Re: resizing and screen resolution
Agreed. We've developed a number of CDROM projects for Mac and PC. Whilst a couple of years ago 640x480 was a consideration, we now work to 800x 600. I'd suggest sticking to this 'average' resolution and adopt the following : i) center your stage to the center of the monitor (there are functions available to help you do this) ii) to avoid distractions fill the rest of the screen (border) with black iii) make sure nothing happens if they click on the black border Guaranteed users will focus on whats happening and not the border ( just like my TV when I watch a 'wide screen' film). If you ask users to change the resolution of the computer you're assuming they know how to. I'm not a fan of people having to change their set up in order to cater for my software. I'd prefer my software catered for their machines. However you can't please all the people all the time... Rgds Gary Rathbone on 23/9/00 16:18, Kevin Miller at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On 21/9/00 4:48 pm, Mark Mitchell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I make a lot of projects for children, and it is important that they pretty much fill the screen, lest distractions occur. I was dismayed when we got new larger high resolution monitors (mac) and discovered the projects shrank to a tiny size at the new, higher resolution. If you turn the resolution of the monitors down, the stacks grow back to their original size, but the rest of the computer looks funky, requiring a return to higher res after you finish the game. We hope to soon branch out to a larger client circle, and if so, the resolution of the client monitors will be an unknown. Ideally, I would like to be able to dynamically resize the projects. Has someone already written a script/external which will do the calculations so that objects and cards will grow proportionally with windows, in a general way? If not, I could work for an "average" monitor resolution...what would that be these days...or preferably in about a year in the future? What is the resolution of the newer imacs? And what about the windows world? Any ideas/ help will be greatly appreciated. My advice would really be not to worry about this too much. People use a wide variety of monitor resolutions (on monitors that are bigger and smaller and so look different in themselves) and the best thing to do is to recommend people change the resolution, before loading the program, to an optimal value. Trying to scale your work is going to be a non-starter. 800x600 is a good resolution to develop for: almost everyone can do it and its not as small as 640x480. Larger than that and you start to risk people not being able to switch to it. Regards, Kevin mark mitchell Kevin Miller [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.runrev.com/ Runtime Revolution Limited (formerly Cross Worlds Computing). Tel: +44 (0)131 672 2909. Fax: +44 (0)1639 830 707. Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list. Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
Can of Worms...
As a Mac developer I monitor both the Realbasic and Supercard lists. Whilst I'm active (and hopefully have assisted people) on this list, there are people using RB and SC who are asking questions which could easily be solved using MC. Previously, as a long term SC user, an MC 'mercenary' had a quiet word in my ear, and, poached me from the SC list many, many months ago. Although this person will remain anonymous I remain in their debt. The question is 'Do I maintain my competitive advantage by keeping quiet...' or 'assist by suggestion...' TIA Gary Rathbone Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
Re: XML parsing (loads of data question)...
I'm looking towards Valentina (http://www.paradigmasoft.com) for a relational database solution for MC. However you need to get the data from the format its in, to the format suitable for Valentina import. A solution I've use in the past is to index the records into a file structure depending on the key, or keys. A converter would be written to split the data into directories and subdirectories so that smaller files exist in defined locations. eg to search on a surname "Davis" MC could look into C:/d/a/v/info.dat which should contain a relatively small file with names such as Davis, Davies, Davison, Davidson etc. and therefore much easier and quicker to handle. Other issues writing to this file structure 'database' and/or how often you need to convert the original/updated data. Gary Rathbone on 9/21/00 8:48 AM, David Bovill at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: If I have large amounts of XML data (say 30-100MB), which I need to parse. The first thought was to load it into an array, at start-up and then get the keys, and loop through each key (using repeat for each line) - testing to see if there is a match and returning the value if there is. However I figure that this would nearly double the amount of memory that I would need and the full index of keys would be almost as large as the entire index. As there is no syntax for referring to elements in an associative array by numerical index (ie get the first, second etc), what would be the fastest, and most memory efficient technique? Should I use an external database like "Pandora" or whatever the name beginning with P I am searching for is? maybe i need my own relational database -:) Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list. Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
Re: XML parsing (loads of data question)...
