Scripting Applescript Editor and saving files

Question

I've created an Applescript that generates a smaller, simpler script.  I've gotten everything to work, but when I tell Applescript Editor to save the file, it doesn't work.  It doesn't error out, it acts like it finished properly, but nothing shows up in the location I told it to save.  Here's the snippet that's giving me problems:
tell application "AppleScript Editor"
activate
make new document
set contents of document 1 to fnlScrpt
compile document 1
save document 1 in "Macintosh HD:" as "application"
close document 1 without saving
end tell
I'm going to define a more specific save location once I get it working, but for now it just saves to the top level.  It needs to save as an application, and close the script without saving it.  Any help is appreciated!

Answer 1

Hi all,  I'm a little late to this thread in an attempt to get some scripts working in Lion.    Thanks for the help.  I noticed the way you set your globals, and the way you're having variables get passed on to recompiled scripts.  
I take a different approach,  by writing my Applescript as text,  in quotation marks,  and then relying on fields getting filled in when the Applescript Editor is run, and the new script has the correct data.      I make one text entry called "QT_multiliner" and fill in variables using quotation marks and ampersands. 
THIS FIRST SCRIPT is used to take variables given to it by a database,  and generate a custom applescript for any given record in the database.  
set yyyymmdd to (((year of (current date)) * 10000) + ((month of (current date)) * 100) + (day of (current date))) as text
set mmdd to (text items 5 through 8 of (yyyymmdd)) as text
set qtPath to "/path/to/folder/" & mmdd & "/"
set RenderPrefix to "filename_of_choice"
set TGA_path to "/path/to/folder_with_files/" & mmdd & "/" & RenderPrefix & "/" as text
set appletPath to "/path/to/folder/applet_name_" & RenderPrefix & ".app"
set temp_doc to POSIX file appletPath
--write the applet in Script Editor.  Variables will be filled in and compiled in Script Editor.
set QT_multiliner to "tell application \"Finder\"
set thePath to \"" & TGA_path & "\" as string
activate
make new Finder window
set target of Finder window 1 to (POSIX file thePath)
set theSequence to get first file of the front window as alias
close window 1
end tell
set sequenceName to \"" & RenderPrefix & ".mov\"
tell application id \"com.apple.quicktimeplayer\"
          activate
          open image sequence  theSequence  frames per second 23.98
          set savePath to \"" & qtPath & "/\" & sequenceName
          tell movie 1
                         with timeout of 2400 seconds
                                        export to  (POSIX file savePath) as QuickTime movie using settings alias \"path:to:settings:file\"
                         end timeout
                         close saving no
          end tell
          quit
end tell"
-- Write the script to its own applet 
tell application id "com.apple.ScriptEditor2"
          set x to make new document
          set x to the front document
          set the text of document 1 to QT_multiliner
  compile document 1
          save document 1 as "application" in (temp_doc)
  quit
end tell
...now,  when that is run,  the following applescript is generated with all of the variables filled in. 
--This applet was saved by the previous script, and is saved as /path/to/folder/applet_name_filename_of_choice.app
tell application "Finder"
          set thePath to "/path/to/folder_with_files/0112/filename_of_choice/" as string
  activate
  make new Finder window
          set target of Finder window 1 to (POSIX file thePath)
          set theSequence to get first file of the front window as alias
  close window 1
end tell
set sequenceName to "filename_of_choice.mov"
tell application id "com.apple.quicktimeplayer"
  activate
  open image sequence theSequence frames per second 23.98
          set savePath to "/path/to/folder/0112//" & sequenceName
          tell document 1
                         with timeout of 2400 seconds
                                        export to (POSIX file savePath) as QuickTime movie using settings alias "path:to:settings:file"
                         end timeout
      close saving no
          end tell
  quit
end tell
I really liked Camelot's "script / end script" function,  it's better,  but I just couldn't get it to pipe variables through from one script to another.     Since I need to run this script on any one of dozens of computers,  I need the variables to be compiled and saved within each applet. 
all the best,
Vic