Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!rpi!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!stadler
From: stadler@Apple.COM (Andy Stadler)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: HyperMover (was Re: HyperConvert)
Keywords: hypercard, IIgs, Mac
Message-ID: <48233@apple.Apple.COM>
Date: 18 Jan 91 00:09:09 GMT
References: <2794C29D.20435@ics.uci.edu>
Distribution: all
Organization: Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino, CA
Lines: 43

In article <2794C29D.20435@ics.uci.edu> djpadz@bonnie.ics.uci.edu
 (David Jay Padzensky) writes:

>HyperConvert (I think that's what it's called) is a pair of stacks for
>converting HyperCard stacks to HyperCard IIgs format.  Does anyone
>have a beta copy, or does anyone know when it's to be released?
>

HyperMover is a pair of stacks, one on the Macintosh and one on the IIGS.  The
conversion process involves de-constructing a stack, and creating many paint
files and a single long text file which completely describes everything else.
You then move the folder to the other machine, and invoke the other stack to
reassemble the stack in the new format.

HyperMover is amazingly useful, but it's not magic.  It brings over all
pictures, cards, bkgnds, buttons, fields, text and scripts.  It converts
sounds and icons.  It repositions all part coordinates to the same relative
positions on the different sized cards.  The three major shortcomings are:

1.  XCMD's can't be transferred - you must find equivalent ones or rewrite
    them (sometimes just a matter of recompiling with the appropriate dev-
    elopment system).
2.  Because of the design of HyperCard, you can't guarantee that card and
    bkgnd id's will match.  HyperMover attempts to fix hardcoded id's in
    scripts, but there are some things it simply can't catch (eg putting id's
    in a field and selecting a single line as a "computed goto").
3.  B&W graphics look terrible when scrunched.

So HyperMover is not a simple conversion utility- it's more of a "tool" which
is the first step in converting a stack from one machine to another.  Most
stack developers care greatly about the visual appearance of their stacks.  In
most cases, the converted pictures wind up as "templates" until beautiful full
color pictures can be drawn in their place.

HyperMover is currently in beta stage, and is available to developers, and
is also going to be included on all future developer CD-ROM's.  It currently
supports conversions from Mac to IIGS only, but future versions will perform
conversions in both directions.  At some point, it will probably be available
through APDA and perhaps user groups as well.

Andy Stadler
HyperCard IIGS Team
Apple Computer, Inc.