Converting a HyperCard stack to LiveCode

by Jacqueline Landman Gay
HyperActive Software

Each section of this tutorial depends on the ones before it. They may be hard to understand if taken out of order, and many of the exercises will be impossible.

HyperActive Software offers professional HyperCard to LiveCode, and HyperCard to MetaCard, conversions and has experience with both Macintosh and Windows conversion issues. If you have a HyperCard project that you would like converted, contact us at info@hyperactivesw.com. We can do the entire conversion, or provide consulting services to help you do it yourself. Since this is our business, we cannot answer email questions about conversion issues without a consulting contract. However, if you find errors in this tutorial we would appreciate a note so that we can fix them.

Introduction

• About the tutorial
• Using this tutorial with the LiveCode Trial
• What you will need: software information
• Where to download the software
• About the stack: Tech Support TimeSaver

General Guidelines

• What will and will not transfer
• Menus
• XCMDs and XFCNs
• Report Printing
• Reserved word variables and unquoted literals
• Saving LiveCode stacks
• Accessing LiveCode Features and Scripts: A brief list of keyboard shortcuts and access techniques for those new to LiveCode

Before Importing: Changes to make in HyperCard

• Removing menu references
• Compact the stack
• Removing calls to XCMDs and XFCNs (including AddColor)

After Importing: Working in LiveCode

• Importing the stack into LiveCode

The Title Card

• Fixing the "play" error
• Saving the stack
• Setting the stack title
• Setting the idleRate

The About Card

• Adjusting the graphic and button

The Records Cards

• Adjusting the fields for default textfont
• Fixing the Sort button
• Notes on the line continuation character
• Notes on the itemDelimiter
• Notes on the "repeat for each" control stucture
• Adjusting the Print button
• Changing the OpenCard handler to preOpenCard

The Tips Card

• Adjusting the Print button to print a field

The Timer Cards

• Adjusting and coloring the display field

The Help Card

• Help works fine - no changes

Adjusting the backgrounds

• Setting up proper display for Windows

About LiveCode Menus

• How LiveCode menus work
• How to edit groups, including menu groups
• The special Help menu - its requirements
• LiveCode menu control characters

Adding a menu bar

• Making room for the menu bar
• Creating the menu bar
• Placing the menu bar
• Writing the menu scripts

Editing the stack script and revising menus

• Adding menu items
• Revising the stack script
• Scripting the dynamic index

It's Done! Except...

• Adding color

Optimizing the stack for LiveCode

Timed events

• Using send to instead of idle
• On the title card
• On the timer card

Making a splash screen

• About LiveCode substacks
• Creating a substack
• Scripting the substack
• Revising the menu script
• Debugging the script

Making the Index into a floating palette

• Setting up the palette
• Scripting the palette
• Revising the makeIndexMenu handler
• Removing the Index menu button

Some other LiveCode features

• Other things we could have done
• Custom properties versus global variables
• Frontscripts and backscripts
• Resizeable windows and geometry management
• The htmlText property
• LiveCode internet access