AEGetAttributePtr(_:_:_:_:_:_:_:)

Gets a copy of the data for a specified Apple event attribute from an Apple event; typically used when your application needs to work with the data directly.

Declaration

func AEGetAttributePtr(_ theAppleEvent: UnsafePointer<AppleEvent>!, _ theAEKeyword: AEKeyword, _ desiredType: DescType, _ typeCode: UnsafeMutablePointer<DescType>!, _ dataPtr: UnsafeMutableRawPointer!, _ maximumSize: Size, _ actualSize: UnsafeMutablePointer<Size>!) -> OSErr

Parameters

theAppleEvent:
A pointer to the Apple event to get the attribute data from. See Appleevent.
theAEKeyword:
The keyword that specifies the desired attribute. Some keyword constants are described in 1542920 Keyword_attribute_constants. See Aekeyword.
desiredType:
The desired descriptor type for the copied data. For a list of AppleScript’s predefined descriptor types, see 1542788 Descriptor_type_constants.
If the descriptor specified by the theAEKeyword parameter is not of the desired type, AEGetAttributePtr attempts to coerce the data to this type. However, if you pass a value of typeWildCard, no coercion is performed, and the descriptor type of the returned data is the same as the descriptor type of the Apple event attribute.
On return, you can determine the actual descriptor type by examining the typeCode parameter.
See Desctype.
typeCode:
A pointer to a descriptor type. On return, specifies the descriptor type of the attribute data pointed to by dataPtr. The returned type is either the same as the type specified by the desiredType parameter or, if the desired type was type wildcard, the true type of the descriptor. For a list of AppleScript’s predefined descriptor types, see 1542788 Descriptor_type_constants. See Desctype.
dataPtr:
A pointer to a buffer, local variable, or other storage location, created and disposed of by your application. The size in bytes must be at least as large as the value you pass in the maximumSize parameter. On return, contains the attribute data.
maximumSize:
The maximum length, in bytes, of the expected attribute data. The AEGetAttributePtr function will not return more data than you specify in this parameter.
actualSize:
A pointer to a size variable. On return, the length, in bytes, of the data for the specified Apple event attribute. If this value is larger than the value you passed in the maximumSize parameter, the buffer pointed to by dataPtr was not large enough to contain all of the data for the attribute, though AEGetAttributePtr does not write beyond the end of the buffer. If the buffer was too small, you can resize it and call AEGetAttributePtr again.

Return Value

A result code. See Result Codes.

Discussion

To get Apple event attribute data for your application to use directly, call AEGetAttributePtr. To get a descriptor for an Apple event attribute to pass on to another Apple Event Manager routine, call AEGetAttributeDesc(_:_:_:_:).

Before calling AEGetAttributePtr, you can call the AESizeOfAttribute(_:_:_:_:) function to determine a size for the dataPtr buffer. However, unless you specify typeWildCard for the desiredType parameter, AEGetAttributePtr may coerce the data, which may cause the size of the data to change.

Version-Notes

Thread safe starting in OS X v10.2.