[andypolack]

I use SuperCard and I would like to know a few things about it. Keep in mind that you should talk me through this like you would talk a 2 year old through making a picture in KidPicts!

How do you
Assign key commands
Use 3DMF or DFX
Make a good RPG engine
and/or import picts/JPEGs at higher quality???????????????
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Any help would be helpfull!

Ow yaha, I also need help with an If-at-then-else command. The vars that it has a problem with are var3 (which dose not exist) and it (which also dose not exist!) Please help!

[andypolack]

One more problem!

If (loc) at (2 0bjects)
then
else

this command dosn't work, why? It tells me that it expected then but found something else

[Paul Crawford]

Hi andypolack,

In terms of general SuperCard (SC) assistance, I just wanted to note that there are quite a few SC-related websites, online user-groups, mailing-lists & other resources available, in case you didn't already know about them:-

• At the IncWell mothership itself, there is a comprehensive SuperCard Sites links-page.
• The SuperCard Resource website seems to be the most up-to-date third-party SC site, and it contains lots of useful links & information.
• The University of Sheffield [UK] also maintains an older SuperCard on the Internet links-page.

Especially, you could check out two interesting SC resources mentioned by the above websites; both resources are hosted or sponsored by MacintoshDeveloper.com's SuperCard Area -- viz., a dedicated SuperCard Forum discussion board, and a weekly “SuperCard Jam” Hotline session that's apparently scheduled every Tuesday night.

For your specific development questions, it might be best to check the documentation that came with your SC package. I would expect SC to have significantly more power than HyperCard (HC), so there should be commands/properties at least equivalent to, if not better than, those found in HC or its HyperTalk (HT) language -- e.g.: HT has a 'commandchar' property for assigning command keys to menu-items; and, HC has an 'Items | Place Picture...' menu-item -> 'Import...' (or 'PICT file...') button, along with HT's 'picture' command and general QuickTime support, for importing and displaying high-quality pictures (as opposed to simple copy/paste); etc. In addition, while HC doesn't really have tremendous support for QuickDraw 3D (3DMF) formats, nor assistants/wizards for developing role-playing games (RPGs), I would guess that SC probably does. [Just out of curiosity, do you happen to know whether Cyan developed its Myst/Riven series primarily in HC (as with its early 'Manhole' adventure), or in a more powerful product such as SC?]

As for those stubborn 'if-then-else' syntax errors... I'm not sure about the "nonexistent variable/'it'" problems, but the "expected 'then'" issue might be due to SC (like HC) being finicky about line breaks? (I.e., assuming that the test-condition itself has a valid syntax.) If so, you might try putting the 'then' on the same line as the 'if'.

Regards, and good luck,

--Paul

[This message has been edited by Paul Crawford (edited 02-13-2001).]

[andypolack]

Thanks, it's nice to hear from someone who knows what their doing! I swear that they hide the SC sites on the web! Thanks for the links! To tell you the truth about Cyan, they probably used something even more powerful than SC, c maybe. This is primarily because SC was never meant to do half of what people make it do. I asked about 3D because I once read that you could download Res3D (whatever that is) and back-door into SC to run a Res3D file in SC. This was from a web ring so I don't know how reliable a souse it is! with the if-then-else command, it no longer tells me that It doesn't know variables that don't exist or that it expected then but found something else. Rather now it dose not like the following...

if graphic a (is at) (Loc x) and graphic b (is at) (loc x) then...

it dosen't like the locations so are their paramaters that you can set?

Thanks

[Paul Crawford]

Hi Andy,

I'll try to make some educated guesses, based on my limited experience with Apple's similar HC. [As such, I'm making quite a few assumptions; e.g., that you're using the term 'graphic a' to mean some graphic/icon that's attached to a button object, etc.]

