HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: winer@husc9.Harvard.EDU (Adam Winer)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Advice on Constructing Help Subsystem
Keywords: Help,Hypercard,Apple Events
Date: 14 Dec 92 20:47:26 GMT
Organization: Harvard University Science Center

In article <1992Dec14.044553.26938@feline.uucp>, king@feline.uucp (KingLeon) writes:

|>    Balloon help I find interesting, but very annoying - perhaps because
|> it gets its message across too quickly and effectively, perhaps because
|> all help is turned on when the user problably only wants to know about
|> one item.  Help is restricted to objects that are physically present.

Try a cool shareware control panel called SpeedyFinder (v 1.5.7, I think).
It lets you configure a group of modifier keys that, when held down,
activate balloon help;  that way, you can get help for one thing alone.
|> I'm working on my lecture notes for a course on GUI programming.  The
|> course is a comparative study of the Mac and Windows.  Currently I am
|> One can't ask about "how do I do this" kind of questions.  Windows help
|> launches another hypertext application (WinHelp) which has a terrible 
|> authoring environment and obscures the original application window.
|> 
|>     I recall that Apple at one time was pushing Hypercard as its help 
|> environment, but that didn't seem to take place.
|> 
|>     My question is as follows:  What would a preferred method of adding 
|> Help to an application:
|>      1.  Launch Hypercard then send it a parameter or command either
|>          thru an Apple Event, global memory value or a keyword that
|>          is written to a a file?
Definitely not;  that would be stunningly slow.

|>      2.  Stick with Balloon Help?
|>      3.  There is some other technique that I've missed?
Somewhere (IM VI, I believe), Apple discusses what type of help they think
programs should provide.  If I remember correctly, it was multipart.
   #1:  Balloon help, for very simple questions (basically, what the hell does
              this button (menu item, etc.) do?)
   #2:  Online help: see a typical Microsoft product for an example of this.
            There are some freeware code packages that make implementing a
            scaled down version of this _very_ easy.  I have one I highly
            suggest, called "Show Help 2.0".  I got it off of Compuserve, so
            I don't know if it's ftp'able.
   #3:  A tutorial, preferably online.  I'm sure some programs have this, but
            I can't remember an online tutorial in any program I've ever seen.
   #4:  Documentation.  (Not really pertinent to your question, but certainly
            an important issue in help.

So Apple doesn't really want you to stick to one small type of help.

|> 
|> Option 1 appeals to me because of the authoring environment of Hypercard,
|> but some sample code would be helpfull.

Hypercard, however, is probably intractable.

-- 
Adam Winer		| The number you have reached is imaginary.
WINER@HARVARD.EDU	| Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and
                        | try again.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Duplicate Object in Think C?
From: seth@physc1.byu.edu
Date: 19 Dec 92 00:28:58 -0700
Distribution: world
Organization: Brigham Young University

In article <white.724729120@sfu.ca>, white@fraser.sfu.ca (Steve White) writes:
> How do you duplicate an object without knowing its class?  We would like
> to write something like
>  
> r = duplicate( p );
>  
> to get an object r of the same class and attributes as p.
>  
> We tried to write such a thing of our own using some combination of
> sizeof, memmove, and Bless, but ran into a couple of problems.
>  
> The Think C Class Library Manual claims that 
>  
> sizeof( class_name )
>  
> will return the size of an object in a class.  We get "illegal use of
> class type" when we try to compile, e.g., 
>  
> sizeof( Window )

If you read on page 62 of the C TCL manual, it says down by the bottom:
"Sizeof operator not allowed
You cannot use the sizeof operator to take the size of a class name or of an
object. This use was allowed in THINK C 4.0"

Sorry for the bad news. :(

Seth Leigh
BYU Physics Dept.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
From: k044477@hobbes.kzoo.edu (Jamie R. McCarthy)
Subject: Re: 3D Graphics
Organization: Kalamazoo College
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 05:58:10 GMT

bayes@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM (Scott Bayes) writes:
>[someone else wrote:]
>> [QuickDraw is good...]
>> except for deciding where to break a 1-pixel off diagonal
>> line :-)
>
>This has always annoyed me.  Bresenham's algorithm, which handles this
>very well--optimally, one might say--has been around _forever_.  Why
>does Apple choose to draw lines with "hooks" on the ends?
>
>*				**
> ***		-->		  ***
>    ***			     ***
>       ***			        **

Your illustration makes it appear that _LineTo doesn't divide up the
remainder pixels properly;  that is, if n pixels are left over after
drawing the "main" portion of the line, QD puts one on one end and n-1
on the other end.  Most people would put n/2 on one end and (n+1)/2 on
the other (integer arithmetic, you see).

