HyperCard Reference Contents Contents Preface Welcome HyperCard Documentation xviii What You Need to Know xix How to use this book xix Where to Get HyperCard Stacks xxi About user groups xxi Chapter 1 Using HyperCard What Is HyperCard? 1-2 Cards and stacks 1-3 Starting HyperCard 1-4 Starting from the Home stack 1-4 Starting with a stack other than Home 1-6 Home Stack 1-6 Home cards 1-7 .................................... User levels and options 1-8 Setting your user level 1-8 Arrow Keys in Text option 1-10 Power Keys option 1-12 Blind Typing Option 1-12 How HyperCard finds stacks 1-13 Opening and Closing Stacks 1-15 Opening a stack 1-15 Opening a stack protected with a password 1-17 Opening a write-protected stack 1-18 Opening a stack built in an earlier version of HyperCard 1-19 Opening more than one stack at a time 1-20 Closing a stack 1-21 Looking through stacks 1-21 Displaying the menu bar 1-22 Stack menus 1-22 Moving around in a stack 1-22 Using commands in the Go menu 1-23 Using the navigator palette 1-25 Clicking buttons to move around 1-26 Clicking text to move around 1-27 Using the arrow keys to move around 1-27 Going to a specific card 1-28 Seeing all cards in a stack 1-29 Looking for specific text 1-30 Finding text anywhere in a stack 1-30 Finding text in a specific field 1-32 Finding a whole word or phrase 1-34 Moving and resizing the card window 1-35 Moving a card window 1-35 Resizing a card window 1-36 Viewing large cards 1-38 Moving from one stack to another 1-39 Looking through cards you’ve seen 1-39 Returning Home 1-40 Entering Text 1-41 Opening Applications 1-42 ii Contents .................................... Getting Help 1-43 Using a Stack on a File Server 1-44 Using a Stack on a CD-ROM 1-44 Quitting HyperCard 1-45 Chapter 2 Learning HyperCard Basics Starting Up and Taking the Tour 2-2 Opening HyperCard Files 2-4 Opening stacks by clicking buttons 2-4 Opening stacks using the Open Stack command 2-5 Looking at Cards 2-6 Using the Go Menu 2-8 Typing 2-9 Entering text 2-9 Editing text 2-10 Adding a New Card 2-11 Manipulating Windows 2-12 Saving Stacks 2-14 The Home Stack 2-14 The Home cards 2-15 The Preferences card 2-16 The Message Box 2-18 Controlling the Message box 2-18 Using the Message box 2-18 Finding Text 2-20 Copying and Pasting a Picture 2-21 Copying the picture 2-21 Pasting the picture 2-22 Redesigning a Stack 2-23 Saving a copy 2-24 Adding a new button to the Home stack 2-24 Working with the background 2-25 Deleting a Background button 2-27 Moving and changing the Home button 2-28 Rearranging the arrow buttons 2-29 Modifying the Find button 2-30 Contents iii .................................... Copying a button from another stack 2-31 Deleting fields 2-33 Modifying the Phone Number field 2-33 Creating a Birth Date field 2-35 Creating the label for the Birth Date field 2-36 Putting text in a shared text field 2-37 Rearranging the Notes field 2-38 Finishing touches 2-39 Starting from Scratch 2-41 Copying the background art 2-42 Copying the background buttons 2-44 Copying the left arrow 2-44 Copying the right arrow button 2-45 Copying and customizing the Home button 2-45 Arranging the buttons 2-46 Creating the background fields 2-47 Creating the stack’s title field 2-47 Adding the title field text 2-47 Creating a Car Name field 2-48 Adding Pros and Cons fields 2-49 Creating Pros and Cons labels 2-50 Adding label text 2-51 Checking your work 2-52 Using the stack 2-53 Getting HyperCard Help 2-54 Using the list of topics 2-55 Using the Find Topic feature 2-56 Congratulations! 2-58 Chapter 3 A Taste of HyperTalk What You Will Build 3-2 Getting Started 3-3 Creating the Collection Stack 3-4 Creating Background Buttons 3-5 A quick background review 3-5 Creating a Home button 3-6 iv Contents .................................... Writing the Home button’s script 3-8 Trying out the Home button 3-9 How the script works 3-10 Adding a button to the Home stack 3-11 Creating the button 3-11 Writing the script 3-12 Message handlers 3-13 Putting Information into Your Stack 3-14 Adding fields to the background 3-14 Creating the Category field 3-15 Creating the Artist, Title, and Notes fields 3-17 Typing into the fields 3-17 Adding more cards to the stack 3-18 Buttons for Traveling 3-19 Creating Next and Previous buttons 3-19 Customizing the button on the right 3-19 Customizing the button on the left 3-20 Writing the scripts 