Creatiing new document in TextEdit and saving it to a folder

Question

I'm just starting with applescript. I would like to write a script that will open an e-mail, copy the contents to a new TextEdit or TexShop file, and save the new document to a particular folder. Ultimately the name of the new document should depend on the content of the e-mail, but for now I'd be happy to just be able to create a new TextEdit document and save it in a specified location with a specified name.
I've tried a couple of things, including
tell application "TextEdit"
activate
make new document
set fileSpec to "Disk:Documents:Barbara:TestFile"
save document 1 in fileSpec
end tell
which creates a new untitled document and brings up a dialog, which isn't what I want. I also tried something that involved "with properties {name:TestFile} but that didn't work either.
I have Applescript the definitive guide and Applescript in a Nutshell but neither seems to describe this situation, although surely it's a common one.
I'd be most grateful for any help.
macbook   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

Answer 1

Not all Macintosh e-Mail'er applications are scripted the same; thus, Apple's 'Mail' e-Mail'er application is assumed.
-- Create dynamic path to the desired folder.
tell application "Finder" to set dFolder to ((startup disk) as string) & "Documents:Barbara:"
tell application "Mail" -- Utilize 'Mail's AppleScript dictionary.
set selected_Messages to selection -- Obtain a list of selected e-Mail messages.
repeat with i in selected_Messages -- Cycle through the selected e-Mail messages.
set tSubject to my Clean_String((subject of i) as string) -- Obtain each e-Mail message's 'Subject' line.
set tContent to (content of i) as string -- Obtain each e-Mail message's contents.
set fRef to open for access file (dFolder & tSubject) with write permission -- Create a new file at dFolder.
write tContent to fRef -- Write the e-Mail message to the new file.
close access fRef -- Close the new file.
end repeat
end tell
on CleanString(localString) -- 'Macintosh file names cannot contain a ':'. Here it is replaced by '_'.
if (local_String contains ":") then -- Check for presence of ':" in local_String
-- Standard 'AppleScript's text item delimiters' preparation.
set {oAStid, AppleScript's text item delimiters} to {AppleScript's text item delimiters, ":"}
set local_String to text items of local_String -- Creates a list of items separated by ":'.
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "_" -- Set a new delimiter character.
set local_String to local_String as string -- Creates a string from created list with '_' as the new delimiter.
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oAStid -- Restore 'AppleScript's text item delimiters'.
end if
return local_String -- Return modified / non-modified string.
end Clean_String
The created generic text file can be viewed and edited with any text editor.
Also, the 'repeat ... end repeat' portion can be rewritten as ...
repeat with i in selected_Messages -- Cycle through the selected e-Mail messages.
set fRef to open for access file (dFolder & (my Clean_String((subject of i) as string))) with write permission -- Create a new file at dFolder.
write ((content of i) as string) to fRef -- Write the e-Mail message to the new file.
close access fRef -- Close the new file.
end repeatf
  Mac OS X (10.4.4)