This page discusses some miscellaneous actions that you can perform in a dictionary window.

• Paste Tell. You can insert a tell block into your script (at the current insertion point in the frontmost script window), targeting the application whose dictionary you are currently looking at. To do so:

  • Click the Paste Tell button in the dictionary window toolbar.

  • Or, choose Dictionary > Paste Tell XXX.

  What’s pasted depends on what’s being viewed or selected in the dictionary window:

  • If what you’re looking at in the dictionary is a command, a template for giving that command will be inserted.

  • If what you’re looking at in the dictionary is an event, a template for an event handler for receiving that event will be inserted.

  • Otherwise, a simple tell block will be inserted.

  Your existing code will not be overwritten. So Paste Tell is always safe (nondestructive).

  If you hold down the Option key, or if no script window is open, a new script window is created and the tell block is inserted.

  You can paste a tell block for any application shown in the dictionaries list:

  • Control-click on it and choose Paste Tell XXX from the contextual menu.

  There are other ways to issue a Paste Tell command.

• Launch or Activate. You can start up the application whose dictionary you are looking at, or, if it’s already running, you can bring it to the front. Use the Launch or Activate button in the dictionary window toolbar (they are the same button), or choose Dictionary > Launch XXX or Dictionary > Activate XXX (they are the same menu item), where “XXX” is the name of the application.

  You can launch or activate any application shown in the dictionaries list:

  • Control-click on it and choose Launch XXX or Activate XXX from the contextual menu.

• Quit. If the application whose dictionary you are looking at is running, you can make it quit. Use the Quit button in the dictionary window toolbar, or choose Dictionary > Quit XXX, where “XXX” is the name of the application.

  If you do that in the Finder’s dictionary, you’ll get a warning dialog, since quitting the Finder is not something one usually wants to do. If you do quit the Finder, you can relaunch it by clicking the Launch button.

  You can quit any application shown in the dictionaries list:

  • Control-click on it and choose Quit XXX from the contextual menu.

• Reveal in Finder. To reveal in the Finder the application you’re currently working with in a dictionary window, choose File > Reveal XXX in Finder, where “XXX” is the name of the application.

  You can reveal any application shown in the dictionaries list:

  • Control-click on it and choose Reveal XXX in Finder from the contextual menu.

• Paste Terms Block. You can paste a terms block (using terms from application) for any application shown in the dictionaries list:

  • Control-click on it and choose Paste Using Terms From XXX.

Altered Dictionary Warning

If you alter the contents of your ScriptingAdditions folder while you have the Scripting Additions dictionary window open — or if you’re a developer writing a scriptable application, and you alter that application’s dictionary while you have the application’s dictionary window open — a Caution icon () will appear in the dictionary window title bar. Click it, and you’ll get a dialog prompting you to reload the application’s dictionary.