3-20 Adding visual effects 3-22 Adding a visual effect to the Next button 3-22 Adding a visual effect to the Previous button 3-23 The syntax of the visual command 3-24 Skimming cards 3-25 Modifying the Next button’s script 3-25 Modifying the Previous button’s script 3-27 Adding graphics 3-29 Fields and Other Containers 3-30 Putting values into containers 3-30 Putting values into the Message box 3-30 Fields as containers 3-32 Creating the Label field 3-32 Writing a script for the stack 3-32 How the script works 3-33 Creating a pop-up field 3-34 Creating the Credits field 3-34 Creating an About button 3-35 Writing a script for the Credits field 3-36 Contents v .................................... Trying out the scripts 3-37 How the scripts work 3-37 Variables 3-38 Creating a Sort button 3-38 How the script works 3-39 Putting comments into the handler 3-40 Scripts That Make Decisions 3-41 If structures 3-41 Creating a Quit button 3-42 Trying out the Quit button 3-43 Adding an action 3-44 Modifying the Quit button’s script 3-45 Decisions within decisions 3-46 Repeat structures 3-46 Creating the Index card 3-48 Creating the Entries field 3-48 Creating the Index button 3-49 Writing a script that goes through all the cards 3-49 How the script works 3-50 Adding statements that generate the index 3-50 Some aesthetic and efficiency touches 3-52 Adding a keyboard shortcut 3-53 Setting properties 3-54 Changing the cursor 3-55 Using functions 3-56 Going from an index entry to a card 3-56 Handling Messages 3-59 How messages travel 3-59 Creating a Sound button 3-60 Moving the handler to the card level 3-61 Trying out the card script 3-62 Moving the handler to the background level 3-63 Trying out the background script 3-64 Handlers calling handlers 3-65 Writing the “calling” handler 3-65 Writing the “called” handler 3-66 vi Contents .................................... Intercepting a message 3-68 How the handlers work 3-69 Calling handlers from the Message box 3-69 Handlers as building blocks 3-70 You’re on your way! 3-71 Chapter 4 Creating and Modifying Stacks Card Layer Versus Background Layer 4-5 What buttons, fields, and graphics do for your stacks 4-7 Using HyperCard Tools 4-9 Selecting buttons, fields, and graphics 4-12 Planning a Stack 4-14 Stack-Building Process 4-15 Evaluating a stack 4-15 Be sure to get feedback 4-17 Modifying an Existing Stack 4-17 Responsibilities of change 4-17 Examining a stack 4-18 Button information 4-19 Field information 4-21 Card information 4-22 Background information 4-23 Stack information 4-23 Making changes to a stack created with an earlier version 4-24 Undoing Your Mistakes 4-24 Modeling Your Stack After an Existing One 4-24 Creating a New Stack 4-25 Copying parts from other stacks 4-27 Be careful about interactions 4-27 Fixing strange behavior 4-27 Naming a stack 4-28 Changing the size of cards 4-29 Saving a Copy of a Stack 4-31 Creating a Stand-Alone Application 4-32 Reclaiming Free Space in a Stack 4-33 Protecting Your Stack 4-34 Restricting access to a stack 4-34 Contents vii .................................... Protecting a stack from changes or deletion 4-35 Unmodifiable stack padlock 4-37 Limiting user level 4-37 Preventing peeking at buttons and fields 4-39 Preventing script interruption 4-40 Removing a password 4-40 Setting user access for a stack on a file server 4-41 Deleting a stack 4-42 Customizing Your Home Stack 4-43 Changing the appearance of Home cards 4-43 Using the Home stack as a control center 4-44 Chapter 5 Working with Cards and Backgrounds Working with Cards 5-2 Adding a new card to a stack 5-2 Creating a new first card 5-3 Working with large cards 5-5 Copying a card 5-7 Moving a card 5-8 Making a card the first card in the stack 5-9 Getting information about a card 5-10 Naming a card 5-11 Marking a card 5-12 Marking a card with the Get Info dialog box 5-12 Marking a card with the Message box 5-13 Excluding fields from text searches 5-14 Deleting a card 5-15 Protecting a card from deletion 5-15 Working with Backgrounds 5-17 Creating a new background 5-19 Moving between backgrounds 5-20 Copying a background 5-20 Making multiple copies of the same background 5-21 Getting information about a background 5-22 Naming a background 5-23 Excluding background fields from text searches 5-23 Protecting a background 5-24 Deleting a background 5-26 viii Contents ...................................