Applescript behaves differently when compiled - applescript

Question

This chunk of Applescript:
on collectionToJson(_collection)
tell application "Capture One 22" to return "{\"name\": " & "\"" & name of _collection & "\", \"id\": " & id of _collection & ", \"kind\": " & "\"" & kind of _collection & "\", \"user\": " & user of _collection & "}"
end collectionToJson
behaves differently when run interpreted and compiled. Output in interpreted mode:
> osascript target/classes/Collections.applescript --byId 14659
{"name": "StoppingDown", "id": 14659, "kind": "project", "user": true}
Output in compiled mode:
> osascript target/classes/Collections.scpt --byId 14659
{"name": "StoppingDown", "id": 14659, "kind": "«constant ****CCpj»", "user": true}
The 'kind' property (which is an enum) is output in a different way. Does it depend on my scarce knowledge of Applescript or on the specific application I'm talking to?
Full script:
on run (_args)
tell front document of application "Capture One 22"
set _command to item 1 of _args
if _command is "--byId" then
set _collection to my findCollectionByIdPath(_args)
my collectionToJson(_collection)
else if _command is "--byName" then
set _collection to collection named (item 2 of _args)
repeat with _i from 3 to count of _args
tell _collection to set _collection to collection named (item _i of _args)
end repeat
my collectionToJson(_collection)
else if _command is "--children" then
set _collection to my findCollectionByIdPath(_args)
tell _collection to my collectionsToJson(collections)
else if _command is "--variants" then
set _collection to my findCollectionByIdPath(_args)
tell _collection to my variantsToJson(variants)
else
log "Unknown command: " & _command
end if
end tell
end run
on findCollectionByIdPath(_args)
tell front document of application "Capture One 22"
set _collection to first collection whose its id is item 2 of _args
repeat with _i from 3 to count of _args
tell _collection to set _collection to (first collection whose its id is (item _i of _args))
end repeat
return _collection
end tell
end findCollectionByIdPath
on collectionsToJson(_collections)
set _result to "["
set _separator to ""
repeat with _collection in _collections
set _result to _result & _separator & my collectionToJson(_collection)
set _separator to ","
end repeat
return _result & "]"
end collectionsToJson
on collectionToJson(_collection)
tell application "Capture One 22" to return "{\"name\": " & "\"" & name of _collection & "\", \"id\": \"" & id of _collection & "\", \"kind\": " & "\"" & kind of _collection & "\", \"user\": " & user of _collection & "}"
end collectionToJson
on variantsToJson(_variants)
set _result to "["
set _separator to ""
repeat with _variant in _variants
set _result to _result & _separator & my variantToJson(_variant)
set _separator to ","
end repeat
return _result & "]"
end variantsToJson
on variantToJson(_variant)
-- FIXME: it seems that this 'tell' slows down a lot
tell application "Capture One 22" to return ("{\"name\": \"" & (name of _variant) as text) & "\", \"id\": \"" & id of _variant & "\", \"rating\": " & rating of _variant & ", \"colorTag\": " & color tag of _variant & "}"
end variantToJson

Answer 1

That behavior is normal and to be expected. AppleScript only loads application dictionaries when compiling and decompiling a script. It doesn’t load the dictionary when executing a compiled script because it doesn’t need it.
A compiled script stores application-defined keywords as “four-char codes”, e.g. the keyword project maps to the code CCpj, which AppleScript displays as «constant ****CCpj» when the dictionary definition isn’t available.
While AS can be “forced” to load an application’s dictionary even when it’s not needed (using the run script command to compile a trivial script targeting that application), the obvious straightforward solution is to translate keywords to strings yourself:
to formatKind(aKind)
if aKind is project then
return "project"
else if ...
...
else
return aKind as string
end
end formatKind
Or, in your particular case, since you’re running the script via osascript, just keep using the uncompiled form: unlike early System 7 days, where compiling took an appreciable length of time, modern machines are fast enough that it really doesn’t make a noticeable difference to running time.