Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!unmvax!indri!gdavis
From: gdavis@primate.wisc.edu (Gary Davis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: multifinder programming help
Message-ID: <313@indri.primate.wisc.edu>
Date: 26 May 89 06:08:57 GMT
References: <8686@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Sender: news@primate.wisc.edu
Reply-To: gdavis@primate.wisc.edu
Lines: 35

From article <8686@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>, by englandr@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Scott Englander):
> This is of interest to us also.  We're trying to make HC plot a graph
> using Cricket Graph.  We've had success using MacroMaker, by creating a
> macro called "plot," then doing a "domenu plot," which opens CG and then
> runs a CG Macromaker macro which opens the file we just saved and plots
> it.  Unfortunately, the macros break a lot, if things aren't just right,
> and they aren't very exportable, and making changes means recording them
> over again.  It would be great to be able to do this at the scripting
> level, sending mouseups to buttons in another application's dialog
> boxes.
> -- 
> 
>                                                - Scott
I've used Wingz, which has a powerful macro language, to make plots from
HyperCard. There are a couple of approaches possible; the one I used takes
advantage of an "on activate" macro attached to a Wingz file. HyperCard 
places the graph data on the clipboard, then opens the Wingz file. The attached
macro pastes the data into the sheet, then creates a graph from it. Since
Wingz can run any text file as a macro, HyperCard could also prepare a
complex set of instructions in a file to be passed to Wingz.
I've also used HyperCard and Wingz in conjunction with the new word
processor Nisus to automatically prepare formatted reports. Hypercard
first uses Wingz to make a graph which is copied to the clipboard. Wingz then
quits to HyperCard, which writes up the text of the report and passes the
text file to Nisus. A macro in Nisus copies the graph into the appropriate
spot in the text, formats the text, then prints the report. Nisus then
returns to HyperCard, which can then start the production of another
report, so an indefinite number of them can be produced automatically. Two
features of Nisus make it easy to produce complex formatting. One, it
possesses a powerful GREP which works with font characteristics, such as style,
and two, formatted Nisus files are of type TEXT, with all the formatting
and graphics in the resource fork. Consequently, HyperCard can open a Nisus
file and write text into it while leaving any formatting intact.

Gary Davis