Apple WebObjects 3.5 - Manual (Page 170)

Chapter 10 The WebScript Language
170
For more information on NSNumber, NSString, NSDictionary, and NSArray,
see the chapter “WebScript Programmer’s Quick Reference to Foundation
Classes” (page 187).
Methods
To define a new method, simply put its implementation in the script file. You
don’t need to declare it ahead of time. For example, this is the definition of a
method from the Main component in the Visitors example:
- recordMe {
if ([aName length]) {
[[self application] setLastVisitor:aName];
[self setAName:@""]; // clear the text field
}
}
Methods can take arguments. To define a method that takes arguments, you
place the argument name after a colon (:). For example, the following method
takes two arguments. It adds the two arguments together and returns the result:
- addFirstValue:firstValue toSecondValue:secondValue {
id result;
result = firstValue + secondValue;
return result;
}
The strings that appear to the left of the colons are part of the method name.
The method above is named
addFirstValue:toSecondValue: . It takes two arguments,
which it calls firstValue and secondValue .
If you want, you can add type information for the return values and parameter
values. For example, the following method,
subtractFirstValue:fromSecondValue: ,
subtracts one number from another and returns the result:
- (NSNumber *)subtractFirstValue:(NSNumber *)firstValue
fromSecondValue:(NSNumber *)secondValue {
NSNumber *result;
result = secondValue - firstValue;
return result;
}
In these examples, note the following:
• Type information is optional. When there is no type, id is assumed.
• Explicitly specifying the id type is not allowed:
// NO!! This won’t work.
- (id)aMethod:(id)anArg { ... }