Changing Data Bases. If you are importing files from one data base to another via a text file, it is smart to add 2-3 blank fields in the target data base. That way, if some extra tabs sneak their way into your text, you won't lose fields during the transfer.
DiskTop
Blindingly Fast File Copying. If you are drumming your fingers while files are copying, try DiskTop DA. It is the fastest way to copy a file available on the Mac.
Excel
Headers for Excel. Washington Apple Pi suggests you always place the following into your page header, so the date, title and time will appear in the printout: &L&T&C&F&R&D
Every Excel User Should… If you use Excel and are struggling with adding columns or rows between other columns or rows, here's the easy way:
To place a new column between C and D, place the cursor between the C and the D in the column headings, move it right until the "grow width" cursor changes to a hollow cross. Hold down the Option key and click the mouse. Presto, new column. To add a row between rows 3 and 4, place the cursor between 3 and 4, hold down the Option key and click the mouse.
FullPaint
The Disappearing Act. In FullPaint, to get rid of just the patterns menu, leaving the tools menu in place, use Command/Option.T. It's a toggle, so use it again to get the patterns back.
General
Check Before Plugging In. If you take your Mac to weird places, get an $8 outlet tester from Radio Shack and check out the outlet before plugging your Mac in. (Thanks U of Utah MUG.)
HyperCard
A Way to Leave DAs Open in HyperCard. You may have heard that you can't use DAs with HyperCard. Wrong! You may have also heard that you have to close the DA to get back to HyperCard. Also wrong!
First, HyperCard is programmed to be the backmost window, which is why there is a problem. The DA cannot go behind HyperCard. So try this. Open Art Grabber+ (for instance), Copy something. Now tear off the Tools or Patterns menu.
If you look at the Art Grabber+ title bar, you will see that it is no longer active. You can now Paste into HyperCard. Click in Art Grabber+ and it becomes active again. Click on the torn off menu and you are back to HyperCard. This also works with Canvas DA, DeskPaint, Artisto and CheapPaint, among other DAs.
Forsaking HyperCard… If you entered an application from HyperCard, but you want to return to the Finder, hold down the Option key as you quit the application.
How To Lose a Stack. To lose a HyperCard stack, set a password for it. Now Quit without checking private access. Later, return to this dialog box and check it. The password will be trashed and you can never get into that stack again. (Thanks, Andrew Wulff of Mouse Times, Goleta, Calif.)
ICONs for HyperCard. There are several ways to add to the ICONs available for buttons in HyperCard. One of the easiest is Icon Maker DA. When invoked, an ICON-size square appears on the screen. Simply position the square over the ICON, ICN# or artwork which you wish to make an ICON resource out of.
Click the mouse and a dialog box appears. Select HyperCard (or a specific stack, if you only need the ICON there) and press Open. The ICON will be added to your stack (or to HyperCard's collection of ICONs).
If you want a copy of the ICON in it's own separate document, select New in IconMaker and create a dog-eared document file with the ICON in it.
By the way, if you need an ICN#, not an ICON, for something, hold down the Command key while clicking the mouse on your selected artwork.
Don't Sort! You don't need to sort often in HyperCard, since retrieving is so fast. But if you MUST sort, here's a button to get it done fast:
on mouseUp
set lockScreen to true
-- keeps the screen frozen
repeat for number of cards
convert date field to seconds
-- use name of your date field
sort by date field
convert date field to long date
-- or whatever format you use
end repeat
set lockScreen to false
-- not needed but nice to feel "safe"
end mouseUp
This button comes to us courtesy of Mouse Times, Goleta, Calif., home of David Dunham of DA/Utility fame.
