How can I get Applescript to operate correctly again?

Question

I can't Applescript on G4 with OS 10.3.9 to work correctly. When I try to open an applescript the G4 says it can't find the Scriptable Text editor. I am then asked to choose an application but Applescript is not amoung the choices. When I close that window, the script I tried to open now opens with the script in purple (is that significant?). And icon of Scriptable Text Editor in on the desktop but when I try to open it, the program "cannot be found".
The script I am trying to run starts out:
tell application "Scriptable Text Editor"
activate
count characters of document 1
I have some good scripts from my G3 but I can't get the G4 to open or run them. Does this mean I have to reinstall Applescript from the CD? Or should I move the script editor from the extra drive or the desktop and put it in the Applescript folder?

Answer 1

HD--
I followed your suggestion and used
tell application "TextEdit"
activate
count characters of text of document 1
end tell
The even log came back as:
tell application "TextEdit"
activate
count every character of every text of document 1
"TextEdit got an error: NSReceiverEvaluationScriptError: 4"
The application I am working with is Appleworks 6. I went to AW6 Text suite dictioary and found:
AppleWorks Text Suite: Terms for use with word processing
Class character: a character
Plural form:
characters
Elements:
character by numeric index, as a range of elements
text as a range of elements
Properties:
color RGB color -- the color
font text -- the name of the font of the character
size real -- the size in points of the character
style text style info -- the text style of the character
uniform styles text style info [r/o] -- the text styles which are uniform throughout the specified text
drawing area drawing layer [r/o] -- the character’s drawing area (only for embedded graphics)
<Inheritance> text [r/o] -- subclass of text
So it appears that Script Editor should recognize characters.
There may be another glitch. When I open the downloaded Scriptable Text Editor, it opens in Mac Classic OS9. I don't know how relavent this is.
I also checked the dictionary for TextEdit Text suite and found:
Class text: Rich (styled) text
Elements:
character by numeric index, before/after another element, as a range of elements, satisfying a test
attribute run by numeric index, before/after another element, as a range of elements, satisfying a test
attachment by numeric index, before/after another element, as a range of elements, satisfying a test
word by numeric index, before/after another element, as a range of elements, satisfying a test
paragraph by numeric index, before/after another element, as a range of elements, satisfying a test
Properties:
<Inheritance> item [r/o] -- All of the properties of the superclass.
size integer -- The size in points of the first character.
font Unicode text -- The name of the font of the first character.
color color -- The color of the first character.