gestalt Reference

Retrieve system information

gestalt

Examples

gestalt can give you info about the system in use and info about hardware features

Discussion

gestalt uses the Macintosh function "Gestalt" to return information about the current hardware and software. For a list of Gestalt selectors and responses consult Apple developer documentation. On Windows, this function is emulated, and may consequently report slightly different, though meaningful, information.

Arguments

None.

Attributes

outputmode [int] (default: 0)

When set to 1, output from the left output is prepended with the chosen selector.

selector [symbol] (default: )

Default Info Selector

Common Box Attributes

Messages

bang

bang message causes gestalt to repeat its previous output.

anything

Arguments

selector [symbol]
Performs the same function as symbol.

keys

Returns a dictionary containing short key and long-form descriptive names (also functional) for available info.

symbol

Arguments

selector [symbol]
The symbol message containing a Gestalt selector will return the appropriate system specific information. Some sample selectors are "sysv" to return the system version and "qtim" to return the quicktime version.

Output

int

Out left outlet If there was no error in obtaining the response to a selector to the object, the response is sent out the left outlet. Binary or hex display and/or the use of the bitwise and operator & may aid in interpreting the response.

Out right outlet: If there was an error in obtaining the response to a selector, an error code is sent out the right outlet. Refer to Apple developer documentation for a complete list of error codes. If the input selector was undefined, -1 is sent out. If there was no error, 0 is sent out.

See Also

Name Description
Sharing Max Patchers Sharing Max Patchers
screensize