This doesn't have much to do with Bresenham, does it?  He just gives an
algorithm for drawing, and whether or not you divvy up the remainder
pixels properly is up to you, right?

Do I read your illustration correctly?  Can anyone confirm that QuickDraw
does this?  (Inquiring minds want to know...)
-- 
 Jamie McCarthy      Internet: k044477@kzoo.edu      AppleLink: j.mccarthy
 "This sounds like a semantico-psychological backwardization of the
  real world image."   - Dave Bloom (bloomda@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu)
From: jeremyr@dcs.qmw.ac.uk (Jeremy Roussak;Guest of Distributed Systems Lab)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Menus with another font than Chcago
Date: 17 Dec 92 22:32:02 GMT
Organization: Computer Science Dept, QMW, University of London

In <5848@krafla.rhi.hi.is> rson@rhi.hi.is (Mimir Reynisson) writes:

>How can I let the standard MDEF display it's contents with something
>other than Chicago? Geneva 9 to be precise? Is it sufficent
>just to change the system font global variable? and then change it
>back after PopupSelect?

You have to set the font and size you want into the low-memory
globals SysFontFam and SysFontSize. Then set LastSPExtra and
CurFMInput to -1. Finally, save the txSize field of the
WMgrPort (and, if you have colour QD, the WMgrCPort) and set it
(them) to zero.

Then PopUpMenuSelect.

Then restore the txSize fields, restore SysFontFam and
SysFontSize and set LastSPExtra and CurFMInput to -1.

Bingo!

Jeremy
From: d88-jwa@dront.nada.kth.se (Jon Wtte)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: FSOpen and System 7 Alias
Date: 15 Dec 92 11:57:04 GMT
Organization: Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

In <1992Dec14.155040.8270@bcrka451.bnr.ca> Anthony Van Alphen <ava@bnr.ca> writes:

>If I write an application and use the standard FSOpen FSRead functions
>supplied with
>MPW can the file be aliased and the alias opened?  When I try to open an
>alias I think I 
>am opening the alias itself.  Is there a trick? Or am I doing something
>wrong?

Actually, FSOpen and FSRead are supplied by the operating system...

Anyway, if you read the chapter on the Alias Manager in Inside Mac VI,
you'll see that Standard File and the Finder resolves aliases for you,
but other files you open must first be passed to ResolveAliasFile.

Cheers,

							/ h+

-- 
 -- Jon W{tte, h+@nada.kth.se, Mac Hacker Deluxe --
   The word "politics" is derived from the word "poly", meaning
   "many", and the word "ticks", meaning "blood sucking parasites".
                     -- Larry Hardiman
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
From: chh9@ellis.uchicago.edu (Conrad Halling)
Subject: Re: Custom WDEF 0 on PowerBook 160 -- why is it there??
Reply-To: chh9@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 21:57:18 GMT

In article <1992Dec9.220506.11453@kth.se> 
  d88-jwa@dront.nada.kth.se (Jon Wtte) writes:

>In <1992Dec9.184902.9275@midway.uchicago.edu> 
  chh9@ellis.uchicago.edu (Conrad Halling) writes:

>>But shouldn't the way the title bars are drawn be the choice of the
>>user?  Is it possible to write a control panel or extension that would 
>>choose between black and white vs. gray-scale title bars?
>
>There is. The "colors" cdev (oops, I mean Control Panel)
>
>Someone posted where the window colors were stored (at the
>end of a system resource) but I forgot where. Anyone care to
>comment?
>
> -- Jon W{tte, h+@nada.kth.se, Mac Hacker Deluxe --

The "Color" control panel lets you draw the _entire_ window frame in
black and white or in colors/grays.  The problem on the PowerBook 160 is
that part of the window frame (and the scroll bars) is drawn in grays, but
part (the title bar, go away box, and zoom box) is drawn in black and white.

With a little experimentation, I found that I can use Extensions Manager
to control how the windows are drawn.  I used ResEdit to delete the 'WDEF'
0 resource from a copy of "System Enabler 111", unlocked the file, changed the
name, and relocked the file.  Then I configured Extensions Manager to
recognize System Enabler files (type 'gbly').  The disabled System Enabler
file ends up in the "Extensions (disabled)" folder that Extensions
Manager creates.  The caveat is that you have to be sure to have a
System Enabler file in the system folder when you restart.  I don't know
what happens if you accidently have two.

