rburns%master@Sun.COM (Randy Burns) (01/28/89)
Have any hypertext systems been written in Smalltalk? It seems to me that this language has a lot of the features of Apple's Hypercard. Has anyone extended it so that the user can define buttions, cards and fields without knowing the Smalltalk language? Thanks, Randy Burns
sdl@linus.UUCP (Steven D. Litvintchouk) (01/29/89)
In article <87291@sun.uucp> rburns%master@Sun.COM (Randy Burns) writes: > Have any hypertext systems been written in Smalltalk? It seems to > me that this language has a lot of the features of Apple's Hypercard. > Has anyone extended it so that the user can define buttions, cards and > fields without knowing the Smalltalk language? Hypertext is not the same thing as having buttons that run scripts (as Hypercard does). The Analyst (Xerox XSIS), written in Smalltalk, has a lot of hypertext-like features. They also make a product called Assistant (I think) that adds even more. You can use Analyst without knowing much about Smalltalk. Also, a recent issue of HOOPLA had an article on programming Hypercard-like buttons in Smalltalk. However, the "scripts" these buttons run are really Smalltalk code, so you still need to know Smalltalk to use them. Steven Litvintchouk MITRE Corporation Burlington Road Bedford, MA 01730 Fone: (617)271-7753 ARPA: sdl@mitre-bedford.arpa UUCP: ...{att,decvax,genrad,ll-xn,philabs,utzoo}!linus!sdl "Those who will be able to conquer software will be able to conquer the world." -- Tadahiro Sekimoto, president, NEC Corp.
hmm@laura.UUCP (Hans-Martin Mosner) (01/30/89)
There is a system called The Analyst which implements some hypertext ideas.
It has been written by Xerox Special Information Systems and is available on
most Smalltalk-80 platforms. The features:
- hierarchical folder structures for documents
- arbitrary link types between documents
- a couple of document retrieval functions
- classification schemes
- text processing
- some WYSIWYG abilities
- postscript & interpress printing
- outline tool
- simple database
- gorgeous object-oriented spreadsheet
- graphics editor
- chart tool & editor
- map tool with access to geographical databases
- input form creation tool
- and some more which I don't remember now.
The system comes as a Smalltalk-80 image ready to run, with full source code
supplied. So you can expand it to suit your needs.
Some things which I would like to have but which The Analyst does not have yet:
- links between arbitrary regions of documents
- more WYSIWYG power
- better integration of text and graphics (automatic update for all graphics
pasted into text documents etc)
- object-oriented graphics in addition to the bitmap graphics
Otherwise I'm very satisfied with the product. We're using it as the base for
some customer projects which need the document storage, linking and some other
capabilities. If you want more information you should write to XSIS directly:
(this is from Evelyn Van Orden's business card, so the phone
number is probably hers)
Evelyn M. Van Orden
Xerox Special Information Systems
PO Box 5608
Pasadena, CA 91107-0608
phone: (818) 351-2351
Hans-Martin
--
Hans-Martin Mosner | Don't tell Borland about Smalltalk - |
hmm@unido.{uucp,bitnet} | they might invent Turbo Smalltalk ! |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: Turbo Smalltalk may already be a trademark of Borland...warner@s3snorkel.ARPA (Ken Warner) (01/31/89)
In article <44066@linus.UUCP> sdl@linus.UUCP (Steven D. Litvintchouk) writes: >In article <87291@sun.uucp> rburns%master@Sun.COM (Randy Burns) writes: >> Have any hypertext systems been written in Smalltalk? >The Analyst (Xerox XSIS), written in Smalltalk, has a lot of >hypertext-like features. They also make a product called Assistant >(I >think) that adds even more. You can use Analyst without knowing much >about Smalltalk. A little more about Analyst. Analyst supports a variety of ways of navagating through a heterogenous space containing entities such as spread-sheets, charts and/or maps, documents, outlines and literaly anything else that one can construct in Smalltalk. These entities are generally reached by clicking on something, representing an entity, causing that entity to become a scheduled application. That something can be, for example, an icon imbedded in another application or presented as an item in a list or a node in a tree-graph displaying a set or sub-set of the links connecting that entity to other entities. The best feature of Analyst is that it (naturally) comes with complete source and is easily extendable. I have no relation with XSIS or ParcPlace. I'm just an enthusiastic user. Ken Warner warner@snorkel.idunno