These are a set of modules that provide interfaces to various legacy Mac OS toolboxes. If applicable the module will define a number of Python objects for the various structures declared by the toolbox, and operations will be implemented as methods of the object. Other operations will be implemented as functions in the module. Not all operations possible in C will also be possible in Python (callbacks are often a problem), and parameters will occasionally be different in Python (input and output buffers, especially). All methods and functions have a __doc__ string describing their arguments and return values, and for additional description you are referred to Inside Macintosh or similar works.
These modules all live in a package called Carbon. Despite that name they are not all part of the Carbon framework: CF is really in the CoreFoundation framework and Qt is in the QuickTime framework. The normal use pattern is
from Carbon import AE
Note
Most of the OS X APIs that these modules use are deprecated or removed in recent versions of OS X. Many are not available when Python is executing in 64-bit mode. The Carbon modules have been removed in Python 3. You should avoid using them in Python 2.
The CFBase, CFArray, CFData, CFDictionary, CFString and CFURL objects are supported, some only partially.
This module is only fully available on Mac OS 9 and earlier under classic PPC MacPython. Very limited functionality is available under Carbon MacPython.
The Scrap Manager supports the simplest form of cut & paste operations on the Macintosh. It can be use for both inter- and intra-application clipboard operations.
The Scrap module provides low-level access to the functions of the Scrap Manager. It contains the following functions:
Return current information about the scrap. The information is encoded as a tuple containing the fields (size, handle, count, state, path).
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| size | Size of the scrap in bytes. |
| handle | Resource object representing the scrap. |
| count | Serial number of the scrap contents. |
| state | Integer; positive if in memory, 0 if on disk, negative if uninitialized. |
| path | Filename of the scrap when stored on disk. |
See also