One of the DTS people wrote me a note and said that deleting the 'WDEF' 0
resource from the system enabler file should cause no problems.

-- 
Conrad Halling
c-halling@uchicago.edu

Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
From: jmunkki@vipunen.hut.fi (Juri Munkki)
Subject: Re: Fix : ThinkC app won't run standalone (bug in smart link!?)
Reply-To: jmunkki@vipunen.hut.fi (Juri Munkki)
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 17:39:36 GMT

In article <1992Dec16.215017.16222@usl.edu> pvl1779@usl.edu (Leach Phuong V) writes:
>The problem seems to be in the linker.  I turned the "smart link" option
>off when building the application, and it runs fine now.
>
>The app was crashing on a sprintf() call.  Earlier calls worked fine, but
>at some point in the program, sprintf() got stepped on and no longer
>worked.  It seems to me that the "smart" linker has a possible bug.
>Does this seem like a reasonable assumption to you?

It sounds like your program is writing all over memory and at some point
it manages to write over a memory location that contained sprintf. Changing
the linker option changes the way that things map out into memory and so
you avoid the problem with sprintf, but possibly create a new one.

I haven't had any problems with Think C's linker.

-- 
  Juri Munkki					       Windsurf: fast sailing
 jmunkki@hut.fi					      Macintosh: fast software
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
From: hardin@dino.mcc.com (John Hardin)
Subject: Drag & Drop on an alias?  What's missing?
Organization: MCC ISD, Austin, Texas
Distribution: comp
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 04:14:31 GMT

I know drag & drop on an alias works.  I use AliasDirector,
StuffitExpander, and the System Folder this way ALL the time.  In
creating my OWN app, however, I can't get the Finder to highlight an
*alias* (to my app) when I drag suitable files over it.  (The Finder
*does* highlight my app when I drag suitable files over it.  Just
*not* the alias.)  What gives?

-jwh
--
John W. Hardin		    phone:  (512)338-3535
MCC			    email:  hardin@mcc.com
3500 W. Balcones Center Dr  fax:    (512)338-3897
Austin, TX  78759-6509	    uucp:   ...!cs.utexas.edu!milano!hardin

Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
From: sgccncr@citec.oz.au (Nick Russell)
Subject: FAQ
Organization: CITEC
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 23:27:43 GMT

Where can I get a copy of FAQ ?
From: udmorrow@mcs.drexel.edu (Daniel Morrow)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: checking for ShutDown under syste 6.
Date: 20 Dec 92 02:35:18 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Drexel University

In article <1992Dec19.233443.11739@mcs.drexel.edu> udmorrow@mcs.drexel.edu (Daniel Morrow) writes:
>Under system 6, it seems that when the computer shuts down, the system just
>looks for the File menu, and then the Quit item and posts the proper event
>to trigger this. (I really don't know how it works).
>
Yes, I'm answering my own post before I get any responses on it.

Sorry that I wasted some people's time with this question, but I found
the answer already, by adding two lines of code to my program, 
	ShutDwnInstall (which takes a procPtr to execute upon shutdown)
	ShutDwnRemove (called right before ExitToShell for whatever reason)

These work quite nicely. (also work under sys 7)

Again, sorry to waste the bandwidth on this one.

-Dan.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
From: ttak@quads.uchicago.edu (toki  takeuchi)
Subject: Getting StructureRegion of a dialog. etco
Reply-To: ttak@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 01:29:06 GMT

I want to get the StructureRegion of a dialog before I display
the dialog.  I.e., I want to get the rectangle of the entire
window, including the window structure before the dialog is displayed.

I've tried getting the DialogPeek's structure region's boundary
box for an invisible dialog (before the dialog is displayed, with
the Initially Visible flag off in its DLOG resource), but
until I call ShowWindow, its structure region's rect remains
as (0,0,0,0).

I want to do this because I want to position a dialog in System 6
according to the auto-position feature of System 7.  System 7
seems to position the dialog depending on the rect of the
WDEF and not the grafport portrect.  Anyone at Apple know the
secret???

Thanks a lot!

Kenji Takeuchi (please respond directly, preferably).


Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
From: ssocl01@cc.curtin.edu.au
Subject: Where to buy LSF(fortran) - very ugent!
Organization: Curtin University of Technology
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 09:10:46 GMT

Hi all,

	Please can anyone tell me where I can buy Language System's Fortran????

