Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!eacelari
From: eacelari@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Edward A Celarier)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: What really happens when hypercard is launched?
Message-ID: <1277@idunno.Princeton.EDU>
Date: 18 Jul 90 13:58:12 GMT
Sender: news@idunno.Princeton.EDU
Organization: Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
Lines: 39

What I want to do:
User double clicks a stack icon; stack opens, creates a card, shows
it to the user, and places the text cursor automatically in a certain
field

How I though to do it:
Use stack script, with handlers like on openCard... on openStack...,
etc.

In particular:
	on openStack
	... (make the new card)
	click at the loc of cd fld id 4
	end openStack

What happens:
If I move into the stack from another stack (e.g. home), it works just
fine.  If I move in from outside Hypercard, the text cursor momentarily
flickers in the field, then goes away, as the disk light blinks on and
off a few times, and we are left high and dry with a hand, index finger
extended (though it might as well be the next one over).

I cannot find any documentation which states clearly and authoritatively
what happens when hypercard is launched.  It is clear that its primary
order of business is to show a card to the user, so he has something
to look at while other things are going on.  I thought I might subvert
the getHomeInfo message in the stack script, but apparently that message
(who sends it?) doesn't go that far in the hierarchy.  Somehow an 
on Idle handler seems inelegant and inappropriate (the user will do more
than fill in a single field!).

Could someone please enlighten me? 

Also:  Why is there no definitive documentation on hypercard function,
hypertext syntax, and so on?  Even Goodman, for all its weight, is 
sparse!

Thanks in advance
E. Celarier