This button is the one with the picture of a saw on it, as it may have something to do with your hardware! Upon clicking on it, a field will appear telling you the size of the stack and the amount of free space in the stack in kilobytes. The stack's free space is the space you would free up on the volume the stack is on by compacting. You may choose to compact the stack right away by selecting "Compact", or you can tell the stack to automatically compact when you leave the stack, by selecting the "Set Auto" button. You can turn the option off by selecting the stack's Compact button and the "Set Auto" button again. You may choose not to do either by selecting the "Cancel" button. No compacting will be done if there is not enough disk space available to compact.
Holding down the option key and clicking on this button will bring up the export dialog. You can choose to append to an existing file, or you can create a new one. When asking which file you want to append to, the stack will show files with the following types: TEXT (a text-only file), WDBN (a Microsoft Word file), WORD (a MacWrite file), or FMK$ (a FileMaker II file). Exercise caution when appending to a file that is not text-only! If you find any format problems please do not hesitate to contact me.
When exporting is turned on, any subsequent text you find in the ZIP Codes or Locations field (through regular finding or occurrence finding with or without displaying matching text) will be exported automatically to the file you choose. You will know exporting is on by the presence of an exclamation mark icon in the upper right corner of the Locations field. Click on this icon at any time to stop exporting. If you have created a new file, you have the option of saving it as a TeachText, Microsoft Word, or MacWrite file. Quitting the stack while exporting is on will stop exporting for you.
You can choose the delimiting character that goes between the found data. After choosing the export file, you will be asked what character you want to use to divide the items. You have four choices: a tab character, a comma, a slash ("/"), or the return character. Use the pop-up menu provided to select the delimiting character. Any found data will go into the file in the following way: If "slash" is the delimiting character, the data will look like
98765/Tazmania/California, CA (and a return)
With a "comma" delimiting character:
98765,Tazmania,California, CA (and a return)
,Nozipcode,California, CA (and a return)
76543,,Nolocation, NL (and a return)
With a "return":
98765
Tazmania
California, CA
98743
Tazmundia
California, CA (and a return, etc.)
Notice that with a "return" character records are not separated by an extra return. You cannot change the order of the fix - always the ZIP will appear, its matching location, and the contents of the Region field of the card in which the data was found. The exporting feature should work nicely with database programs that accept text-only tab delimited files.
Holding down the option key and clicking on the Export Warning button will allow you to export all the information on the current card to the export file you previously selected or created, using the delimiting character you chose. Depending on the size of the Area/ZIP Codes and Locations fields, the operation can take between five seconds to around ten minutes.
HyperCard appears to be very memory sensitive when dealing with external files, so when exporting is on some features like compacting and the world map will be turned off. If you encounter a problem HyperCard will say "No open file" and the name of the exported file path. This happens when the export file has been closed unexpectedly. In this case the best solution is to quit and reopen the stack. If the problem still persists, it may be because you don't have enough memory in your Mac - at least two megabytes of RAM is recommended for the exporting option. I have done my best to eliminate the problem, but if serious problems arise please contact me.
