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Path: utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!roberts
From: roberts@cognos.uucp (Robert Stanley)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Yet another HC bug?
Message-ID: <1556@cognos.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 12-Oct-87 17:11:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: cognos.1556
Posted: Mon Oct 12 17:11:54 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Oct-87 04:35:35 EDT
References: <130STORKEL@RICE>
Reply-To: roberts@cognos.UUCP (Robert Stanley)
Organization: Cognos Inc., Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 25
Summary: It's not a bug, it's a feature

In article <130STORKEL@RICE> STORKEL@RICE.BITNET (Scott Storkel) writes:
>Does anyone know the status of the Hypercard global property numberFormat? This
>property is listed in the HC manual (working draft 3), but doesn't seem to be
>working.

There is a nasty little weasel statement somewhere that reads (from memory):

	"Because numberFormat can change the answers that all
	 arithmetic gives, it is reset to the default whenever
	 HyperCard is idle"

Make of this what you will (I have never bothered to track this one all the
way to its lair), but it surely looks like the reason for your problem.

Perhaps you can stop HyperCard deciding it is idle by using a lock in the
script, but it surely looks like numberFormat can be set to a new value only
within the scope of a single script.

Comments, anyone?

-- 
Robert Stanley           Cognos Incorporated     S-mail: P.O. Box 9707
Voice: (613) 738-1440 (Research: there are 2!)           3755 Riverside Drive 
  FAX: (613) 738-0002    Compuserve: 76174,3024          Ottawa, Ontario 
 uucp: decvax!utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!cognos!roberts          CANADA  K1G 3Z4