• Possibility #1: Perhaps SC, like HC, expects a location to be specified as a point (i.e., a comma-separated pair of values, optionally surrounded by quotes), rather than as a single value? If so, you could try specifiying the locations as points, something like this: 'if graphic a (is at) (loc x,y) and graphic b (is at) (loc x,y) then...'.
• Possibility #2:- It might be that SC, like HC, is also finicky about the grouping of parentheses. If so, you could try rearranging the parentheses, something like this: 'if (graphic a is at loc x) and (graphic b is at loc x) then...'. [I.e., assumimg that it isn't necessary to specify the location as a point.]
• Possibility #3:- It could be that SC would be happier if you rewrote the statement in an equivalent way without using the 'at' operator (e.g., I believe that HC tends to choke on 'at', perhaps because it isn't an official operator in HC). If so, you could try an alternate phrasing, something like this: 'if (loc of graphic a is x) and (loc of graphic b is x) then...'. [Again, assumimg that it isn't necessary to specify the location as a point.]

[Note to other members of the Forum:- As I mentioned in a recent email message to Andy, I'm not an expert in SC (or in HC, for that matter). If there's anyone out there who's familiar with SC in particular, please do jump right in.]

Regards,

--Paul

[This message has been edited by Paul Crawford (edited 02-15-2001).]

[andypolack]

Hi, thanks I guess that It would be better if I dropped down the code block so here it is!

on mouseUp
if the visible of graphic a then


move graphic a to 610,240 nudge 1

else
if the visible of graphic b
then
move graphic b to 610,240 nudge 1
else
if the visible of graphic c
then
move graphic c to 610,240 nudge 1
else
if not the visible of graphic a and not the visible of graphic b and not the visible of graphic c
then
answer "You lost all of your men rookie, YOU LOST, GAME OVER"
go to card 1 of window 1
end if
end if
end if
end if

if the visible of graphic d
then
get the random of 10
put random(10) into var3
if var3<4
then
move graphic d to 320,220
else
move graphic d to 320,320
end if
end if

if the visible of graphic e
then
get the random of 2
put random(2) into var1
if var1<2
then
move graphic e to 320,220
else
move graphic e to 320,320
end if
end if

if the visible of graphic f
then
get the random of 2
put random(2) into var1
if var1<2
then
move graphic f to 320,220
else
move graphic f to 320,320
end if
end if

(HERE IS MY PROBLEM CODE!) if the visible of graphic d at loc 610,240 or the visible of graphic e at loc 610,240 or the visible of graphic f at loc 610,240 and the visible of graphic a at loc 610,240 or the visible of graphic b at loc 610,240 or the visible of graphic c at loc 610,240
then

answer "You Lost"
if the visible of graphic a
then
hide graphic a
show graphic b
if the visible of graphic b
then
hide graphic b
show graphic c
if the visible of graphic c
then
hide graphic c
go to first card

end if
end if
end if
end if



end mouseUp


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Any Help would be Helpful!

[Paul Crawford]

Hi Andy,

Okay, maybe I'm slowly beginning to see a glimmer of light here... ;-) In your problem line indicated above, it looks as if (for each graphic or "sprite" in the group), you're simultaneously testing both its visibility and its location. E.g., for 'graphic d', I'm translating its test into pseudocode as: "... (the fourth sprite is visible at the coordinates {610,240}) ...".

Well, assuming that my interpretation is correct, I've been taking a look at some of the brief sample scripts near the bottom of IncWell's SuperTalk Language blurb web-page, and it seems that SuperTalk (ST) might prefer a different syntax for these tests. E.g., for 'graphic d', ST might not like it if you combine the visibility test & the location test into a single test, because ST would then be confused by the "abbreviated" location test (i.e., '... graphic d at 610,240'). I'm speculating that ST would be happier with a "full" location test (i.e., 'loc of graphic d is 610,240'). However, the snag here is that the additional visibility test still needs to be incorporated somehow into this alternate syntax.

So, perhaps for each sprite you could try "splitting" the combined test (i.e., visibility test + location test) into its two separate components. E.g., for 'graphic d', the test could be rephrased something like this: 'if ((visible of graphic d) and (loc of graphic d is 610,240)) ...'; and similarly for the other sprites.

Of course, if all of my somewhat incoherent speculation turns out to be entirely inapplicable to your situation, then we would have to try a different approach. In that case, please make sure to let us know the exact syntax error(s) being reported by SC/ST.

Regards, and good luck,

--Paul

[andypolack]

Good Idea, with some changes it worked. I can't believe that was it! Sometimes I get myself lost! Should have seen that before! Thanks anyway!