Moving from Microsoft Office VBA to AppleScript:
MacTech's Guide to Making the Transition

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April, 2007
Page 29

                            my ReplaceInRange(findText, replaceText, theRange)

                        end if

                   end repeat

              end repeat

          end repeat

     end tell

end ReplaceEverywhere

on ReplaceInRange(findText, replaceText, theRange)

     tell application "Microsoft Word"

          set findObject to find object of theRange

          tell findObject

              set format to false

              set content to findText

              set content of its replacement to replaceText

              set wrap to find stop

          end tell

          execute find findObject replace replace all

     end tell

end ReplaceInRange

Two things to note here: you'll see that in the ReplaceInRange handler that does the work for each range, we have used a tell block to the findObject (the find object property of the text range) as explained in Chapter 3.

But whereas in VBA the Execute Method could also be placed inside the "With" block, just like all the Properties, the equivalent thing does not at first seem to work with the execute find command in AppleScript even though it takes the same direct parameter (findObject) as well as the properties. It works fine when placed outside the tell block and findObject specifically referenced as the direct parameter. Commands whose direct parameter is the target of a tell block should act on the targeted object without problem, but AppleScript seems to be a little confused. In fact, you can place execute find inside the tell block if you include the term 'it' to make it clear what the direct object is:

          tell findObject

              set format to false

              set content to findText

              set content of its replacement to replaceText

              set wrap to find stop

              execute find it replace replace all