Hyper-Stack Player 2.3v2.0 Instructions
                                © 1995-96 Bruce A. Pokras
                 (These instructions consist of two chapters.
                             Use the "Contents" menu to go from one to the other)

1.
Start Hyper-Stack Player 2.3v2.0 ("HSP"), and you will get the following screen:

2. You can open and use any HyperCard stack by clicking "Open Stack". You will get the usual Mac "Open" dialog from which you may navigate until you select the stack that you wish to use.

3.
However, the power of HSP is not in merely using an "Open Stack" button, but is in the ability HSP gives you to create your own buttons, customize them, and link them to your favorite stacks.

3a.  Click “New Buttons” (see diagram, above).

3b.
In order to keep others (such as your mischievous children or the students in a school computer lab) from adding or deleting buttons, I have included password protection. So when you click on “New Buttons” you will see the following dialog box:

Initially, there is no password. So when you see this dialog, just click “OK” and you will be able to add new buttons (see Step 5 for how to add or change a password). You are now entering what will be referred to below as the "New Button Mode."

3c.
In New Button Mode, a new menu called “New Buttons” will appear. Use this to make new buttons by pulling down the menu to select “Make New Button.” The menu (when pulled down) looks like this:

In New Button Mode there will also be new instructions at the bottom of the card. They will look like this:

Once you have made a new button, you can move it and change its name and appearance in accordance with the instructions in the diagram, as described below in more detail.

3d.
The above diagram tells you that you can move a button by holding down the Option key and then dragging the button (dragging involves holding the mouse button down the whole time that you are moving the button). IMPORTANT: Let the mouse button up and let the color catch up with the button before you release the Option key. Otherwise, you will activate the button and it will open the stack that it is linked to, or ask you to identify a stack to open.  If it opens the linked stack, just select "Home" from the "Go" menu. If you are asked to identify a stack to open, just click "Cancel".

3e.
The above diagram also tells you that you can change the properties of a button by holding down the Command key (the one with the  logo on it) and clicking on the button whose properties you wish to change. You will use this for changing the name of a new button from “New Button” to the name of the stack that you wish to link it to. You can also change a number of other properties of the button, such as its style, color, size, whether it highlights when you click it, and whether it shows a name or a graphic.

Command-clicking a button will bring up the following screen:

Buttons without pictures

The “Button Name” box can be edited to change the name of a new button from “New Button” to the name of the stack you will be linking it to (or any other name for that matter).  After changing the name, hit Return and the new name will show up in the sample button at the bottom under “Sample Button.”

Because the length of a name can vary, you can resize the Sample Button so that the whole name is visible. Just click and drag the Sample Button so that the entire name shows. The size of the Sample Button is displayed to its left (height,width). This can help you maintain consistency in the size of your buttons.

Buttons with pictures

HSP 2.3v2.0 adds the ability to have buttons with black & white pictures, instead of just names. The picture you use can be in color, but it will only show up in black & white.

In order to add a picture, you must have a graphic saved as a PICT file. Most drawing and painting programs give you the option of saving your work as a PICT file. However, the easiest way to create a PICT file for use with HSP 2.3v2.0 is to use the fine little  freeware program by Yves Piguet called "clip2gif."  Clip2gif enables you to save the contents of the clipboard as a PICT file (it could have just as well been named "clip2pict").

Just make a little graphic that you want to show up on a button, copy it to the clipboard, and then use clip2gif to save the contents of the clipboard as a PICT file (you use the Options menu in clip2gif to select PICT rather than GIF). Since buttons having pictures will not show the name of the button, you may wish to include the name of the stack that the picture represents at the bottom of the little graphic.  That way, the button will show both a picture and a name.

Once you have your PICT file, go back to HSP and click the "Add Picture" button. Navigate to your PICT and select it. You will be asked to name the PICT for use with HSP. This will normally be the name of the stack that the button will be linked to. Type the name of the stack, and click OK.