	I need this package very ugently!!!

	I tried to caontact Language System direct whith no success, (very dis-
appointed!)

	Also please tell me how can I buy the product with edu discount(I am
not studying in US).

	Please leave fax number of shops if you can - this is the only way I 
can contact anyone!

	I would reallyu appreciate any source!!

Thanks in advance!!

charles 

15/12/92

Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.lang.lisp
From: hankin@sauron.osf.org (Scott Hankin)
Subject: Re: Info about Pearl Common Lisp for the Mac Desired...
Organization: Open Software Foundation
Date: 14 Dec 92 16:02:27 GMT

bskendig@netcom.com (Brian Kendig) writes:

>In addition, I'm porting xlisp to the Macintosh.  It's Common
>Lisp-compliant for the most part, and it's a fairly standard
>implementation, and best of all, it's free.  ;)

    I was surprised to hear about this.  I've had xlisp on the mac for years
    now - it came with all the sources I needed to build it myself.  If
    you're interested, I could provide you with whatever you're missing.

- Scott
-- 
Scott Hankin (hankin@osf.org)
Open Software Foundation
11 Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA 02142
From: absurd@apple.apple.com (Tim Dierks, software saboteur)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Getting StructureRegion of a dialog. etco
Date: 13 Dec 92 22:30:12 GMT
Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Organization: MacDTS Marauders

In article <1992Dec13.012906.18671@midway.uchicago.edu>,
ttak@quads.uchicago.edu (toki  takeuchi) wrote:
> I want to get the StructureRegion of a dialog before I display
> the dialog.  I.e., I want to get the rectangle of the entire
> window, including the window structure before the dialog is displayed.
> 
> I've tried getting the DialogPeek's structure region's boundary
> box for an invisible dialog (before the dialog is displayed, with
> the Initially Visible flag off in its DLOG resource), but
> until I call ShowWindow, its structure region's rect remains
> as (0,0,0,0).
> 
> I want to do this because I want to position a dialog in System 6
> according to the auto-position feature of System 7.  System 7
> seems to position the dialog depending on the rect of the
> WDEF and not the grafport portrect.  Anyone at Apple know the
> secret???

The structure region generally doesn't get calculated until you
display the window.  You can get the WDEF to figure them out if
you call it manually, but there's a better solution for this case;
just move the dialog way off screen and display it behind the
other windows (so you don't affect the highlighting of your
windows); you can then examine the structure region, etc, so
you can determine where to put your dialog.

> Kenji Takeuchi (please respond directly, preferably).

(I emailed this too.)
(OK, well, not yet, but soon.)

Tim Dierks
MacDTS, pinball addict
From: falbukre@stipple.seas.upenn.edu (Ferit M Albukrek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Assembler for Macintosh ?
Keywords: assembler
Date: 19 Dec 92 00:31:17 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania


Hi, 

I am looking for a public domain or shareware assembler for either a
Macintosh Classic or an LC. I would appreciate it if you could direct me
to an ftp site I can get it from. 

Thank you in advance.

Ferit Albukrek
falbukre@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
Univerity of Pennsylvania
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
From: dnebing@andy.bgsu.edu (Dave Nebinger)
Subject: Re: Please help me pull this string
Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Organization: Bowling Green State University B.G., Oh.
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 21:31:08 GMT

In article <q8m2+qj@rpi.edu>, abduls@aix.rpi.edu (Saiful Azuan Abdul Aziz)
wrote:
> 
> My template looks like this (in ResEdit)
> 
> 	LABEL		FIELD TYPE
> 	# of Data		ZCNT
> 	****		LSTC
> 	Starting Pts	DLNG
> 	Ending Pts	DLNG
> 	Line Name		PSTR
> 	****		LSTE
> 	
> When I translated this to my C data structure, I make it somthing like
> this
> 
> struct	MyData{
> 	long	StartPt;
> 	long	EndPt;
> 	Str255	LineName;
> };
> 
> My problem is that I can't get the pascal string working when I did the
> BlockMove. The pascal string is not in constant size. It is stored in N+1 byte
> style. (N is # of character). Below is the code that I did to get my
> resource (part of it)
> 

  Str255 and the PSTR are two different things.  Str255 variables take
up 256 bytes of memory.  The first is the length, then the string, followed
by the remaining bytes.

  If a Str255 is initialized to "\pabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz", the length
byte will be 26, but the 256 bytes of memory reserved for the variable are
still there, just ignored.  If you reset the variable to "\p12345", the
length byte will be 5, but in memory it will look like "\p12345fghi...".

