lrasmuss@nmsu.edu (Linda Rasmussen) (08/12/89)
Does anyone know of a good source of information about using hypercard as
a front end to other systems? Right now I have a stack set up to go out and
connect to unix/mainframe systems via Kermit and some macros, but I would
really like to explore the possibilities of creating a direct hypercard
interface to particular information bases on those systems.
I have been reading about "Chaffeur," the Compuserve hypercard interface.
Are there more generic sets of XCMD's for making serial port connections
and communicating with other systems? Has anyone tried this? Are there
any problems with speed (i.e., lack of it?)
Any information appreciated!
Linda Rasmussen lrasmuss@dante.nmsu.edu
New Mexico State University (505)646-5598chesley@goofy.apple.com (Harry Chesley) (08/15/89)
In article <306@opus.NMSU.EDU> lrasmuss@nmsu.edu (Linda Rasmussen) writes: > Are there more generic sets of XCMD's for making serial port connections > and communicating with other systems? There is the HyperCard Serial Port Toolkit, available from A.P.D.A. for a nominal fee ($20 the last time I looked). This includes basic serial port operation, plus XModem, plus full source code. In article <306@opus.NMSU.EDU> lrasmuss@nmsu.edu (Linda Rasmussen) writes: > Does anyone know of a good source of information about using hypercard as > a front end to other systems? I've written front-ends to DIALOG using the serial port XCMDs, and to a netnews server using MacTCP XCMDs. In fact, I'm replying to this now via the netnews front-end, which is available as a part of the HyperCard MacTCP Toolkit, also through A.P.D.A. (The DIALOG front-end is not officially available from Apple, but you may be able to find it on one or another on-line service.) My experience is that HyperCard does poorly when it's trying to act like a terminal. HyperTalk is slow enough that performance is always poorer than real terminal programs, and it doesn't add much value. On the other hand, it can do wonderfull things when providing a more complete user interface, making services more user-friendly, and supplementing them with local on-line help. It seems to work best of all in an environment that has lots of small, independent transactions: HyperCard can be used to make the user's choices clear and easily selected, and the results can be displayed in a nice, easy-to-read format. The database facilities of HyperCard also work best in that sort of application, since the user can then choose to save the transactions to a stack. Probably the best aspect of using HyperCard for building front-ends is that you have so much flexibility in designing the interface that you can really spend all your energy on figuring out the best interface, not on the details of building it. (The netnews front-end, for example, went through several complete revisions as I came to understand the problem better and better.) If you have any more specific questions, feel free to drop me an email.