures that if, say, the Finder returns an object specifier for a window you get an instance of <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">Finder.Window</span></tt> and not a generic <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">aetypes.Window</span></tt>. The former knows about all the properties and elements a window has in the Finder, while the latter knows no such things.</p> </dd></dl> <div class="admonition-see-also admonition seealso"> <p class="first admonition-title">See also</p> <dl class="last docutils"> <dt>Module <a class="reference internal" href="carbon.html#module-Carbon.AE" title="Carbon.AE: Interface to the Apple Events toolbox. (deprecated) (Mac)"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">Carbon.AE</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>Built-in access to Apple Event Manager routines.</dd> <dt>Module <a class="reference internal" href="aetypes.html#module-aetypes" title="aetypes: Python representation of the Apple Event Object Model. (deprecated) (Mac)"><tt class="xref py py-mod docutils literal"><span class="pre">aetypes</span></tt></a></dt> <dd>Python definitions of codes for Apple Event descriptor types.</dd> </dl> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="sphinxsidebar"> <div class="sphinxsidebarwrapper"> <h4>Previous topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="aetools.html" title="previous chapter">37.2. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">aetools</span></tt> — OSA client support</a></p> <h4>Next topic</h4> <p class="topless"><a href="aetypes.html" title="next chapter">37.4. <tt class="docutils literal"><span class="pre">aetypes</span></tt> — AppleEvent objects</a></p> <h3>This Page</h3> <ul class="this-page-menu"> <li><a href="../bugs.html">Report a Bug</a></li> <li><a href="../_sources/library/aepack.txt" rel="nofollow">Show Source</a></li> </ul> <div id="searchbox" style="display: none"> <h3>Quick search</h3> <form class="search" action="../search.html" method="get"> <input type="text" name="q" /> <input type="submit" value="Go" /> <input type="hidden" name="check_keywords" value="yes" /> <input type="hidden" name="area" value="default" /> </form> <p class="searchtip" style="font-size: 90%"> Enter search terms or a module, class or function name. </p> </div> <script type="text/javascript">$('#searchbox').show(0);</script> </div> </div> <div class="clearer"></div> </div> <div class="related"> <h3>Navigation</h3> <ul> <li class="right" style="margin-right: 10px"> <a href="../genindex.html" title="General Index" >index</a></li> <li class="right" > <a href="../py-modindex.html" title="Python Module Index" >modules</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="aetypes.html" title="37.4. aetypes — AppleEvent objects" >next</a> |</li> <li class="right" > <a href="aetools.html" title="37.2. aetools — OSA client support" >previous</a> |</li> <li><img src="../_static/py.png" alt="" style="vertical-align: middle; margin-top: -1px"/></li> <li><a href="http://www.python.org/">Python</a> »</li> <li> <a href="../index.html">Python 2.7.5 documentation</a> » </li> <li><a href="index.html" >The Python Standard Library</a> »</li> <li><a href="macosa.html" >37. 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