Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!mailrus!hellgate.utah.edu!cc.utah.edu!kofoid
From: KOFOID@cc.utah.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hypercard
Subject: Re: Setting userLevel at openStack time & flame
Message-ID: <48201@cc.utah.edu>
Date: 1 Mar 90 21:19:50 GMT
Lines: 55

Tom Johnson writes: 

>[...]
>
>Here's the scenario: [...] I decide to set the userLevel to 2 at openStack
>time. [etc...He wants to protect the stack from change by naive students.]

    ...and of course got a typically snotty answer from an Apple rep, who never
bothered to tell him how to do what he wants to do. So, Tom, here's how you do
it. Put the following in your stack scripts:

    on startUp   -- blocks upward migration of the startUp message
    end startUp

    on openStack
    getHomeInfo  -- does startUp's useful work
    set the userLevel to 2  -- now the new value will survive
    -- put other openStack items here --
    end openStack

    This is also a useful way to set lots of things that are normally
overridden by the startUp message, such as the value of textArrows, etc.

>>>> FLAME ON

    I get supremely pissed when people chide others in public for not treating
HyperCard stacks like a holy relics, whose guts are to be accessible to all. I
enjoy the openness of the HyperCard community and like to share my code.
However, if people wish to treat HC as a development system, hiding the inner
workings of a stack, I see no problem. As far as I'm concerned, it's absolutely
the same as writing a program and distributing the binary file, for whatever
reason. 

    When did you last see Apple post the source code for its ROMs, the Finder,
MacWrite, MacPaint, etc., etc.? Until they do so, I'd prefer that they or their
representatives answer users' questions with a minimum of sarcasm. Embarrassing
some poor soul because he or she isn't quite as clever as a professional
programmer isn't the point of this newsgroup.

    Possibly, the employee doesn't really represent her company when she writes
(then, why identify the company?). Unfortunately, I've found this attitude all
too typical whenever one needs technical help from Apple and does not happen to
be a large, multinational, for-megaprofit corporation. Her approach is
irritating, regardless, for the reasons stated.

>>>> FLAME OFF

    Cheers,

        Eric.

  Snail: Eric Kofoid; Dept. Biology, U. of Utah; SLC, UT 84112
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