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Programs_2
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Coat_Of_Arms
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CoA_Notes
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1994-02-05
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Coats of Arms
Notes on a HyperBook unit
by John Collett
To use the Coat_of_Arms HyperBook unit, the following four items
need to be in the same directory :
Essential
HBReader Coat_of_Arms
(or HyperBook)
Desirable
Armoury CoA_Notes (this text)
Contents of 'Coat_of_Arms'
Screens 1 to 6
1 Title page, listing main topics.
2 Nine 'tinctures' (plus plain) for the background of the
shield.
On the remaining screens I originally had about twice the number of
examples now included, which meant that the number of variations
possible was
considerably
larger. But I have had to
compromise, to get the unit down to a size less likely to cause
editorial anxieties. Even so, you can still get over 20000 different
models.
3 Six 'positions', dividing the shield into vertical or
horizontal thirds.
4 Six 'ordinaries' - major elements of shield decoration.
5 Six 'partition lines', also decorative, but often used just
to divide the shield area.
6 Five 'differencing marks' (eg. 'eldest son') and six
'charges' - pictorial additions.
Buttons and other options
Except as specified below, the standard HyperBook navigation tool
'->' should not be used for moving to the next screen, since it does
not invoke a required macro.
Item selection
All screens except the first display samples. Click on any sample to
include that feature in your shield design.
N.B. For items which have a visible background behind them, the item
itself is the 'hot-spot' for clicking on. Clicking on its background
will have no effect. In particular, if you wish to unselect a
previously selected colour by clicking on the 'plain' rectangle, you
must click on the RIM of the rectangle. The rest is background.
The 'Start' button on screen 1 includes a cleanup, making sure that no
traces of earlier use have been accidentally left in place. If you
want to do more work on existing entries, use the HB navigation button
('->') instead of the 'Start' button to go from screen 1 to screen 2.
On screens other that the first and last, 'Next' always leads you to
the following screen, and takes your on-going shield design with you.
'Undo' removes the last item you added, and can be used repeatedly to
clean out as many items as you wish, except for the initial background
colour choice and the frame itself.
'Restart' on the last screen takes you back to screen 1.
'Armoury', also on the last screen, displays a screen containing 45
shield samples. That screen is in fact a DPaint file, and you could use
DPaint to cut from it any pieces you wish to use. Some of them are the
same as those used in the unit, though with different colours.
If you have the full HyperBook program (not just HBReader), you could
then include your favourite cuts in the Coat of Arms program instead of
some of mine. That may be trickier than it sounds. If you like doing
that sort of thing, you might like to look at the Macros which are a
part of the Coat of Arms unit, and edit them if necessary.
Hint
Apart from the 'tinctures', the selectable items are all
HB 'Paintings'. The invisible border left around them when they were
lifted from DPaint means that detailed adjustments were necessary to
get them to appear in exactly the right position within the shield.
Of course, if you are a user of DPaint anyway, designing shields etc.
is easy. You might well ask, why bother with HyperBook? There's no
answer to that question. I just enjoyed putting this set of screens
together.
I have not provided a 'Quit' button, since that option is always
included in the Hyperbook menu.
The Macros
TintChoice For background colour/texture choice.
AddPosition To add coloured vertical or horizontal thirds.
CleanUp Invoked by the 'Start' button.
RemoveLast Invoked by the 'Undo' button
The next two carry a numeric argument, which varies with the screen
from which they are invoked.
MovePart() To add any other items to the shield.
CopyBlock() To copy your work so far to the next screen.
Admission of failure
I had hoped to include the colour option with every item, but all items
except the initial 'tincture' choice are 'paintings' as opposed to
'drawings', and I couldn't work out how to offer the choice without
storing several versions of each.
Final rude note
Excuse me for saying this, but if your family has a long-standing coat
of arms, the chances are that some of your remote ancestors were not
particularly nice to know.
Hamilton, NZ February 1994
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