Setting HTML text with applescript

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Setting HTML text with applescript

I am trying to set this text in apple script but I keep getting the error message "Expected expression ) but found <". Here is the code:

set theText to (<title>ArticleTitle</title> & return & <dc:creator>admin</dc:creator> & return & <content:encoded><![CDATA[ArticleSource & return & return & ArticleDescription & <a href="ArticleURL">More</a> & </content:encoded> & return <excerpt:encoded><![CDATA[]]></excerpt:encoded> & return <wp:post_date>ArticleDate</wp:post_date>)

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 3, 2013 8:15 PM

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Answer 1

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red_menace

Level 6

17,030 points

Feb 3, 2013 9:20 PM in response to bth24199

AppleScript text strings are enclosed in quotes, and the concatenation character is the ampersand &. In addition, quotes need to be escaped with the backslash character (you can also use the string constant quote, which doesn't need to be escaped), and of course a backslash character also needs to be escaped.

If I understood your snippet, it would be something like:

settheTextto"<title>" & ArticleTitle & "</title>" & return & "<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>" & return & "<content:encoded><![CDATA[" & ArticleSource & return & return & ArticleDescription & "<a href=\"" & ArticleURL & "\">More</a> & </content:encoded>" & return & "<excerpt:encoded><![CDATA[]]></excerpt:encoded>" & return & "<wp:post_date>" & ArticleDate & "</wp:post_date>"

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Answer 2

bth24199 Author

Level 1

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Feb 4, 2013 1:56 AM in response to red_menace

Thanks so much! I had already figured it out by the time you posted, but the logic you put behind it will definitely help me in the future.

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