MetaCard can also be used to prepare on-line help and training packages. The multiple-card metaphor and hypertext-linking capability makes it natural for producing on-line reference manuals. As an example, the complete documentation for the MetaCard environment itself is available on-line in MetaCard stacks.
Press and end-user response to the product has been highly favorable. UNIXWorld magazine named MetaCard one of the 10 Best Products of 1992, and MetaCard was a finalist in SCO's Product of the Year contest in 1993. SunWorld magazine says "... once users have come up to speed with the package, it becomes a must-have UNIX utility, allowing fast prototyping, easy interactive presentations, and simple custom apps."
The interface layout tools are all WYSIWYG and will feel familiar to anyone who has used a drawing or painting program. Building an aesthetically pleasing and functional interface requires none of the esoteric knowledge of attribute and callback names required by other Motif based development systems.
Another benefit of the MetaCard environment is true application portability: applications developed on any platform can be run on any other supported platform without recompiling or other preprocessing.
Since MetaCard engines are freely distributable (the Home stack is the licensed unit), no special licensing arrangements or royalties are necessary to take advantage of this portability or distribute applications built with MetaCard. This flexibility will make multiplatform UNIX environments much more convenient for developers and users alike.
Any dialog, any menu, any error message, and all documentation can be enhanced, extended, or even replaced by any licensed MetaCard user. Why live within the static environments supported by other Motif and hypertext environments when you can have complete control with MetaCard?
A 'C' based extension capability allows MetaCard to be used to develop computationally intensive or hardware dependent applications. 'C' functions can be called directly from MetaCard with no relinking or other processing required. An embedded version of MetaCard is also available so that you can attach the MetaCard scripting language and graphical tools directly to a C or C++ application. MetaCard also supports conventional interprocess communication using UNIX's standard I/O functions.
Unlike most other X11-based development environments, however, MetaCard objects are not constructed in the application code. Instead, they are read directly out of the editable resource files, called stacks. So instead of hard-coding the application appearance or forcing users to deal with complex and easily corrupted text based resources (such as .Xdefaults) for customization, a direct-manipulation interface is always available.
Event handling is also greatly simplified in MetaCard. Instead of writing "callback" routines in a third generation language which require that the application be recompiled and relinked after every change, an interpreted scripting language is provided. Whenever events occur, messages are sent to handlers written in this MetaTalk language. The MetaTalk language is as powerful as a third generation language, but is syntactically much less intimidating. The language supports all common programming techniques such as if- then-else, repeat statements, and local and global variables. MetaCard subroutines and function handlers support variable length argument lists, recursion and a flexible message passing architecture.
Errors that occur during script execution cause the MetaCard engine to stop processing, and to point out the exact line and position where the error occurred in a script editing window. After fixing the problem, the script can be rerun immediately: no recompiling or relinking is necessary. This design not only drastically reduces the time spent prototyping an interface, but also reduces the time spent testing and debugging it.
MetaCard makes very small demands on system resources. The engine is averages around 1.5 MB on all platforms, with most stacks ranging in size from 20K to 500K and a total disk space requirement of less than 4MB. No special display, networking, or other hardware is required.
Single user licenses of MetaCard are $495 (U.S. dollars) and can be used on any platform. Site licenses are available from $1,800 for five users up to $15,000 for 250 users. Educational users will receive a 50% percent discount. A special $195 price is also available for all users on the Linux and DESQview/X platforms. Upgrades to MetaCard engines will be free to licensed users within the 1.X series of releases.
Unlimited technical support is free via electronic mail to all licensed users. Non-toll-free telephone support is provided during normal business hours (MDT) for a limited time only.
For more information, or to receive a free save-disabled but licensable copy of MetaCard, email to info@metacard.com or call 303-447-3936. If you have anonymous FTP access to the Internet, you can download the current engines, documentation, and an unlicensed Home stack from ftp.metacard.com (199.117.27.23), directory MetaCard or from ftp.uu.net (192.48.96.9) directory vendor/MetaCard.
MetaCard is a trademark of MetaCard Corporation, other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.