Note: This is a work in progress and will be formatting errors. Read more about the project on the home page.

show

show menuBar
show titleBar
show groups
show all cards
show marked cards

show posInteger cards
show card picture
show background picture
show picture of card
show picture of bkgnd

show field [at point]
show button [at point]

show window [at point]
show externalWindow [at point]

The show command displays HyperCard objects and elements.

Show menuBar displays the menu bar at the top of the screen (unless the screen is locked). Show titleBar displays the title bar on the card window if it’s been hidden. (Normally, the title bar is visible.)

Show groups displays a two-pixel gray underline for all text that has the group text style. (By default, the group text style is invisible.) The underline appears for grouped text in every field (in all stacks). Use the hide groups command to remove the underline.

The show card forms display the specified cards in the current stack in turn, beginning with the next card or the next marked card.

The other forms of the show command display the card or background picture, a window, or an object at a specified location on the screen. If the point is not given, the window or object is displayed at its previous location.

Showing a window makes it the frontmost window. With external windows, an external command or external function must first create a window before show will work on it. Show does not create windows.

Demo Script

on showPictureDemo
   -- draw a picture and show it only when done:
   show bkgnd field "demo field"
   hide card picture
   drawPicture -- see below
   show card picture
   displayMessage "Click the mouse" & return & "to continue..."
   set the cursor to arrow
   wait until the mouseClick
   lock screen
   doMenu "revert" -- Don't keep the new picture
   choose browse tool
   unlock screen with dissolve slowly
   hide bkgnd field "demo field"
 end showPictureDemo
 

 on drawPicture
   setUpPaint
   put "50,16,12,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3" into theSides
   repeat with itemNum = 1 to the number of items in theSides
     set polysides to (item itemNum of theSides)
     drag from "240,160" to "240,250"
   end repeat
 end drawPicture
 

 on setUpPaint
   set lineSize to 1
   choose regular polygon tool
   set the pattern to 1
   set centered to true
   set filled to true
   set grid to false
 end setUpPaint

Placeholders

posInteger
An expression that evaluates to a positive integer.

For example:

3
67 mod 13
the number of bg fields
the number of backgrounds
the number of cards div 2

See also: background, bkgnd, button, card, chunk, field, menu, and menuItem

card
An expression that identifies a card by name, number, or id using one of the following forms (in AppleScript, use “background” in place of “bkgnd”):

recent card
back
forth

card id posInteger [of bkgnd ]card text [of bkgnd ] -- namecard posInteger [of bkgnd ] -- numberordinal card [of bkgnd ]position card [of bkgnd ]

ordinal marked cardposition marked cardmarked card posInteger

For example:

card id 3894
card "Index"
card 1 of background 1
prev card
previous card of this background
next card
this card
first card
last card
middle card
any card
first marked card
last marked card
next marked card
previous marked card
marked card 1
marked card (the number of marked cards)

When used inside a card script in HyperTalk:

me

When a card receives a message:

[the] target

See also: button and field

bkgnd
A HyperTalk expression that identifies a background by name, number, or id, using one of the following forms:

bkgnd id posInteger
bkgnd text -- name
bkgnd posInteger -- number
ordinal bkgnd
position bkgnd

For example:

bkgnd id 3894
bkgnd "Index"
bkgnd 1
prev bkgnd
previous bkgnd
next bkgnd
this bkgnd
first bkgnd
last bkgnd
middle bkgnd
any bkgnd

From within a background script, the term me refers to that background. When a background receives a the message [the] target, that message is referring to the background.

See also: card

field
An expression that identifies a field by name, number, or id using one of the following forms (in AppleScript, use “background” in place of “bkgnd”):

card field id posInteger [of card ]card field text [of card ] -- namecard field posInteger [of card ]ordinal card field [of card ]

[bkgnd] field id posInteger [of card ][bkgnd] field text [of card ] -- name[bkgnd] field posInteger [of card ]ordinal [bkgnd] field [of card ]

For example:

card field id 3894
card field "My Notes"
card field 1
first card field
background field 3 of card 1

When used inside a field script in HyperTalk:

me

When a field receives a message:[the] target

A field can also be referred to as a part when you’re talking about its position among all buttons and fields within the same card or background.

point
HyperTalk DefinitionAn expression that evaluates to a specific screen location, in the form of two integers separated by a comma.

Item 1 of a point is the horizontal offset (in pixels). Item 2 of a point is the vertical offset (in pixels). For example:

91,303
"91,303"
"30" & "," & "100"
the clickLoc

AppleScript DefinitionAn expression that evaluates to a specific screen location, in the form of a list with two integer elements. For example:

{ 91, 303 }clickLoc

button
HyperTalk DefinitionAn expression that identifies a button by name, number, or id, using one of the following forms:

[card] button id posInteger [of card ][card] button text [of card ] -- name[card] button posInteger [of card ]ordinal [card] button [of card ]





bkgnd

button id posInteger [of card ]bkgnd button text [of card ] -- namebkgnd button posInteger [of card ]ordinal bkgnd button [of card ]For example:

card button id 3894
card button "Return"
card button 1
first card button
bkgnd button 2 of card 2
last bkgnd button

When used inside a button script:

me

When a button receives a message:

[the] target

A button can also be referred to as a part when you’re talking about its position among all buttons and fields within the same card or background.

AppleScript DefinitionAn expression that identifies a button by name, number, or id, using the same forms as HyperTalk except that “background” must be used in place of “bkgnd”.

window
One of HyperCard’s built-in windows, the window containing the current stack (called the card window), or any other window containing a stack, as follows:

card window
tool window
window "tools"
pattern window
window "Patterns"
scroll window
window "scroll"
[the] message [window]
[the] message [box]
[the] msg [window]
[the] msg [box]
window "message"
message watcher
window "message watcher"
variable watcher
window "variable watcher"
window "Home"
window "Readymade Buttons"
-- if longWindowTitles is true:
window "My HD:Home"
window 6
window ID 21403082

Note: If a window containing a stack is inactive, you can set only its location and visible properties. Important: External windows can’t be substituted for the window placeholder (see the externalWindow placeHolder).

externalWindow
A window displayed by an external command or an external function; a window that’s not one of HyperCard’s built-in windows :

window "navigator"
window "Script of stack My HD:Home"
window "JT's Cool Palette"

show

Demo Script

Placeholders

Related Topics