Command Line Arguments, 3 State Buttons, and Limited Fields

 

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This week instead of a long article, here are three short behaviors that I get a lot of requests for. Too small for a full article, but useful none the less.

First lets look at the command line question.  I have had numerous people ask if they could drop a "save" file on the projector's icon (like you can with word or excel) and have that file load up.  Well, there is an undocumented feature in Director 7 (yes, another one) that will allow us to read the name of the file or any arguments that are passed to the projector when it starts up.  This example reads a text "save" file but it can be modified to respond to various "switches" or messages on startup.  Remember that this is a windows only structure, but a nice feature none the less.            --Copyright 1999 Chuck Neal     --chuck@mediamacros.com     --If you find this code helpful, send me an e-mail and let me know. :-)          on checkString me       acceptedTypes = ["txt", "doc"]       theFile = the commandLine       theChars = theFile.char.count       if theFile <> "" and acceptedTypes.getOne(theFile.char[(theChars -     2)..theChars]) <> 0 then         --is a valid file dropped or clicked         myFile = new(xtra "fileIO")         openFile(myFile, theFile, 1)            theText = readFile(myFile)         closeFile(myFile)         return theText       end if     end          on getBehaviorDescription me       return "Call this handler to return the text of a file that started your     projector. Change the acceptedTypes list to the extensions you want to use. For more     advanced use you can use the file association script in the commercial Buddy API library     to allow saved files to be double clicked and start automatically."     end The second common script I get a lot of requests for is a simple 3 state button.  Below is a script that allows for a simple button with rollover and click states.  Just add this to your button, pick the graphics, and go!              --Copyright 1999 Chuck Neal     --chuck@mediamacros.com     --If you find this code helpful, send me an e-mail and let me know. :-)          property spriteNum, defaultState, clickState, overState, whatDo          on getPropertyDescriptionList me       p_list = [:]       curMember = sprite(the currentSpriteNum).member       p_list.addProp(#defaultState, [#format : #member, #comment : "Default     image:", #default : curMember])       p_list.addProp(#overState, [#format : #member, #comment : "Rollover     image:", #default : member(curMember.number + 1)])       p_list.addProp(#clickState, [#format : #member, #comment : "Click     image:", #default : member(curMember.number + 2)])       p_list.addProp(#whatDo, [#format : #string, #comment : "What to do when     clicked:", #default : "go next"])       return p_list     end          on mouseEnter me       sprite(spriteNum).member = overState       updateStage     end          on mouseLeave me       sprite(spriteNum).member = defaultState       updateStage     end          on mouseDown me       sprite(spriteNum).member = clickState       updateStage     end          on mouseUp me       sprite(spriteNum).member = overState       updateStage       do whatDo     end          on mouseUpOutside me       sprite(spriteNum).member = defaultState       updateStage     end          on getBehaviorDescription me       return "This is a standard 3 state button. Drop it on your sprites and select     the code to run on the mouseUp."     end The last of this weeks 3 little scripts is a behavior that will limit a users input in a field by number of letters and what characters are allowed.  By dropping this on an editable field it can filter its input to only allow the characters you want in.            property spriteNum, maxText, allowedKeys, myWrap, otherHandler          on getPropertyDescriptionList me       p_list = [:]       p_list.addProp(#maxText, [#format : #integer, #comment : "Max number of     allowed Characters:", #default : 20])       p_list.addProp(#allowedKeys, [#format : #string, #comment : "Keys to pass to     field (Leave blank for all):", #default :     "1234567890abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"])       p_list.addProp(#myWrap, [#format : #boolean, #comment : "Allow word     wrapping?", #default : 0])       return p_list     end          on beginSprite me       sprite(spriteNum).wordwrap = myWrap     end          on keyDown me       if allowedKeys contains the key and allowedKeys <> "" then         if sprite(spriteNum).text.char.count > maxText then           dontpassevent         else           pass         end if       else if allowedKeys = "" then         pass       else         dontpassevent       end if     end          on getBehaviorDescription me       describe = "This is a simple behavior for text and field members that does the     following..." & return       describe = describe & "Limit a field to certain Characters" &     return & "Limit a field to a certain NUMBER of characters" & "Turn     the word wrap on/off for the field"     end Happy holidays, and happy coding. As usual, you can also find all of these behaviors/scripts in the behavior database.