pdmckone@watale.uwaterloo.ca (Paul McKone x2757) (09/08/90)
A friend of mine is using PictureBase (sp?) to organize a series of tiny
(about 1" square) line drawings for use in compiling Bliss boards
(charts of commonly used words and ideas for use by the physically
and verbally impaired).
He has a database of around 2000 symbols and words that he'd like to
be able to select from quickly and easily. PictureBase's search
facility takes upwards of 90 seconds to find any particular
word/symbol. (The setup doesn't need to be able to do "realtime"
conversation speed; it simply needs to find the pictures fast enough
that a hardcopy Bliss board can be constructed in a reasonable space of
time.)
In addition, PictureBase doesn't allow for "whole word" searches,
so that "find 'is'" will turn up "fISh", "fISt", "IS",
"totalitarianISm", etc, but this is a separate issue from that of
speed.
So, the somewhat naive question is: is there a way to take a look at
resources in HyperCard, particularly the STRing and PICTure types? We'd
like to be able to sort through the picture database, perhaps compile a
list of all the symbol names contained, then be able to search for a
keyword and extract a copy of the picture associated with it.
Both he and I are HyperCard novices, but aren't afraid of delving if we
can get a few pointers here and there. Books? Existing stacks that
set good examples?
Many thanks for any light shed,
Paul McKone
--
Paul D. McKone, Systems Manager * * * UNIX: It's all fun and games,
Engineering Computing, U/Waterloo * * * until someone loses an inode.
pdmckone@watale.UWaterloo.ca * * * -- Mrs. Ritchie