The canWriteTo function takes a single parameter, pFolder, and returns true if the directory is writable, false otherwise.

The function is called with code such as the following:

if canWriteFileTo(specialFolderPath("Preferences")) then
	createPrefsFile
else 
	answer "Could not create a Preferences file."
end if

Note: There is no Preferences folder on Windows. It may in the case of running this on Windows be preferable to instead use the Documents folder.

The function does not directly check the attributes of the directory. Instead, it uses a trick: it tries to create a file, using the open file command. When you use the open file command and specify a nonexistent file, the command creates the file.  

Note: if you wanted to directly read the permissions attribute of a directory instead, you can use the detailed folders function.

If the command fails, indicating no file can be created in that location, the result function will return an error message. By checking whether the result is empty, we can check whether the open file command was successful, and therefore whether it's possible to create a file at the desired location.

We don't want to use a file that might already exist in the specified folder. For this reason, the handler generates a random number between 1 and 9999, using the random function. The file's name consists of the string "temp" followed by this random number. It's very unlikely that there will already be a file with such a name. Additionally, if the file is accidentally left in place after the handler finishes executing, at least its name clearly indicates that it is a temporary file and can be removed.

If the result is empty, the command succeeded. The handler then cleans up after itself by closing and deleting the test file. If the result is not empty, the file wasn't created, so it doesn't need to be cleaned up.

function canWriteFileTo pFolder
	local tRandomFileName
   
	put pFolder & "/temp" & random(9999) into tRandomFileName
   
	open file tRandomFileName for write 
	
	## try creating a file
	if the result is empty then 
		## success
		## get rid of the test file
		close file tRandomFileName
		delete file tRandomFileName 
		return true
	else
		## failed - couldn't create a file there
		return false
	end if
end canWriteFileTo