The DA Windows is very handy with HyperCard. It can send most well-behaved DAs, like Scrapbook, Art Grabber, Calculator, etc., to the back — something HyperCard resists letting you do under normal circumstances.
General
You just upgraded to 2 megs and now you are drumming your fingers waiting for the Mac to boot up.
Psst! Wanna boot up fast? Hold down the mouse button until the Mac beeps. The Mac conducts a memory check during bootup. The more memory, the longer it takes. You can afford to omit the check when you are in a hurry.
A bulk tape eraser (like that used to clean off audio tape) can help a disk that won't initialize. But keep that magnet away from good disks and from your digital watch.
Just run the bulk eraser over the disk on both sides in neat small oval motions.
Have you seen Andy Hertz feld's SFScroll INIT? It makes the Mac remember where you were in a Standard File (SF) dialog box. Next time you open the dialog box, it will be right where you left it, not back at the top of the list.
Do you use a lot of INITs? If you start having bombs and hung cursors, take all the INITs out. Now put ONE INIT back into your System Folder. Run for awhile. If you have no problems, add another. Keep adding and operating, adding and operating, until you find the culprit.
When you scuff across a rug on a dry day, you can zap some unsuspecting soul with an arc of electricity from the end of your finger. Just think how that juice could fry your Mac! Touch a piece of grounded metal to ground yourself before you touch your Mac. (Thanks, MACazine.)
To erase a disk fast, insert a blank formatted disk and copy it onto the disk to be erased. Your Mac can do this fast. Tim Evans of Merced, Calif., says you gain up to a minute.
What is the first thing to do when you get unexpected bombs and farozen cursors?
• Rebuild the desktop by holding down Command/Option while booting.
• Replace the System with a clean new one.
You can help this process out by using Suitcase, which allows you a smallish System which will fit on one 800k floppy. This makes it much easier to replace a system.
HyperCard
To figure out a new HyperCard stack, do this: Open it up. Browse all of the scripts you can in this order -- stack, background, card, buttons and fields. While you are in there, note how many cards, how many backgrounds, and what the scripts are supposed to do.
Holding down the shift key while making rounded rectangle buttons in HyperCard makes them the standard Macintosh button height, top to bottom.
Would you like to get rid of Monaco in your HyperCard scripts? Use MacTools, FEdit or MacSnoopy. Find 3F3C 0004 Z887 3F3C 0009
and change it to 3F3C 0016 A887 3F3C 000A.
Thanks to David Dunham, Goleta, Calif.
Are you using MultiFinder with HyperCard? Here's a script to send HyperCard to the backgrond and put the finder up front. (Thanks, David Leffler at Apple):
on mouseUp
hide card window
doMenu "Finder"
end mouseUp
To place the time on every card of a HyperCard stack, create a background field and title it <time>. Now add the following script to the background itself:
on idle
put the time into field "time"
pass idle
pass idle
end idle
Do stacks you are browsing change your User Preference level? Add this script to the stack's script:
on openStack -- when you open the -- stack
get the userLevel -- gets your -- user level
put it into oldLevel -- saves -- this setting for you
set the userLevel to 1 -- resets -- level to your desired level, (1,2,3, etc.)
end openStack
on closeStack -- when you leave --this stack
globalLevel -- remembers your old -- setting
set the userLevel to oldLevel
-- resets level to your chosen -- setting
end closeStack
If there are already on openStack and on closeStack scripts, just add the lines between the on open and on close entries. If you are creating a stack for others, be considerate and place this script in your stack's script to restore the user to their chosen level.
Are you prototyping a database? Why not do it in HyperCard. If it works there, maybe that is where you will use it. If not you will have discovered all the features you will be needing in a simple way.
People keep telling you to compact your stacks to save space. And you keep forgetting. So add this script to each stack's script:
on closeStack
get the freeSize of this stack
if it >1024*10 then doMenu¬ Compact Stack
end closeStack
This compacts any stack with 10k or more wasted space.
Here's how you can lock and unlock a text field in HyperCard without going into its Get Info... box. To do this make a new button, double click it and name it "Lock/Unlock." Uncheck the show name option. Enter into its script and type:
on mouseup
set lockText of bkgnd field¬ "Data Field" to not (lockText¬ of bkgnd field "Data Field")
set hilite of target to not¬ (hilite of the target)
end mouseUp
Now click OK, resize the button, and drag it to a convenient place near the Data Field. Press Command/Tab to go back to the Browse tool. Try your button. Try it again and you will see this button acts as a toggle.
