1. Start Hyper-Stack Player 2.3 ("HSP"). The opening HSP card will always have "Open Stack" and "Quit" buttons.
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 and link them to your favorite stacks.
3a. Click “New Buttons” in the lower-right corner.
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 a dialog box which asks for a password.
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.”
In New Button Mode there will also be new instructions at the bottom of the card. They are "Option-drag to move a button" and "Command-click to change the properties of a button."
Once you have made a new button, you can move it and change its name and appearance in accordance with the instructions at the bottom of the card, as described below in more detail.
3d. The instructions at the bottom of the card tell 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 on color monitors) 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 instructions at the bottom also tell you that you can change the properties of a button (such as its name, style, color and size) by holding down the Command key ( the one with the Apple logo on it) and clicking on the button whose properties you want 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.
Command-clicking a button will bring up a screen having the following functions:
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 “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.”
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 (if the stack is in the same folder with HSP, then it will open immediately). Once you have shown HSP where a stack is, 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 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!)
