Catching Errors in a Handler

The SumIntegerList handler expects a list of integers. If any item in the passed list is not an integer, SumIntegerList signals error number 750 and returns 0. The handler includes an error handler that displays a dialog if the error number is equal to 750; if the error number is not equal to 750, the handler resignals the error with an error statement so that other statements in the call chain can handle the unknown error. If no statement handles the error, AppleScript displays an error dialog and execution stops.

on SumIntegerList from itemList

    try

        -- Initialize return value.

        set integerSum to 0

        -- Before doing sum, check that all items in list are integers.

        if ((count items in itemList) is not equal to ¬

            (count integers in itemList)) then

            -- If all items aren’t integers, signal an error.

            error number 750

        end if

        -- Use a repeat statement to sum the integers in the list.

        repeat with currentItem in itemList

            set integerSum to integerSum + currentItem

        end repeat

        return integerSum -- Successful completion of handler.

    on error errStr number errorNumber

        -- If our own error number, warn about bad data.

        if the errorNumber is equal to 750 then

            display dialog "All items in the list must be integers."

            return integerSum -- Return the default value (0).

        else

            -- An unknown error occurred. Resignal, so the caller

            -- can handle it, or AppleScript can display the number.

            error errStr number errorNumber

        end if

    end try

end SumIntegerList

The SumIntegerList handler handles various error conditions. For example, the following call completes without error:

set sumList to {1, 3, 5}

set listTotal to SumIntegerList from sumList --result: 9

The following call passes bad data—the list contains an item that isn’t an integer:

set sumList to {1, 3, 5, "A"}

set listTotal to SumIntegerList from sumList

if listTotal is equal to 0 then

    -- the handler didn’t total the list;

    -- do something to handle the error (not shown)

end if

The SumIntegerList routine checks the list and signals an error 750 because the list contains at least one non-integer item. The routine’s error handler recognizes error number 750 and puts up a dialog to describe the problem. The SumIntegerList routine returns 0. The script checks the return value and, if it is equal to 0, does something to handle the error (not shown).

Suppose some unknown error occurs while SumIntegerList is processing the integer list in the previous call. When the unknown error occurs, the SumIntegerList error handler calls the error command to resignal the error. Since the caller doesn’t handle it, AppleScript displays an error dialog and execution halts. The SumIntegerList routine does not return a value.

Finally, suppose the caller has its own error handler, so that if the handler passes on an error, the caller can handle it. Assume again that an unknown error occurs while SumIntegerList is processing the integer list.

try

    set sumList to {1, 3, 5}

    set listTotal to SumIntegerList from sumList

on error errMsg number errorNumber

    display dialog "An unknown error occurred:  " & errorNumber as text

end try

In this case, when the unknown error occurs, the SumIntegerList error handler calls the error command to resignal the error. Because the caller has an error handler, it is able to handle the error by displaying a dialog that includes the error number. Execution can continue if it is meaningful to do so.

Simplified Error Checking

AppleScript provides a mechanism to streamline the way you can catch and handle individual errors. It is often necessary for a script to handle a particular error, but not others. It is possible to catch an error, check for the error number you are interested in, and use an error statement to resignal for other errors. For example:

try

    open for access file "MyFolder:AddressData" with write permission

on error msg number n from f to t partial result p

    if n = -49 then -- File already open error

        display dialog "I'm sorry but the file is already open."

    else

        error msg number n from f to t partial result p

    end if

end try

This script tries to open a file with write permission, but if the file is already opened, it just displays a dialog. However, you can instead implement this more concisely as:

try

    open for access file "MyFolder:AddressData" with write permission

on error number -49

    display dialog "I'm sorry but the file is already open."

end try

In this version, there is no need to list the message, from, to, or partial result parameters, in order to pass them along. If the error is not -49 (file <name> is already open), this error handler will not catch the error, and AppleScript will pass the error to the next handler in an outer scope.

One drawback to this approach is that you must use a literal constant for the error number in the on error parameter list. You can't use global variable or property names because the number must be known when the script is compiled.