Have you discovered how to put a dialog box of your own choice on the screen in HyperCard? Here is a script which works. Just replace the material within quote marks with words of your choice:
on mouseUp
Answer "Anything you want" with¬ "This" or "That"
end mouseUp
MacWrite
Here's an old one: If you bomb in MacWrite, look for a dog-eared corner file called NewFile. Use any tool which lets you change Creator and Type (DiskTop, SetFile, miniDOS, Info..., and lots of others). Change NewFile's type to WORD and its creator to MACA. Now run MacWrite Rescuer 1.2 and you will get your file back almost intact.
Mac SE
To start an SE or a Mac II with a floppy disk instead of the internal hard disk, hold down Com mand/Option/Shift/Delete while you boot.
It's called the Four Finger Floppy First move.
Mac II
Lots of things "don't work" on the Mac II only because you forgot to set your Control Panel set to two shades only. For example, Command/Shift/3 screen dumps won't work unless you change the setting.
MultiFinder
Lots of people complain that their DAs do not work with MultiFinder. Check and see if you have DA Handler in your System Folder. It comes with the new System Release 5.0, and is absolutely necessary in order to run DAs with MultiFinder.
What upgrades work with MultiFinder?
• Disktop 3.02 ($7 upgrade)
• QuicKeys 1.1 (free upgrade)
• Excel 1.06 (free, but you have to ask).
To install an "incompatible" DA for use with MultiFinder, stick it in the application instead of the System. It doesn't always work, but it is worth a try.
Are you getting generic icons when you download files in the background with MultiFinder?
Create a folder. Keep it CLOSED. Download all your files into this closed folder. That will hid your good icons from the evil Icon Snatcher residing in MultiFinder.
Don't use Font/DA Mover under MultiFinder. Reboot without MultiFinder.
Pagemaker
There is a lot to learn about importing graphics into Pagemaker. For example, if you import with Scrapbook, Art Grabber, Clipboard, or a Place Scrapbook, the background on your image is opaque, AND you will not be able to use the Command/Shift keyboard equivalent to scale your image to exact LaserWriter compatible sizes (96%, 72%, 48% and 24%).
Use the Place command (except Place Scrapbook) to get a transparent background AND an image which Pagemaker can scale properly for the LaserWriter.
Pensacola (FL) MUG found a dialog box in Pagemaker 2.0a that says: "Cannot select text. Internal error: bad hole record index detected by line walker. 7107:5506." It seems that there were empty text blocks on the page. The user inadvertently tried to pour text into those areas. Removing the blank text blocks solved the problem.
Suitcase
Here's how to set up Suitcase:
• Remove all DA's except Control Panel and Chooser from your System
• Create a suitcase called "Primary DAs" and put it in a folder in the System Folder called "Fonts/DAs." (Leave out the quote marks and period.) Place your most often used DAs into this one suitcase.
• Create a suitcase called "Other DAs" and place it loose (not in its own folder) in the System Folder.
• Strip your System down to just the required system fonts. (All sizes, not just 9 and 12) of required system fonts should be in the System — never split a font between the System and a suitcase designed for use with Suitcase INIT.
• Make two suitcases of Fonts just as you did for DA's.
• Reboot. When you need your "Other" fonts or DA's, use the Open Other command in Suitcase to go get them.
Remember, Suitcase only "sees" up to 10 suitcases, so start out smart by loading all your fonts and DAs into just a couple of suitcases, leaving yourself a lot of room for spare suitcases.
If Suitcase won't work right with System 4.2, get version 2.0, due out in March, or make this patch, using FEdit or MacSnoopy:
Hunt for 225F205F2050
Replace with 6000008C2050
Super Paint
To make SuperPaint's private clipboard accept SmartScrap images, draw a "throwaway scribble" in SuperPaint. Select it. Delete it. Now your SuperPaint clipboard is empty and will let you copy a SmartScrap image into it.
Word 3.0
What is Word 3.02? Nothing new, and no bug fixes. It will work with the Imagewriter LQ and the General PLP, You only get it if you ask for it.
Want to count words in 3.0? Do a Save. Check the character count in the lower left corner of the screen. Divide this number by about 6.35. If you want to get precise, check a 1000 word sample of your writing for word length and us this figure plus one. The plus one takes into account the fact that Word 3.0 counts spaces as characters, and each word will have a space after it.
Command/Shift/Z strips format ting without reverting to Normal style font.
Can't find this one in the manual.
Command/Shift/Q sets Word 3.0 up to type the next character in Symbol font. One character at a time. You want another symbol character, use the Command/Shift/ Q again. Page 169 in the Reference Manual.
When you resize a graphic in Word 3.0, look in the lower left corner after you select the graphic and after you grab a handle.
You will see your percentage reduction if you grabbed a corner, and you will see a linear measurement if you grab a side handle.
One more time -- this is important because you need to reduce to exacatly 96, 72, 48 or 24 percent for great LaserWriter output.