The name you typed will now appear in the "Button Name" field, and the Sample Button will show the graphic. You can resize the Sample Button, as described above for buttons without pictures, to make sure the entire graphic is visible.

If you do not have access to clip2gif (an Archie search should turn it up in any number of places), you have to be careful with saving your graphic as a PICT file using a drawing or painting program. Some programs will save just enough of the page to include the graphics on it (the "Drawing" module of ClarisWorks performs like that). You will have no problem with programs like that.

Other programs will save the ENTIRE page regardless of how much space the graphic actually takes up. With these programs you have to be sure that the graphic is PERFECTLY CENTERED in the middle of the page, otherwise it won't show up on your button. Alternatively, look for an option which says "Save Selection As..." which some programs have.  This option allows you to save just your graphic and not all the empty space around it.

To change the picture on a button, click and hold on the triangular popup button which is to the right of the "Button Name" field. All the pictures currently available in HSP will show up. Just select the one you want. One picture called "Smile" is included for demonstration purposes.

To change back from a picture to just a name, click in the "Button Name" field, type the name that you want, and hit Return. The graphic in the Sample Button will be replaced by the name.

To remove a picture entirely from HSP, select the name of the picture from the popup button to put its name is in the "Button Name" field and click the "Del. Picture" button. You will be asked to confirm your decision.

All Buttons

The “Button Style” pop-up button allows you to change the style of the button. New buttons are always Round Rectangular. You can select any style you want from the pop-up list.

The “Hilite On/Off” pop-up button allows you to set the button so that it will “light up” when you click it (Auto Hilite On). New buttons always start out with Auto Hilite Off, so this is something you will usually want to change for every button.

  If you have a color monitor, the "Color" pop-up button allows you to set the color the button to one of seven choices. You can use this to color-code buttons depending upon the type of stack it is, or just use it to create a colorful card full of buttons. All new buttons start out as white. Changing the setting in the "Color" pop-up also changes the color of the Sample Button, so you can see what the button will look like.

The “Button ID #” is constant, so you do not have to be concerned with it.

If all you want to do is delete a button, just click “Delete Button.” Deleting a button does NOT delete its picture from HSP. The picture will still be available for use with another button, if you desire.

When everything is set to your satisfaction, click “Done.”

3f.
When you get back to the first screen, and you do not want to make any more new buttons, just click “Done Buttons” to leave  New Button Mode.

4.
Now that you have named the button, clicking it the first time will usually bring up a dialog which asks you to locate the chosen stack on your hard drive.  It will ask you to locate the stack which has the same name as you gave to that button.  However, regardless of whether the name you gave to the button is the same as the stack name, just navigate to the stack that you want. (If the stack is in the same folder with HSP, then it will open immediately). Once you have shown HSP where a stack is, regardless of whether the button and stack have the same name, it remembers and won’t ask you again unless you move the stack to a different folder.

To get back to HSP from the stack, just choose “Home” from the “Go” menu.

5.
To add or change a password to so that no one else can make or delete buttons, double-click in the box “Password Needed.” If there is no password, you will be asked to enter one. If there already is a password, and you want to change it, you will first be asked to enter the old password and then you will be asked to enter the new one. Once you create a password, you have to enter it whenever you want to add, delete, modify or move buttons.

6.  Whenever you are in the New Button Mode, you can also add new cards to which you can add even more buttons. Just select "New Card" from the "Edit" menu and you will be presented with a new, empty card.

7.  Whenever you are in the New Button Mode, you can also delete cards (except for the first card). Just select "Delete Card" from the "Edit" menu and the card will be deleted.

8.  Also when you are in New Button Mode, you can click in the field that appears between the "Open Stack" button and the "Quit" button and type a title. Once the field contains a title it will stay visible when you leave New Button Mode. However, the field disappears if it is empty when you leave New Button Mode.

9.  Click the "Quit" button to quit HSP (of course you knew that, but the instructions would not be complete if I didn't say it!)