Bits, Pieces
Volume Number: 5
Issue Number: 8
Column Tag: HyperChat™
Bits And Pieces
By Fred Stauder, HyperChat Editor
on HyperChat
Getting into the Business
Professional stacks are going in two main directions at the moment. The first is
MultiMedia and the second is Information sources. Animatrix is a company who
specializes in making high end presentations and interactive software for companies
such as Apple, have branched out to provide more detailed information and Database
linking for Domino’s Pizza and others. Anamatrix has years of experience and is doing
some very exciting things.
How do you as a novice get into the market of stack development? You take the
second direction which is as an information provider. A great example of a very useful
value packed stack that was easy to write is Apple’s Technote Stack.
Figure 1.
As you can see from figure 1. the stack has two main fields in which you have
categories and a choice of subcategories. You click on a subject then a technote, it the
opens up to give you the information. Simple, fast, and it gives you what you want,
without rotating helicopters etc.
I am not against animation, far from it, I am pro animation where it is
appropriate, and doesn’t compromise speed of access in a professional environment.
Most business users want the information fast and in an informative way. If an
animation can enhance the information then use it.
Once the technote is open, there are pict icons on some technotes that when
depressed pop up a pict in an XCMD window. (see figure 2.)
Figure 2.
This stack is a good example of not putting in too much information or features.
To break into this business remember these tips:
Start with simple projects that you can deliver on time.
Don’t add too much complexity e specially not at the end of the design phase.
Pick potential customers that you may have some insight or special knowledge
into how they operate(e.g. a trucking company).
Script Tips
Have you ever wished that you can use the arrowkeys to move from card to card
and when you are in a field they would move you around the text. Well here is a great
little little script that will do just that.
on arrowKey whichKey
set textArrows to (selectedChunk() ≠ empty)
pass arrowKey
end arrowKey
Listing 1.
A SuperCard trick that I thought up is a fast, easy, and clean way to make
animated buttons and fields. It uses the shadow feature of buttons or fields. When you
mouseDown the shadow is set to 0 and the object is moved, giving the impression of
animated. Figure 3. shows the objects before and after mouseDown.
Figure 3.
on mouseDown
move me rel 1,1
set the shadow of me to 0
end mouseDown
on mouseUp
move me rel -1,-1
set shadow of me to 2
end mouseUp
Listing 2.
I wanted to make a editing method that could be used in Hypercard or MPW or
anywhere else that text is used. Wouldn’t it be great if we could visualize the structure
of the code, and go directly to the section you wanted to.
I created a main field which is scrolling and then a narrow 1 pt locked field to the
side of it. The script is activated when the mouse is within the field and it gets the line
number and selects the same line number in the main field. If there is a change the 1 pt
field is updated.
If the code is longer than can be displayed then the 1 pt fld should scroll up and
down. I will leave this as an exercise for you. I will publish the solution of the first
person who sends in a good method.
Figure 4.
on mousewithin
put trunc((the mouseV - top of me)/textHeight of me)-3 into
mySelectLine
if mySelectLine > 0 then select line mySelectLine of cd fld main
end mousewithin
Listing 3.
Send articles ideas, comments etc to
Applelink: STAUDER
end HyperChat