Converting a HyperCard stack to MetaCard

 

Table of Contents   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 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 MetaCard Starter Kit

Using this tutorial with the Runtime Revolution Starter Kit

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 MetaCard stacks

Accessing MetaCard Features and Scripts: A brief list of keyboard shortcuts and access techniques for those new to MetaCard

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 MetaCard

Importing the stack into MetaCard

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 MetaCard Menus

How MetaCard menus work

How to edit groups, including menu groups

The special Help menu - its requirements

MetaCard 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 MetaCard

Timed events

Using send to instead of idle

On the title card

On the timer card

Making a splash screen

About MetaCard 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 MetaCard features

Other things we could have done

Custom properties versus global variables

Frontscripts and backscripts

Resizeable windows and geometry management

The htmlText property

MetaCard internet access

All contents copyright (C) 1996, HyperActive Software. All rights reserved.
Revised: December 3, 2001
URL: http://www.hyperactivesw.com/mctutorial/tutorialtoc.html