Elko is a HyperTalk application I wrote a couple of years ago to help me make sense of the structure of large Apple Guide help files. (You can see Elko at: http://www.best.com/~jaed/appleguide/elko/ ) To accomplish this, Elko imports the source files for the Apple Guide, parses the Guide Script language, analyzes the dependencies in the Apple Guide, and displays the structure in a series of seven stacks. Elko also generates an automated index for the Apple Guide's content, lets you adjust and add to it, and finally exports the finished index as a ready-to-compile Apple Guide source file. The indexer was designed to be usable by either experienced Apple Guide scripters, or skilled indexers with little or no Apple Guide experience. HyperTalk made it easy to write a parser for the Guide Script language and generate a properly-coded index file in Guide Script format. And the HyperCard interface tools made it easy to present the complex load of required information to the user, in a way that makes it easy to understand and navigate even for non-techies. I can't think of any other tool that would have made creating this application so easy and fast.
Comments to: Jeanne A. E. DeVoto
One of our Japanese TV programs was to air in Hawaii, primary target audience was Japanese speaking. However, after arrangements to air the program was made, the sponsors told us they wanted it subtitled in English so that it would appeal to a broader audience. Unfortunately there was no money in the budget for this. I could handle the translation, but just typing all the subtitles into a titling machine in the studio cost about $800 per program for rental fees -- to say nothing of my time. The machine available to us was old, slow and cranky; preparation for one program took a full 8 hour day. Of course it could not do anything so useful as importing a text file and making the titles automatically. The subtitles were going to kill us financially. I'd used Hypercard to make a database to track our viewer response, and it occurred to me that HC could help with the subtitles as well. I made a relatively simple stack. One button prepped the entire program's subtitles: It read in a text file, stepped through the data line by line as it made a new card for each line and put the line in a field in the lower third of a full-screen sized card. The script, if needed, automatically broke the line of text into two parts, so that each subtitle would be at most two lines, centered in the middle bottom of the screen. The field's text was 36 point Narrow Helvetica, bold. Text was black, field transparent, card was white. A second button hid the menu bar and all visible elements except for the text. A handler in the background programmed keys to turn the subtitle on and off (hide the field), and advance to the next card/title. While listening to the program, I practiced stepping through the subtitles, turning each one on and off as needed. Finally, we outfitted the Mac (a IIcx) with an NTSC/video output card. This allowed me to take the Mac into the studio and feed the Hypercard image into the video switcher's key channel. A switcher can take a high contrast image, let video show through one color (in this case, the video showed through the white background) and "key" the other color (the text) over the video image. The switcher could also change the black of the text to another color, and apply a drop shadow to the text as well. Then, as we dubbed the program from the master tape to the station's on-air copy, I pumped the Hypercard subtitles out of the Mac into the switcher in real time. Thirty minutes later, the program was finished. At the time this project began, Macs were very expensive -- even more so in Japan. The Mac we dedicated to this project, along with the NTSC output card and a laser printer, cost close to $10,000. But we ran 130 subtitled programs. Doing it the old way would have cost at least $800 more per program. So I saved the company $94,000. To this day I, who wouldn't know a line of C++ code if it bit me in the rear, enjoy computer-guru status throughout the company. All because of Hypercard -- I know of no other software that could have done this. (By the way, that trusty IIcx is still in active duty as a word processor...) (And the stack still works in case anyone else needs to do subtitles on the cheap!) Tim Selander Pacific Broadcasting Association
Comments to: Tim Selander
As a graduate student in clinical psychology I have used HyperCard to create several applications related to the practice and research of psychology. My dissertation chairperson and I have used HyperCard to create a scoring and interpretation program for the Rorshach Inkblot Test. The "Rorschach Scoring and Interpretation for Macintosh" (RSIM) application allows for easy entry of scores via mouse clicks, viewing of the "Sequence of Scores" in an external window, exporting of scores for future reference, calculation of summary values, as well as printing of these summaries. RSIM also generates interpretive hypotheses based upon current age norms (age 5 to adult) for the Exner Scoring System. Another application I have created with HyperCard is "Psychology Data Base." PDB is a bibliographic data manager that is able to create annotated bilbliographies or APA style reference pages for research reports. PDB's unique features include the ability to edit and import data files downloaded from major CD-ROM databases (e.g., PSYCLit), the export of data to Rich-Text-Format (styled text) files, complex data searches using multiple criteria, automated entry of Journal names (including support for creating your own journal name sets), and setting of file creator types (e.g., MS Word) for all exported files. I have also used HyperCard to create an Macintosh version of a PC application (for a SUNY professor) that is related to a particular research instrument. The "Attachment Q-Sort" (AQS) provides a brief tutorial on attachment theory, secure base behavior, and the use of the Q-sort methodology. The application contains the full set of Q-Sort items, the rational for their inclusion, and their weighted values. All instructional text and item information is exportable to text files. Another tutorial application I've created with HyperCard is called "Crisis Intervention." This HyperCard stack is a presentation of general crisis intervention and prevention techniques, as well as specific focus on suicide prevention, intervention and "postvention." The information in this stack can also be printed or exported as a crisis intervention manual. Currently, a computerized version of a neuropsychological test is in the planning/conceptual stage. This HyperCard application will present the test's stimulus items and the user (client) will indicate their answers via mouse clicks. The application will score and print the results. This will be my first project that takes advantage of the powerful relationship between HyperCard and QuickTime.
Comments to: Stan Soria
* I have been using HyperCard for virtually everything! All of my vital information (projects, patents, inventories, account numbers, contact info, calendar, curriculum vitae, Christmas cards, etc.) are placed in a series of HyperCard stacks called "HyperInfo Intelligent Knowledge Object Organisation System" to maintain consistency and integrity. All of the HyperCard handlers and AppleScript scripts that I have coded are stored in a single HyperCard stack called "HyperCard Object Organiser". Every HTML and GIF file on the numerous web sites that I manage is stored in HyperCard stacks called "HTML File Organiser", from which hundreds of web pages are generated from components with a push of a button via proprietary HyperTalk and AppleScript scripts. * HyperGames [http://WWW.HyperInfo.CA/~HyperGames/] is a multimedia HyperCard stack, jam-packed with more than 50 exciting games and useful utilities. Creative games include an acclaimed Pong clone, a Pac-Man clone, animations, music makers, mathematical puzzles, educational quizzes, etc. Original HyperTalk utilities include a Find/Replace function, an Internet data converter, an automatic index generator, a progress bar, synchronised multiple scrolling fields, and much much more. It is also an ideal vehicle to learn scripting, as well as to demonstrate the awesome power of HyperCard! * Food Nutrition Knowledge Matrix [http://WWW.HyperInfo.CA/~FoodNutrition/] organises hundreds of foods and nutrients in a simple and consistent manner. It focuses on only major helpful and harmful food nutrients, such as minerals, vitamins, lipids and other important compounds, rather than on calories. The properties of the foods are based solely on their nutrients, which are accessible with a click of a button. * These HyperCard stacks and standalone applications will be converted to cross-platform QuickTime Interactive format as soon as it becomes available.
Comments to: Sunatori, Go Simon
All contents copyright (C) 1996, HyperActive Software. All rights reserved.
Revised: November 6, 1998
URL: http://www.hyperactivesw.com/HCStories/stories.html