cursor

set [the] cursor to cursor

The cursor property sets the image that appears as the pointer on the screen.

Note: cursor is a set-only property. You cannot get the current value of the cursor from a script.

HyperCard provides a number of built-in cursors that you can use. (HyperCard automatically resets the cursor to the image for the current tool on idle—when no other action is happening.)

The built-in cursors are:

Ibeam (or 1)
cross (or 2)
plus (or 3)
watch (or 4)
hand
arrow
busy
none

The busy cursor rotates an eighth of a turn each time you call it.

Examples

set the cursor to 1

set the cursor to 4

set the cursor to Ibeam

set the cursor to none

set the cursor to watch

repeat with i = 1 to 100

  set the cursor to busy -- spins the beach ball

...

end repeat

Demo Script

on rotateCursors

  repeat with cursorNumber = 1 to 4

    set the cursor to cursorNumber

    wait 30

  end repeat

  set the cursor to hand

  wait 30

  set the cursor to arrow

  wait 30

  set the cursor to balloon -- a cursor in the HyperCard Help stack

  wait 30

  repeat for 73

    set the cursor to busy

    wait 1

  end repeat

end rotateCursors

Placeholders

cursor

An expression, used to set the cursor property in a script, that evaluates to one of these names:

Ibeam

cross

plus

watch

hand

arrow

busy

none

Additionally, the first four names can be referred to by number:

Ibeam      1

cross      2

plus       3

watch      4

HyperTalk Reference

Version 0.8b4 (July 4, 2025)

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