Using Director > Writing Scripts with Lingo > Using handlers |  |

Using handlers

As described in Using messages to identify events, Director sends messages to handlers within scripts when specific events occur. You attach a set of handlers to an object by attaching the handlers' script to the object. See Creating and attaching scripts with the Script window.

Each handler begins with the word `on` followed by the message that the handler should respond to. The last line of the handler is the word `end`. You can repeat the handler's name after `end`, but this is optional.

When an object receives a message that corresponds to a handler attached to the object, Director runs the Lingo statements within the handler. For example, the `mouseDown` message indicates that the user clicked the mouse button. To indicate in your script that an action should be performed when the mouse is clicked, you include a line in your script that begins with `onMouseDown`. You follow this line with the Lingo statements that should execute when the script receives the `mouseDown` message.