Can't help too much on the Valentina specifics as I'm evaluating it myself. Suggest you take a look at the site http://www.paradigmasoft.com. and ask the guys there (they've been very helpful). I know Scott endorses it ... Post dated 3/9/2000 --snip-- Anyone building (or contemplating building) applications that require managing more than a few MB of data or that require sophisticated query support should download [valentina] --snip-- --snip-- This is a key technology for MetaCard developers to have in their arsenal and we need to do what it takes to make sure that it works well. Regards, Scott [Raney] --snip-- on 21/9/00 15:20, David Bovill at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks Gary... From: Gary Rathbone [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 14:23:55 +0100 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: XML parsing (loads of data question)... I'm looking towards Valentina (http://www.paradigmasoft.com) for a relational database solution for MC. How implications does working with Valentina have for memory issues. I ask because one of the reasons for converting the project from Java is to get it working on Macs with under 50MB of RAM. However you need to get the data from the format its in, to the format suitable for Valentina import. What sort of format is required? Tab delimited? A solution I've use in the past is to index the records into a file structure depending on the key, or keys. A converter would be written to split the data into directories and subdirectories so that smaller files exist in defined locations. eg to search on a surname "Davis" MC could look into C:/d/a/v/info.dat which should contain a relatively small file with names such as Davis, Davies, Davison, Davidson etc. and therefore much easier and quicker to handle. Other issues writing to this file structure 'database' and/or how often you need to convert the original/updated data. Thanks for the tip. If I have large amounts of XML data (say 30-100MB), which I need to parse. The first thought was to load it into an array, at start-up and then get the keys, and loop through each key (using repeat for each line) - testing to see if there is a match and returning the value if there is. However I figure that this would nearly double the amount of memory that I would need and the full index of keys would be almost as large as the entire index. As there is no syntax for referring to elements in an associative array by numerical index (ie get the first, second etc), what would be the fastest, and most memory efficient technique? Should I use an external database like "Pandora" or whatever the name beginning with P I am searching for is? maybe i need my own relational database -:) Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list. Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list. Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list. Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
File Uploads
HTML (tags missing) input type=file" name="tupload" produces a text field and a "browse..." button on a web page allowing the user to select a file on their machine. When the Form is submitted my MC cgi stack is passed the path of the file. Is there anyway to 'suck' the file up from their machine (I've seen it done with PERL scripts). Any pointers would be gratefully appreciated... TIA Gary Rathbone Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
Re: Trapping Errors ..Mac to do server stuff...
Thanks for this David, I'll give it a go. The reason I don't debug first and then run through a browser may also be relevant to your other post "Subject: anyone know how to get a Mac to do server stuff offline?" I'm running two browsers, an HTTP server (WebTen on port 80) and a Metacard CGI server (on port 81) all on the same standalone Mac (G4 192Mb) . Pages are served from WebTen with cgi requests going to port 81 and Metacard creating custom HTML responses on the fly. The build involves the simultaneous creation of HTML forms (with Javascript processing) and the corresponding MC cgi processing and responses. All quite chaotic but good fun, and also a VERY quick build ! As I don't have DNS on my machine all calls are put through my (self allocated) IP number followed by a port ref eg http://192.123.92.12:8181 For the actual project the processes will be split across numerous Mac's with the only alteration being a change in the IP numbers... I know you said 'offlist' but the Mac and Metacard are a killer combo and the world needs to know !!! on 14/9/00 7:13 pm, David Bovill at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Not quite sure why you don't debug first without running through a browser, but --snip-- Its all Mac based and I'm using MC as an HTTP server with additional code to process forms. It works a treat... until I make a mistake like a typo... If I type : on mouseUp put "thtml" ito "pageout" end mouseUp into the button script of any stack, its accepted ie no semantic error. When I click on the button however an error "Cant find handler" along with line number and other error info is presented in the Execution Error dialog box. Great - enough info to locate and fix the problem. Now if the above routine is called by a browser through a socket connection to an MC stack then MC doesn't present the same Execution Error box and the only clue that something is wrong is that nothing is returned to the browser. Hence manually searching through the code. Any ideas ? It should be possible to build in a debugger that works with the server, but figuring out how to do this/how the existing debugger works is not easy, and according to Scott is likely to be a moving target... An idea (if you have to debug online), is to put the cgi script into a variable and then have a go at something like repeat with lineNum = 1 to the number of lines of cgiScript put line lineNum of cgiScript into scriptLine try do scriptLine catch errorNum put "Error" errorNum "on line" lineNum end try end repeat It'll be slow, but might work? --snip-- Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
Trapping Errors
I'm writing an increasing number of complex cgi's using Metacard (What a tool !) I submit a page from by browser and metacard processes the request and returns the required result. However should I (an I often do) have a typo in my script eg: "put thtmlpage ito thtmlout" the browser 'sticks' as MC can't produce the results due to the error. In this instance MC doesn't return any error information and I have to search through the script line by line to hopefully find my mistake. Q: Can I return a 'readable' MC error message to the browser or even put a message into an error field on the stack ? I guess I need to write my own error routines...If so can anyone give me any pointers ? TIA Gary Rathbone Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
Tired Eyes - Script Editor Type
From my previous post re: --snip-- And just one more All these late nights working on MC code are hurting my eyes. Does anyone know how I can change the default typeface of the script window to something that I find more readable ? --snip-- I now use a button on my stack whose script reads... on mouseUp edit the script of this card set the textsize of wd "Script Editor 1" to 12 set the textfont of wd "Script Editor 1" to "Monaco" end mouseUp For me this makes editing my scripts easier and quicker as I don't have to switch from the browse tool and can set the type according to how awake I feel... Not perhaps the most 'revolutionary' tip, but may be of use to someone... Rgds Gary Rathbone Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
Re: Query SQL database
Continuing on the database access theme can anyone please tell me (briefly) what PHP is and where I can get it ... I currently evaluating Valentina from http://www.paradigmasoft.com for new projects but I would like to access existing SQL databases. TIA Gary Rathbone MacConsult [EMAIL PROTECTED] said, on 8/9/00 6:35 AM: --snip-- Is there any way to get data from a remote server running a SQL Database? Javier Miranda V. MC Multimedia --snip-- on 9/8/00 7:33 pm, Geoff Canyon at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: --snip--...but I think the solution I would try would be PHP... --snip-- Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
Re: http and cgi
Further to this thread I'd like to thank Brian Yennie for his code and the others who got back to me with my Flamethrower / SC query. Anyone who has a similar query should download mchttpd from ftp.metacard.com. Although its light in documentation the code is well written, commented and therefore easy to understand and alter. A question however is how robust is an MC Web Server ? Whilst I appreciate it maybe a 'guestimate' how many concurrent connections can it serve ? How many hits per day etc And just one more All these late nights working on MC code are hurting my eyes. Does anyone know how I can change the default typeface of the script window to something that I find more readable ? Thanks Again Gary Rathbone -- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: http and cgi Date: Wed, Jul 12, 2000, 5:56 am Here's some code off the top of my head, which uses Metacard as it's own server (as opposed to a cgi which relies on a web server to send it requests). _ snip... Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
Re: Flamethrower for MC ?
