referring to object names stored in variables

[Thomas Bähler]

Hi Colin
What I wanted (and accomplished now) is the following:

I have two fields: the first is editable and I can write parameters and their values in it, the other is locked and shows calculations based upon the parameters available in the first field. To avoid typos I included a feature in the first field that pops up a menu with the parameters needed for the calculation. So, when I hit the return-key with the commandKey down, the menu appears at the mousepointer and all the parameters that are already in the field are disabled. If I choose a menuitem of that menu, the script has to place the parameter after the line my cursor was; and that was the code I was looking for.

Cheers
Thomas

The working scripts I use now:

First field:
--------------
on returnInField
   if the commandKey is down then
      --store the location of the cursor
      set the C_Loc of me to word 2 of the selectedline
      --populate the menu and disable/enable the menu items
      Parameterliste
      popup button "Parameter"
   else
      pass returnInField
   end if
end returnInField

on Parameterliste
   -- Auflisten der in den Berechnungen im Feld "Parameter-Menu" aufgelisteten Parameter,
   -- um sie bei der Eingabe im Feld Eigenschaften als PopUp-Menu bereitzustellen.
   -- Das PopUp-Menu wird angezeigt mit Befehl-Return ins dieses Feld
   -- und bei dieser Gelegenheit auch abgeglichen.
   put field "Parameter-Menu" into L_Liste
   put L_Liste into button "Parameter"
   put 1 into L_LineCount
   repeat for each line x in L_Liste
      if field "Eigenschaften" contains x then
         disable menuitem L_LineCount of  button "Parameter"
      else
         enable menuitem L_LineCount of  button "Parameter"
      end if
      add 1 to L_LineCount
   end repeat
end Parameterliste


PopUp-Button:
---------------------
on menuPick pItemName
   -- look up the line the text should be placed
   get the C_Loc of field "Eigenschaften"
   -- place the name of the menu-item and add a colon and a tab
   put return & pItemName &  ":" & tab after line it of field "Eigenschaften"
   select after line (it +1) of field "Eigenschaften"
end menuPick