An About Box. Do you need an "About Box" for your stack. One that shows your name, the price of your shareware, etc.? Don't want to waste a whole card for it? Here's what Andrew Gilmartin of Mouse Times of Goleta, Calif., suggests -- a button which displays an icon for the About Box, but changes to the About Box itself when clicked. The script is:
on mouseUp
put the rect of me into buttonWhere
-- remember where the button was
put the icon of me into buttonIcon
-- remember where the icon was
put the style of me into buttonStyle -- remember what the style was
-- set the button to display simple¬ About Box
set lockScreen to true
set rect of me to 46, 136, 466, 206
-- size & position of About Box
set icon of me to 0
-- remove the icon
set style of me to shadow
-- give it an appropriate style
set showName of me to true
-- show the message
set lockScreen to false
-- update the screen
-- wait for a mouse click to clear the¬ About Box
repeat until the mouseClick
end repeat
-- reset the button
set lockScreen to true
-- turn off screen updating
set icon of me to buttonIcon
-- reset the icon
set showName of me to false
-- hide About message
set style of me to buttonStyle
-- make button transparent
set rect of me to buttonWhere
-- reset the size & position
set lockScreen to false
-- update the screen
end mouseUp
To Protect a Stack -- or Not. Don't protect HyperCard stacks right now. We are all in a learning process, and you are preventing "the rest of us" from learning how to do things in HyperTalk. Besides that, 'anyone who is really intent on looking into your stack can use Stackware Detective or one of the Script Reader stacks to decipher what you have done.
Cheaper Than Goodman's Book -- Better Than Apple's. If you didn't get enough help out of Apple's HyperCard manual (few of us did), and you don't have $29.95 to spring for Goodman's "Complete HyperCard Handbook," open up the Help files. Bill Atkinson recommends it.
One essential move is to print out the Help stack. If you use half-size cards you get eight to a sheet and it takes 52 sheets.
Sometimes When You Read the Manual… If you read page 42 in the MacDraw manual, you will find that the Enter key takes you to the pointer tool. Handy!
Keyboard
Keyboard First Aid. What if you lose the use of a key in the middle of a job? A temporary solution is to have QuickKeys assign an alias key which will access the missing letter. Another solution is to use a "pseudo key." For instance, if the 'g' key stops working, use the backslash (\) whenever a g is needed. Now use the Change menu to change all occurrences of '\' to 'g.'
Aha, you say. How do I get the 'g' into the Change To box? Here's how. Open Key Caps and press the 'g' on the Keycaps keyboard. Now highlight and Copy the 'g' from the text box above the keyboard. Now open Change and Paste the 'g' into the Change To box.
And stop drinking Coke and eating crackers around your keyboard.
LaserWriter
Envelopes Made Easy. We all know how the LaserWriter doesn't like to print too close to the edge of the sheet, which make a decent return address on an envelope almost impossible.
Here comes Fast Forms, which lets you print way up into the upper left corner. So close you will have to adjust the template to move it further down and in.
MacDraft
Beautiful Printouts. Double the scale of your drawing in MacDraft in the Layout menu. Print it out at 50% for beautiful printouts. Use a copy of your original for this, just in case…
Pagemaker 2.0a
Justifying Headlines in Pagemaker. In Pagemaker 2.0 you can make the last line of a multi-line headline justify. Here's how.
• Type the entire head with no carriage returns
• Select the headline and go to the Paragraph menu item
• Turn off automatic hyphenation and say OK.
• Choose Justify
• Place a space after the last word. Add XXX's following the space until they wrap to the next line
• Pull up the text block handle to hide the row of XXX's.
The headline is now fully justified.
For Math Cripples (Like Me). To figure out the decimal equivalent of a fraction in Pagemaker 2.0, go to the Indents/Tabs menu. Click on the ruler at the fraction value you want to convert. The decimal equivalent will appear in the right side of the dialog box. (Thanks, Linda Spaulding, MacValley Voice, Burbank MUG, Calif.)
Word 3.01
Real Mac Users Don't… Don't use the default tabs (every half inch) in Word 3.01 if you are going to change fonts, sizes or styles, or if you are going to take the material into a page layout program. Pull down the Paragraph menu and set some "real" tabs.
