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From: jacob@latcs2.lat.oz.au (Jacob L. Cybulski)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: What comes first the buttons or fields?
Message-ID: <1991May1.025303.16314@latcs2.lat.oz.au>
Date: 1 May 91 02:53:03 GMT
Organization: Comp Sci, La Trobe Uni, Australia
Lines: 24

I am writing an application which in response to user actions
constructs the graphics with a lot of buttons and fields for each card.
To avoid the screen flicker during mode switching and screen locking
(both operations are very slow), I generate all the necessary buttons
and fields at the creation of the card and add more or reclaim some
when appropriate. I have some problems though :-

	having an list of free buttons and fields (or their ids),
	I have no way assessing which buttons precede which fields
	(or vice-versa). 

It seems that the numbering scheme for buttons and fields is quite
separate. If I decide to use menu "Bring Closer" and "Send Farther",
it defeats the whole idea of piggybanking to increase the efficiency
(they are very slow again). 

How can I compare the relative position of buttons and fields, or
force them to assume a particular position without a menu call.
Perhaps there is an alternative way to efficeintly generate buttons
and fields fast?

Any comments?

Jacob