keith@apple.UUCP (Keith Rollin) (10/19/87)
WINDOID
Issue #1
Editor: David Leffler
Welcome...
This is the first issue of The HyperCard Windoid - the newsletter for Apple's
HyperCard User's Group. We hope the user group and newsletter will create a
forum for information about HyperCard, including tips and techniques in various
accessible formats to make your use of HyperCard even more valuable, flexible,
and fun.
We will bring you articles written by the development team and will make
efforts to take your questions and problems directly to the source for an
answer.
In addition, and most importantly, Windoid will create a forum for the open
sharing of stackware and information.
Bill and Dan have shown a remarkable ability to immediately understand the
needs, ideas, and suggestions of HyperCard users. The members of the team
have thus been able to assist greatly in shaping HyperCard into what it is
today. The continuing interest in user input gives users a unique opportunity
to help shape HyperCard's future.
This newsletter provides an opportunity for its readers to contribute to the
continued genesis of HyperCard. With your assistance we can continue to bring
to HyperCard added depth and functionality. In the back of every issue will be
a form for you to keep by your Macintosh. This form will give you the unique
opportunity to be able to participate in the continued development of
HyperCard.
If you have a bug, suggestion, or comment fill out the form and send it to:
AHUG
C/O David Leffler
Apple Computer Inc.
MS 27AQ
20520 Mariani Ave.,
Cupertino, CA 95014
Or copy the format and AppleLink it to:
HYPERBUG$
Ask the Team...
The HyperCard test team has consented to provide us with a series of tips and
techniques based on frequent user questions. Please send in your questions and
they will try to answer the most consistently asked.
Question: How can I create a script that will enable me to double-click an
icon button?
Answer: Consider creating a button script like the following.
The following handler for a button that will detect a double-click on itself.
It waits 30 ticks for the 2nd click then times out.
Put this handler into a button's script, then add whatever special things you
want your button to do when double-clicked. Adjust the timeout value if you
want it to wait longer (or shorter). A tick is 1/60th of a second.
on mouseUp
put the ticks into originalTicks
repeat until the mouseClick
if the ticks - originalTicks > 30 then exit mouseUp
end repeat
-- Put next whatever you want the button to do when double-clicked.
-- For example:
Play "Boing"
end mouseUp
Question: How can get a word in a field to do something when I click on it?
Answer: One way would be to put a transparent button over the text. If you
want to be able to move the word around inside the field without having to move
the transparent button with it, you can use the following "sticky
button"technique.
The following script gets put into the field:
On Mousedown
Set locktext of me to false
click at the clickloc
click at the clickloc
if the selection is "Apple" then
answer "What kind of Apple:" with "Macintosh" or "Apple II"
else
put "I don't know that word" into msg
end if
set locktext of me to true
End Mousedown
Note: Mousedown, mousestilldown, and mouseup messages only get sent to a field
when that field is locked. It is therefore necessary to lock a field when
expecting that field to deal with any of these messages.
The idea behind sticky buttons is to cause a word to be selected (highlighte
with a single mouse click. 'The selection' then becomes a container.
In the above script, we first unlock the field so that we can create a
selection. Next, we want to make Hypercard believe that we have double clicked
a word, when we really have clicked it only once. This is done in the next two
lines of the script. Clicking at the clickloc forces Hypercard to click twice
at the same location clicked at by the user. A highlighted selection is then
created. Once a word is highlighted, we can use the Hypercard function 'the
selection' to find out what that word is.
Comparison can be done using multiple IF THEN statements or by the use of a
word-list field. In the above script, we do a very simple IF THEN ELSE
comparison which only looks for the word APPLE. When found, it puts up a
dialog. If any other word is clicked, a generic message is placed in the
message box. Remember that you do not need to show the message box every time
you want to write into it. Hypercard displays the message box automatically
whenever text is placed inside it.
Question: How can I find out which line of a field a user has clicked in?
Answer: Using information that can obtained about a given field, it is easy to
calculate.
First of all, we can find out what size rectangle a field occupies by using
field property, RECT. Short for rectangle, RECT returns four numbers in a comma
separated list. The numbers represent the upper-left and lower-right screen
coordinates for that field.
Next, we can find out what the line height of each line of a field is by usi
the field property, TEXTHEIGHT. As you might have guessed, each line of field
can really be expressed as a multiple of the line height. Unfortunately, we
must determine that multiple using the screen coordinates. Here's a user
defined function that will do just that:
Function Clickline
return ((item 2 of the clickloc - item 2 of the rect of the target) div the
textheight of the target) + 1
End Clickline
On Openfield
put clickline() into msg
pass openfield
End Openfield
Ignore the openfield handler for now, but take a look at the function. As yo
may remember, the Hypercard function, THE TARGET, returns the name and id of
the object which last received a message. Likewise, the Hypercard function THE
CLICKLOC returns the horizontal and vertical screen position of the last mouse
click as two comma separated integers. With that knowledge, let's dissect the
function Clickline() (yes you need the parentheses).
