Edit and Store a Script Object

Question

Hi, All!
I know there must be a way to do this:
I want to be able to create a script based on user input and then store it for later use. Here's an example:
display dialog "How many beeps?" default answer "1"
set beepNum to text returned of result as string
script beeper
beep beepNum
end script
store script beeper in ((path to desktop as string) & "Beeper.scpt")
So, what I don't want is the stored script to need the variable to be defined.
So, say the user types in a 5. Then, I'd want the stored script to read "beep 5".
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I use a couple of tools for something similar, although they just paste handlers or code snippets into the front Script Editor document. The following script will compile script text to an application on your desktop:
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
font-weight: normal;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px; height: 340px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #DAFFB6;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the AppleScript Editor">
set theDesktop to quoted form of POSIX path of (path to desktop) -- this will be where the application is saved
-- a couple of example variables
tell (current date) to set theDate to (it's month) & " " & (it's day) & ", " & (it's year)
set theDescription to "osacompile example -- saves the specified script text as an application"
-- this is the script text - pay attention to quoting
set theScript to "
" & theDescription & "
created on " & theDate & "
on run -- example
set the clipboard to escapeString(the clipboard as string)
display dialog (the clipboard) with title \"Clipboard Contents\" buttons {\"OK\"} default button \"OK\" giving up after 5
end run
on escapeString(someText)
escapes a list of characters for an AppleScript string
parameters - someText [text]: some text to look at
returns [text]: the text with matching characters escaped
set someText to someText as text
-- set escapeList to {\"\\\\\", \"\\\"\"} -- backslash, quote
set escapeList to {ASCII character 92, ASCII character 34} -- backslash, quote
set escapedText to \"\"
repeat with theChar in (get characters of someText)
if theChar is in escapeList then set escapedText to escapedText & (ASCII character 92)
set escapedText to escapedText & theChar
end repeat
return escapedText
end escapeString
-- add a here-doc wrapper if not using a file
set theScript to "<<_script-contents_
" & theScript & "
_script-contents_"
do shell script "cd " & theDesktop & "; osacompile -o 'forum test.app' -t APPL " & theScript -- make it
</pre>
Since just saving a script object by itself won't do anything (additional code will be needed to run it or call it from another script), the sample text is one of the tools I use to escape AppleScript text strings - it replaces the contents of the clipboard with the escaped text. To test with other script text, just copy the text to the clipboard, run the escape tool, and paste into the theScript variable.