And this principle will work on a Mac server ? (Thanks for the offer of code. I'll contact you off list.) Gary Gary, You will need to work with sockets to duplicate Flamethrower's functionality. I've ported a large Flamethrower project to Metacard with little trouble. I started with the httpd server stack (available at Metacard's site), became familiar with sockets, and then rewrote all of the cgi_X() functions I was using in Flamethrower in plain Metatalk. For example, to implement cgiReply(), you will need to write the appropriate HTTP headers to the socket, followed by your HTML source. In most cases, this is very simple. I can share some of my code if it would be helpful. Brian Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list. Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
Flamethrower for MC ?
I've used Supercard for years but much prefer MetaCard for numerous reason. However Supercard and FlameThrower are a fantasic combo for writing CGI's on my Mac web servers. I'm not sure how Flamethrower works but it bridges the gap between the HTTP server and the stack allowing easy scripting for the most complex cgi's. However SC lacks the power and flexibility of MC. So, Is there a similar app to FlameThrower for MC ? If not is there one in the pipeline ? Or is there another solution (maybe sockets which I don't know anything about). I don't want to use Applescript as I've had performance problems in the past. Any help would be appreciated. Regards Gary Rathbone Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
Re: ODBC?
-- snip - On October 16th 1999 Gary Rathbone Wrote : I'd like to use Metacard as as Front-End and Analysis Tool for ODBC compliant databases -- snip --- Glad to hear ODBC discussions are continuing. Although I found a work around for my project I have been in (brief) discussions with EasySoft http://www.easysoft.co.uk who provide ODBC 'middleware solutions'. As I stated in my original email I'm more than happy to pay to have a solution(s) developed. If anyone else would like (!) to share the development cost then please let me know... Regards Gary Rathbone Director Hooknet Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm Please send bug reports to [EMAIL PROTECTED], not this list.
Re: Graphic Tool Style - Got It !!!
Sorry all. Another read through the manual and I discovered the templateGraphic function. It seems what I was looking for was: set the style of the templateGraphic to "curve" easy when you know what you're looking for !!! Rgds Gary Rathbone Hooknet This is a very simple question, with I'm sure a very simple answer. I've searched the help files and done the old "trial and error" but am still stuck. I have a button on mouseup choose graphic tool end mouseup Which defaults to a rectangle. However I require a 'curve' style. What I need is something like on mouseup choose graphic tool set the style to curve end mouseup Its for a cross platform Mac - PC project to be delivered in 3 hours, so any rapid response would be greatly appreciated. TIA Gary Rathbone Hooknet This is the MetaCard mailing list. Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm This is the MetaCard mailing list. Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/metacard%40lists.best.com/ Info: http://www.xworlds.com/metacard/mailinglist.htm
Re: Shared Text and Shared Scripts
Gary Rathbone Wrote : (snip) So, is there anyway to define different scripts to background fields ? Or is the whole point that you can't or shouldn't ? TIA Gary Rathbone Hooknet Peter Reid Replied : I'd be tempted to have a single generic script for all the fields. If each card contains a field which has a unique card number in it (assuming I understand you correctly), then simply use this value within the field scripts: on mouseUp go cd (field "CardNo") of wd "Day" end mouseUp Peter Thanks. The number stored in the field actually has no direct relationship to the number of the card in the separate window to which the field is linked. So I can't use a generic script. I will however write the relevant reference in line 2 of the field (as only the top line is visible) and then use a generic script to call this... I think my issue here is developing a Metacard project without full understanding of the Metacard language/environment. But, hey, I guess its the best way to learn.. isn't it ? Thanks Gary Rathbone Hooknet
ODBC Integration
I'd like to use Metacard as as Front-End and Analysis Tool for ODBC compliant databases. Has anyone else any experience of this ? Is there a suitable external ? If not is anyone interested in writing one ? (obviously for payment) Am I totally off track and should look at another solution ? TIA Gary Rathbone Director Hooknet