  Your 2 choices to handle this is to initialize your resource to contain
Str255 strings (save all 256 bytes) or manually get and put the size of
the string you want.  The advantage to the first method is that it is alot
easier to write, but your template will not look as pretty.

  Hope this helps,

  David Nebinger
  dnebing@andy.bgsu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
From: haynes@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Carl W. Haynes III)
Subject: Re: Think Reference
Organization: Purdue University
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 13:17:44 GMT

In article <34270@olympus.wustl.edu> jaf@dworkin.wustl.edu (Andy Fingerhut) writes:
>
>I have a copy of Think Reference, and agree with the previous
>poster that it is very convenient, and the small memory footprint
>is a plus.  But are there any plans by Symantec to update the
>information to include IM VI any time soon?

On page 48 of The Macintosh Development Tools an Languages Guidebook
there is an ad for Think Reference 2.0.  Among its features listed
is support for system 7. It also says that you can copy code examples
which will be good.

As usual, Symantec won't state a release date.

carl

--
Carl W. Haynes III                    ||  hcs@applelink.apple.com
Haynes Consulting Services            || haynes@mace.cc.purdue.edu 
Macintosh Programming and Consulting  ||      ** AVAILABLE ** 

Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
From: janee@world.std.com (Jane Eisenstein)
Subject: ARA & ToolServer (Q)
Keywords: ARA ToolServer
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 14:23:51 GMT

I'm trying to figure out how to run MPW builds on my work machine from
my home machine using Appletalk Remote Access (ARA) and ToolServer.
The ETO 9 ToolServer Reference says that you have to have ToolServer
running on the remote machine before sending Rshell commands from the
local machine.  I don't have enough ram to keep ToolServer running all
the time on my work machine.  Is there anyway that I can launch
ToolServer on the remote machine from my local machine while connected
with ARA?

Jane Eisenstein
janee@world.std.com
From: ldo@waikato.ac.nz (Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Waikato University)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Alg. for Detection of Monspaced Fonts
Date: 17 Dec 92 16:24:43 +1300
Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

In article <de19-141292204941@mac06-pg2.umd.edu>, de19@umail.umd.edu (Dana S Emery) writes:
>
> Computer code, Email and plaintext documents often look best when rendered
> in a monospaced font, especially when they contain tabular material which
> was laid out using a monospaced font.  The user is not always knowledgable
> as to what fonts are monospaced, and program help is often considered
> welcome for this.

And such material typically only uses a restricted character set as well,
doesn't it? Typically 95 characters (standard ASCII), or some other number
less than 256. So it would be practical to check the width information for
all the characters you're interested in, and make sure they're all the same.
Simple.

> BTW, dont try to analyse the entirety of ALL fonts, some are rather a bit
> larger than you would think :-).

Just a thought: all the writing systems with large character sets that I can
think of (Chinese, Japanese and Korean) are actually monospaced, aren't they?

Lawrence D'Oliveiro                       fone: +64-7-856-2889
Computer Services Dept                     fax: +64-7-838-4066
University of Waikato            electric mail: ldo@waikato.ac.nz
Hamilton, New Zealand    37^ 47' 26" S, 175^ 19' 7" E, GMT+13:00
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
From: ematias@dgp.toronto.edu (Edgar Matias)
Subject: Re: Uniquely identifying a Mac? How?
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Date: 17 Dec 92 15:58:13 GMT


> In article <1gm3ioINN9uh@calvin.NYU.EDU>, roy@mchip00.med.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes:
> >
> > I personally think it was a major mistake for Apple
> > to not have put some sort of machine-readable serial number in each machine.
> 
> The trouble with providing a feature like that is that people will start to
> use it.
> 
> Can you say "copy protection"...?
> 
> Lawrence D'Oliveiro                       fone: +64-7-856-2889


Isn't that the idea?  If you are going to have a copy protection scheme,
I'd think that would be the best type.  Least amount of hassle for the
user, yet still protects the software industry's interests.  Of course,
if you're in the habit of pirating software maybe it's not in your 
interests...

I'm a little surprised that the software industry hasn't latched onto
this idea and lobbied hard for it.  It seems like the ideal solution
to software piracy.  Of course, it wouldn't stop piracy entirely but
it would certainly put a serious dent in it.

Edgar
-- 
Edgar Matias
Input Research Group
University of Toronto
--
I speak for no one...
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer