Quick Reference: Local Properties and Global Properties

Local properties and global properties in SenseTalk let you set or change behaviors system-wide. For instance, you can set the numerical format for time or date values, and you can change the way SenseTalk scripts interact with files and file system objects. There are also a few special properties that affect the way an object is treated by SenseTalk.

You can see lists of the local, global, and special properties below. SenseTalk also includes a set of global properties specific to working with the Eggplant Functional application, which are described on the following pages:

• Eggplant Functional Global Properties
• Run Options Global Properties

Local Properties

SenseTalk local properties govern behavior locally within a handler. If they have not yet been set to a specific value within the current handler, they will have a default value as indicated for each property. When the value of one of these properties is set in a handler, it has that value only within the local handler. Handlers that called the local handler, or which are called by it, are not affected.

the caseSensitive	Determines whether text comparisons that don’t explicitly specify considering case or ignoring case are case sensitive or not; defaults to False.
the centuryCutoff	Controls which century two-digit years are assumed to belong to; defaults to the value of the defaultCenturyCutoff global property.
the itemDelimiter	Defines the delimiter used for text items; defaults to the value of the defaultItemDelimiter global property.
the lineDelimiter	Defines the strings that can separate line items when evaluating a line chunk expression; defaults to the value of the defaultLineDelimiter global property.
the listInsertionMode	Determines whether a list inserted into another is nested in the other list or is inserted item by item; defaults to the value of the defaultListInsertionMode global property.
the numberFormat	Defines the format for displaying numbers; defaults to the value of the defaultNumberFormat global property.
the wordDelimiter	Defines the characters that separate words in text; defaults to the value of the defaultWordDelimiter global property.
the wordQuotes	Controls how quotes are treated in word chunks; defaults to the value of the defaultWordQuotes global property.

Global Properties

The following SenseTalk properties are global in scope. They can be changed by any handler at any time, and after they are changed their new value will be in effect from that point forward in all handlers.

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Most global properties have a standard initial setting at the start of script execution, as indicated in the discussion of that property. These standard values can be overridden by settings in the user defaults database for the host application, using the property name prefixed by ST. For example, the shellCommand property would be set using the name STShellCommand in the user defaults.

the asTextLimit	Controls the maximum size of internally generated text representations of values.
the autoSaveDatabaseUpdates	Determines whether updates to databases are saved automatically.
the backScripts	Special list of objects that receives messages after the target object as part of the message passing path.
the booleanComparison	Controls how Boolean matches are made.
the breakpointsEnabled	Determines whether breakpoint commands are honored or ignored.
the characterFiller	Specifies the behavior when a container is extended by storing into a character position that lies beyond the end of the container's contents.
the clockFormat	Set to 12 hour or 24 hour to control time formats.
the colorFormat	The format for displaying colors.
the defaultCenturyCutoff	Controls which century two-digit years are assumed to belong to if the centuryCutoff local property is not set.
the defaultDataFormat	Controls how values are represented when data is converted to text.
the defaultItemDelimiter	Defines the default delimiter for text items.
the defaultLineDelimiter	Defines the strings that can separate line items when evaluating a line chunk expression.
the defaultListInsertionMode	Controls how items behave when you add a list of items to another list.
the defaultNumberFormat	Specifies the default format for displaying numbers.
the defaultQuoteFormat	Specifies how values in the listFormat and the propertyListFormat global properties are quoted when converted to text.
the defaultStringEncoding	Controls the encoding used when reading and writing text strings in files.
the defaultWordDelimiter	Specifies the default delimiter characters for words.
the defaultWordQuotes	Defines the default quote characters for word chunks.
the duplicatePropertyKeyMode	Controls how duplicate keys in property lists are handled.
the endValue	The value of the end constant, returned by iterators when they have no more values to return.
the evaluationContext	Controls how variables are evaluated in do, send, value() or merge() expressions (whether as local, global, or universal variables); defaults to Local.
the exception	Contains information about an exception thrown in the context of the latest try block; otherwise, is empty.
the folder, the directory	Returns the current working folder in the file system.
the folderNamesEndWithSlash	Determines whether folder names are returned with a slash at the end.
the frontScripts	Special list of objects that receives messages before the target object as part of the message passing path.
the lineFiller	Provides the line delimiter to use when a container is extended by storing into a line number position that lies beyond the end of the container's contents.
the listFormat	Controls formatting of displayed lists.
the matchesCanOverlap	Determines whether pattern searches can overlap or be nested.
the namedColors	The defined colors accessible by name.
the objectContainsItemDefinition	Controls how operators or functions access keys and values within a property list.
the patternCharacterMode	Toggles between line mode and text mode (default) for pattern searches.
the patternTimeout	Controls the maximum time taken on any single pattern search.
the predefinedVariables	Contains a property list with the definitions of all predefined variables.
the propertyListFormat	Controls formatting of displayed property lists.
the readTimeout	Specifies the maximum time (in seconds) that a read or open socket command will take before timing out.
the resultHistory	Contains a list of the most recent the result values.
the resultHistoryLimit	Controls the maximum number of items in the resultHistory.
the shellCommand	Sets the command line shell to be used by the shell() function.
the strictFiles	Determines whether accessing the contents of a nonexistent file throws an exception or returns an empty value.
the strictProperties	When set to True, accessing an undefined property of an object throws an exception rather than returning an empty value.
the strictVariables	When set to True, accessing the value of a local variable that has not been declared or stored into throws an exception instead of returning the variable’s name.
the suiteVariables	Contains a property list of user-defined suite-wide variables.
the throwExceptionResults	Determines whether an exception is thrown when an operation that sets the result returns an error.
the timeFormat	A property list defining all of the available date/time formats.
the timeInputFormat	A list of formats used in recognizing date and time values.
the treeFormat	Defines the way XML trees are formatted.
the treeInputFormat	Specifies whether text nodes are joined when a change is made to a tree.
the umask	Controls the access permissions for newly created files.
the URLCacheEnabled	Determines whether accessed URLs can be cached for later reuse; the default, True, allows caching.
the URLErrorLevel	Specifies the lowest URL status value that is treated as an error.
the URLTimeout	Specifies the maximum time (in seconds) that a URL request will take before timing out.
the watchForScriptChanges	Determines if SenseTalk uses a cached copy of a script handler when it's called or if it checks the source for updates first.
the wordFiller	Specifies the behavior when a container is extended by storing into a word position that lies beyond the end of the container's contents.

Special Properties

There are several object properties with special meaning to SenseTalk. Some of these properties are “hidden” in the sense that they are not listed by the keys or values functions and will not appear in the default text representation of an object, but they can be directly accessed as properties of an object.

These special properties affect the way an object is treated by SenseTalk. These properties show up as ordinary properties of your object but have special meaning.

asText	The asText property, if set for an object, is used as the text representation of the object if it does not handle an “asText” function message.
asTextFormat	If an object has neither an “asText” function handler nor an asText property, SenseTalk checks for an asTextFormat property. If this property is set for an object, its value is used as a format string to generate the text representation of the object using the merge function.
objectType	Setting an object’s objectType property identifies it as a particular type of object for the is a operator.
script properties	See Script Properties for a complete description.