Closing TextEdit window issue

Question

(*Generally, this script appears to do everything I want except . . . if TextEdit is already launched when the script is run, then the "saving no" added to the close command (at end of script, below) is ignored. If TextEdit is not already launched when the script is run, then the "saving no" is honored. Ideas? There's also a less important question at line 5.*)
set T to "Please read these instructions . . ."
set LAUNCHstatus to ""
set _WsTE to ""
try
set LAUNCHstatus to do shell script "lsof / | grep TextEdit.app" --(>>faster way for single app?)
end try
try
set _WsTE to windows of application "TextEdit"
end try
tell application "TextEdit"
if LAUNCHstatus is not "" and _WsTE is not "" then make new document
activate
set name of front window to "INSTRUCTIONS"
set _WsTE to windows of application "TextEdit"
set _WTE to item 1 of _WsTE
--set _pWTE to properties of _WTE
set bounds of front window to {50, 200, 800, 500}
set text of front document to T
tell the text of the front document
set size to 14
set the color of every character to {87563, 5274, 8493}
end tell
tell application "System Events"
keystroke "r" using command down
end tell
display dialog "Have you read the instructions yet?" buttons {"Yes", "No"}
if button returned of result is "Yes" then
beep 1
else
beep 3
end if
end tell
tell application "TextEdit"
close _WTE saving no --<<IF SCRIPT IS STARTED WITH TextEdit not launched, this works correctly. BUT IF SCRIPT IS STARTED WITH TextEdit launched, there is a prompt for a save.
end tell

Answer 1

Hi kel,
The "set was_running" clause you substituted is certainly a more effiecient (faster) way of determining launch status.
And your script certainly seems to solve the "close saving no" issue (although I still don't understand why the original script does this).
Turns out there is still another issue that I hadn't detected (occurs with both my original script and your script):
If when the script is run TextEdit is already launched and has pre-existing documents which have been hidden (hidden, not minimized), then upon running the script all of those hidden documents are brought to the desktop. True, they go back into hiding when "d" is closed, but they're a bit of a distraction.
Not quite sure how "Hide" works, but it's some kind of batch process as all
hidden documents are represented by a single icon in the dock.
I'll look at this and maybe you have some ideas as well.
Thanks, osimp