Note: This chapter is intended to be a basic guide to using graphics in HyperCard. Print the chapter, highlight the basic steps and do as you read.
To use a graphic in a stack, you must
1. select the graphic,
2. put it into the computer's memory,
3. go back to your stack
4. and paste the graphic where you want it.
Selecting a graphic is always the same.
To select a graphic, choose the losso or selection rectangle from the tools menu, surround the graphic by pressing the mouse button and draw an outline or box around it, then release the mouse. Whatever you have captured will shimmer. The graphic is selected.
I prefer to use the lasso tool because it contracts around the image when the mouse button is released and doesn't select extra space as the box tool will do. While the extra space can be eliminated, pieces of nearby images can be captured and have to be erased.
Through the rest of this brief discussion (and the power tips), I 'll be referring to key combinations (usually Command + something) you can use instead of selecting a menu command. Doing so is faster once you begin remembering the commands. In order to use these commands, you must enable the powerkeys property by checking the appropriate box on your Preference Card. (The Preference Card is the card before home.) If you have not, the key combinations won't work.
Placing the graphic in the computer's memory is always the same.
Once you have selected a graphic, press (Command C) or select copy from the edit menu. (Don't use (Command X) as it will remove the orginal graphic.)
Pasting a graphic is always the same.
Press (Command V) or select paste from the edit menu when you are back in your stack on the card you want to paste the graphic. When you press Command V, the graphic will appear and will be shimmering. You can then move the graphic where you want it on the card.
When you first paste the graphic, the cursor will change to whichever selection tool you used to select the graphic. Be sure the cursor changes to an arrow before trying to move the graphic. If it doesn't, you will paste, rather than move the graphic.
In fact, the only part of the process which may differ is how you get back and forth between the graphics stack and the stack you are working on when you need to select more than one graphic. You can
1. Use the Scrapbook. Just select graphics and paste them in the scrapbook until you have all you want. Then go back to the stack you're working on.
This is most useful when selecting graphics from paint files. Paint file (standard MacPaint format) can be imported, but that works successfully with a standard sized card only when the graphics are located in the upper left corner of the paint file "page". Artisto+ is a good DA for selecting graphics without leaving HyperCard. Of course if you have System 7 and enough memory (at least four megs), you can have MacPaint or some other paint program and HyperCard open at the same time.
2. If the graphics you need are on one card, select more than one graphic at a time, then separate them when you get back to your stack. (See power tools.)
3. Use the (Recent) or (Back) commands from your Go menu. Back (Command ~) will take you to your last card or the one before it for up to 100 cards. This is very handy if you don't have to browse through too many cards. If you do select "Recent" (Command R). You'll be show tiny versions of the last 40 cards you've viewed. Click the one to which you want to go.
4. When a lot of graphics are involved, a fourth method is to make a new card in the graphics stack, place copies of all the graphics you need on it, copy the card and paste it in the new stack you are creating. Move the graphics to the positions needed and delete the card from both stacks. (Delete or Cut Card from the Edit menu.)
5. A fifth variation was introduced when it became possible to have two stacks open at once (by checking the "In Same Window" box when opening a new stack). This makes it possible to move back and forth between two stacks by clicking on them, greatly speeding up the process. You may need to move the window a little bit to have an area of stack to click on since it can be completely hidden by the other.
One of the fascinating things about working with various programs on the Mac is that the process outlined above is the same for many programs whether dealing with graphics or text. Selecting material to be copying it, then copying it (into the clipboard), then moving to where you want it, and pasting it, uses basically the same processes and key combinations whether working with numbers on a spreadsheet, words on a text file or any graphic in any graphic text!
