Create a new card on your stack. Check the number of fields and buttons by
looking at Card Info.. and Bkgnd Info... under the Objects menu of the Menubar.
Compare these with the first card. When you make a new card you keep the same
Background and the background fields and background buttons, however, card objects and pictures are not
copied to the new card.
If a bg field has its style set to shared text that text will be copied to each
new card you make. The bg fields where the style is not shared text can have
different text for each card in the stack.
The first lesson showed how to script buttons to hide and show fields. Button
scripts can also change the name the button shows as well.
Make a new button named Show.
Open the Message Box (Command M) and type set the name of btn show to
hide
The ability to change the name of a button can be part of the hide and show
script. Use Option Command Click on the button to access the script. Type in
the following script.
on mouseUp
if hide is in the short name of me
then
set name of me to "Show Something"
else
set name of me to "Hide Something"
end if
end mouseUp
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Now the button name alternates between Hide and Show as we click it. By adding
the scripts that were used to hide and show fields we can make a button that
has a dual purpose. When it is named Hide it will hide a number of fields and
reset its name to Show. The next time it is clicked it will reset its name to
Hide and show all the fields. It looks complicated but it is so useful that it
is worth keeping a sample of it in a button library so it can be put to use
when needed.
on mouseUp
if hide is in the short name of me
then
set name of me to Show
repeat with i = 3 to the number of bg flds
hide fld i
end repeat
else
repeat with i = 3 to the number of bg flds
show fld i
end repeat
set name of me to Hide
end if
end mouseUp
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This script is an example of if...then...else construction. If ... then and if
... then ... else help to make the program responsive to the user, so they are
used in a lot of different places.
Another way of hiding and showing fields and buttons is to use a property they
have called visible. Try these out in the Message Box.
If the visible of a field is true then the not visible of the
field would be false and vice versa. Hide field 3 and type put the visible
of field 3 in the Message Box and press return. Now try this.
Press return a few times to see the effect. Now we can adapt our Hide/Show
script.
on mouseUp
repeat with i = 3 to number of fields
set visible of fld i to not visible of fld i
end repeat
if visible of fld 3 is true then
set name of me to Hide
else
set name of me to Show
end if
end mouseUp
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The Menubar property visible can also be set and assertained. Type set the
visible of menubar to false in the Message Box. Then type put the
visible of menubar.
Cards and Backgrounds have a similar property showPict. Make a button
with the following script and try it out on a card with a picture.
on mouseUp
set showPict of this card to not showPict of this card
end mouseUp
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