[comp.sys.mac.hypercard] 2.0 and MultiFinder

Barry.Chern@p4.f200.n226.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Barry Chern) (10/24/90)

I just recently tried to experiment with 2.0's ablility to run scripts in the
background under MultiFinder. I was quickly stymied by the fact that some of
the scripts where this would be most advantageous seem to not want to let me
get out of HyperCard in the first place. I tried clicking on the little icon
in the menubar, tried getting to the Apple menu, using a command-key, all to
no avail. I couldn't get back to the Finder until the script was almost finished.

My best guess is that it was because the script is reading from a text file.
If this is the case, then the running in background thing is seriously reduced
in usefulness, since most of my longest scripts have to do with reading from
and writing to other files.

Anyone know what sort of scripts have trouble switching apps under MultiFinder,
and possibly a work-around for this sort of problem?

Barry 
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bc@Apple.COM (bill coderre) (11/03/90)

Barry Chern:
|Anyone know what sort of scripts have trouble switching under MultiFinder
|and possibly a work-around for this sort of problem?

The "wait" command (with a non-zero numeric argument -- representing
time in sixtieths of a second) always allows multi-finder switching.

In a tight loop in which you want to allow multi-finder switching, add
a "wait 1" command.

Certain other Hypertalk commands allow switching to happen, too, but I
don't have a list of them. Apparently, none of the ones in your loop
do.

bill coderre
not an apple employee or spokesdroid.

Barry.Chern@p4.f200.n226.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Barry Chern) (11/05/90)

bill coderre writes in a message on 03 Nov 90...

BC> Certain other Hypertalk commands allow switching to happen, too, 
BC> but I don't have a list of them. Apparently, none of the ones 
BC> in your loop do

It turns out that what I was experiencing was a jen-you-wine 2.0 bug. If there
is a click on the card window between the time the script starts to execute
and the time when you try to switch out of HyperCard, you will have to click
on the menubar icon 10 times before it will get any of the messages and starts
switching.

I was selecting a file with the sf dialog at the beginning of the script, and
double-clicking seemed to be the cause of my problem. If I did the selection
by hitting  return I could switch out easily, but if I double-clicked, I had
to click ten times. 

And thanks to Kevin Calhoun for letting me know about the nature of this bug.
I don't know if I would have ever guessed the "click 10" business.

--Barry 
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