An explorer is Script Debugger’s powerful, flexible, interactive way of displaying an AppleScript value. Explorers appear in many places in Script Debugger’s interface.

A full-fledged explorer can be displayed in any of three views.

• Best view. This view is “best” because it is most informative. If a value has properties or elements (or both), Best view shows an outliner, which is Script Debugger’s powerful interface for interactive study of a complex value. There can be more than one best view; for example, a date’s Best view might show both an outliner and a date widget.

• Source view. This view shows the value as the AppleScript language describes it.

• AEPrint view. This view shows the value as an Apple event describes it.

To switch among views:

• Choose View > Best View, View > Source View, or View > AEPrint View.

• Or, click the Best, Source, or AEPrint button at the top right of the explorer.

You can show more than one view at once. To do so, hold Shift as you switch views. The result is a split-pane display of multiple views.

Various explorer view options and actions may be available, depending on what view is displayed and what kind of value is being viewed.