Of expressions, actions and action code

[mwra (Mark Anderson)]

I’ve been meaning to try and address rthis for some while now, but the current thread String evaluation in stamp gave me a nudge. I’d also like to thank @PaulWalters fro some thoughtful and helpful input in DM discussion of some of the changes below.

I think there is more to do, but I thought I’d put the changes our there and see what does doesn’t make sense. The additions/re-edits are in these articles (and their child articles, if any) all within the ‘Automating Tinderbox’ part of aTbRef:

• Expressions (under Concepts).
• Action-based attributes (under Use of Attributes)

  • https://www.acrobatfaq.com/atbref10/index/Automating_Tinderbox/Coding/Use_of_Attributes/Action-based_attributes/Action-storing_attributes.html:

    • Display Expressions.
    • Hover Expressions.
    • Table Expressions.

  • Expression-storing attributes.

• Expressions vs. Actions in Action code (under Action Code):
  • Expressions in attribute offset addresses.
  • Stand-alone expressions.
  • Left side expressions.

I’m sure there is more to do. For now I’m interesting to hear what does doesn’t help make sense for those trying to understand expressions & actions in Action code.

Remember, aTbRef is a hypertext. Do not expect one page to answer everything—follow the links!

For those who use aTbRef in TBX form, the zip on the site is updated for all these changes.

[mwra (Mark Anderson)]

Added some textual tweaks, added links to the new pages (TBX zip also updated). Again, thanks to @PaulWalters for some useful clarifications that I’ve adopted.