The function returns an integer which represents the number of the line of a
field clicked in.
Here's how the function determines the field's line number. First, it takes
vertical location clicked at by the user (item 2 of the clickloc) and subtracts
the top of the field (item 2 of the rect) to determine how many pixels are
between the top of the field and the location clicked at. Once this is known,
determining the line number is a matter of dividing those pixels by the
TEXTHEIGHT. This is what the rest of the function does. We add 1 because
Clickline() returns a zero for line 1.
Clickline() is very flexible. In the openfield handler shown above for examp
we use clickline() with a put statement, treating it just like the number it
returns. You can also use it with an IF THEN statement or any place where you
would use the number itself. All you need do is replace the 'put line' of the
openfield handler with your script.
What about scrolling fields?
An interesting exception arises when using scrolling fields. The above funct
does not account for lines that may have scrolled off of the screen. It looks
only at the visible area of the field. Consider the following function:
Function Clickline
return (((item 2 of the clickloc - item 2 of the rect of the target) div the
textheight of the target) + 1 + trunc(scroll of the target/textheight of the
target))
End Clickline
It adds the number of lines that have scrolled off the screen to the total
number of visible lines. The field property SCROLL returns the number of pixels
scrolled off the top of the field. When divided by the TEXTHEIGHT, this yields
the number of lines. Since a full line may not have scrolled by, it is
necessary to truncate the value using the TRUNC function.
Put both the function definition and the openfield handler in your home scri
where they can be used by any field in any stack.
One final note: a "line" to HyperCard is a string of text separated by a
carriage return. Therefore "the number of lines in field "myfield" " will
return the number of carriage returns in the field, regardless of how the text
may have wrapped in the field.
Question: How can I hide buttons from command-option key peek?
Answer: When you don't want people peeking at your buttons, it is necessary to
trap the command and option keys. While there are several ways of doing this,
here is one that is simple and works about 99% of the time.
The basic idea is to take the user to another card when the command and opti
keys are both pressed. This can be a "no peeking" card or a rules card or some
other kind of card. When the user releases both keys, you then return to the
card the user was viewing before trying to peek. Following are the two scripts
that accomplish this. Put the top one in your stack script and the other in
the "no peeking" card script.
For the stack script:
On Idle
if the commandkey is down and the optionkey is down then
push this card
go card "no peeking"
end if
end Idle
For the "no peeking" card script:
On Idle
if the commankey is up and the optionkey is up then
pop card
end if
End Idle
Power User Tips
Create a button on your Home card with a script that says "go to stack "the
stack you want"." When you click on it, not finding a stack by that name it
will put up SFGetfile asking "Where is the stack you want?"
To zoom directly to the script of an object, hold down the Shift key while
double clicking, or going to its "info" window.
Do not name a button or a field with a numeric character. This is because
if you ask for a button "1812" HyperCard looks for the button whose number is
1812.
In the button or field tools, holding the shift key down when dragging
either will give you an automatic straight edge. You can easily drag buttons
or fields in a straight line, either horizontally or vertically.
Option-Drag in Fatbits allows you to grab and move the screen.
To "pre warm" the cards in a stack so that "show all cards" will really cook
through the stack, put an on openstack script that locks the screen, shows all
cards, and then unlocks the screen. This quickly and invisibly cashes all the
cards, and show card scripts will work at optimum speed.
If you are running on a MacII and want to see Visual Effects, be sure to set
the monitor to 2 bit mode.
Stack Design Issues
Beware of relying on "Go Back" buttons for navigation in your stack. Push
and Pop are where it's at. If the user strays just a little from the
"predicted" course of navigation, the Back buttons just take him/her on a
confusing little trip down memory lane. A good technique: On opencard "push
recent card", which pushes where you just came from. Then when you do a "pop
card" you will always go to that recent location.
If you suspect that your pushes and pops are not in sinc, (happens before
harminica convergences) add the following scripts to that stack script to help
you sort out your pops.:
on pop params
put the params after msg
pass pop
end pop
on push params
put the params after msg
pass push
end push
The form:
Please use the following form to make a difference in the world:
Date:
Name:
Address:
Phone #:
Versions of:
a. HyperCard
b. Associated software
c. System Software
1. System
2. Finder
3. ImageWriter file
4. LaserWriter file
5. Any others
Type of Macintosh:
Peripherals:
Description of problem, suggestions or comments:
AHUG
C/O David Leffler
Apple Computer Inc.
MS 27AQ
20525 Mariani Ave.,
Cupertino, CA 95014
Or copy the format and AppleLink it to:
HYPERBUG$
--
Keith Rollin amdahl\
Sales Technical Support pyramid!sun !apple!keith
Apple Computer decwrl/
Disclaimer: I read this board for fun, not profit. Anything I say is from the
result of reading magazines, hacking, and soaking my head in acid.