The mysterious @ sign

[shado...@gmail.com]

Hello!

It's my first time posting in this group then I apologize for anything.

Well, recently I have noticed a strange thing regarding names of handlers and properties and I got curious. I have noticed that it's possible to use @ in handlers and property names. However, I still wonder about the real purpose of it and my tests didn't give much insight. I have seek around the web but I couldn't find anything.

What I could notice is:
- it seems to work as argument/parameters separator when used to name a handler. E.g. if I name a handler "button@click", Toolbook sees it as a handler named "button" with an argument named "click". Also it's possible to call a handler this way, like "send button@click" means I'm calling a "button" handler and passing "click" as first parameter. However, if using it at the beginning (like "@buttonclick") Toolbook simply ignores it and call a handler as if there wasn't the @ (like "send @buttonclick" calls "buttonclick", or a "to handle @buttonclick" is called by a "send buttonclick"). If using it at the end, Toolbook simply gives a "syntax error".

- things get even interesting when using it in an user property. The only way to create a user property with @ is trough setProperty() and to read it through getProperty(). Acessing it directly (like "@myProp of obj") triggers a "syntax error". If trying to create it through Extended Properties, it will ignore it if put at the beggining (same behavior as with handlers), but it will be accepted if put at the middle or end (like my@prop or myProp@). It gets interesting because the property gets inaccessible via direct call but only through setProperty and getProperty functions.

Does anyone have any clue on this odd behavior? Could it be an hidden "feature"?

Thanks in advance.