The PowerField

1.3 MB

Requires SuperCard 4.5 and Mac OS X

1. The PowerField
This field is the key way to alter the properties of selected objects. First, select an object or several objects using the pointer tool. Then type a property, space, and a value into the powerfield. Then hit return or enter to set the property. You can use an abbreviated property and value. These examples set the hilite of a button to true:

type hilite true OR type hi t

Most properties can be shortened to an abbreviation of two or three letters. Just type what works for you. You could use 'hilte tr' for instance. You can use any abbreviation you want, from using most letters in the property down to the shortest possible.

Properties with a value that can be set to true or false must all be followed by at least 't' or 'f'. For further information about setting other properties and entering commands, see below.

2. AutoSelect
This is a button that activates auto selection of the text in the powerfield, which is useful if you just want to type into the field without clicking in it first.

3. Setting
This shows common property settings. If you type 'na' into the powerfield, QuickTools thinks you are going to set the name of an object and the setting will change to reflect this. The setting will read 'Any' if a key property type is not recognised. Clicking on the setting cycles through key settings. You can also choose them from the popup menu.

4. Selected Object
This gives information about the currently selected object(s). Click on the text to change between displaying id number, name or item number. The popup menu opens the objects palette.

5. Divider Gadget
This allows you to widen one of the display areas to see more information.

QuickTools
© Alec Hole 2005-2006

SQLite access
Tomas Franzén

ListMaster
Chilton Webb, Mark Lucas

cDragwindow
Dan Berghult

HXDumpCLUT
Satoshi Himeno

Auto Guides– thanks to
Dave Saunders, Lorenz Tschudi

Thanks to
Vince Angeloni
SuperCard Yahoo Group

The PowerField In-Depth

Setting a property with a number value can be done like this:

width 50
wd 50

Setting a property with a string of numbers is done like this:

rect 10,10,100,100

To get a property value instead of setting one, type a question mark before a property name:

?rect

You can also type ‘rect’ and then shift-return to get the value. It will appear in the powerfield after the property name.

If you have more than one item selected with the pointer tool and you set a property, QuickTools will attempt to set the property for each selected item. A property setting such as allowtabs true would only apply to selected fields, so any buttons or graphics in the current selection would fail to have that property applied. All the selected fields would be changed regardless of other selected items.

You can use nearly any abbreviation of a property name. There is not a list of fixed abbrevaitions, matching is flexible.
If you shorten a property down to one or two letters, the first property matching those letters will be used, so to be sure of setting the property you want, use at least three letters. Properties like ‘allowdrop’ and ‘allowdrag’ can become confused if you type ‘allowd’, but if you use the following;

adp for allowdrop
adg for allowdrag

then the properties will be recognised correctly. As long as the abbreviation you use is unique then it will work. In the example above, the 'g' is unique to allowdrag. Most properties are recognised but not all have been added to the list yet, so some properties will not be recognised.

Quicktools uses SQLite to scan through a list of properties quickly and match the abbreviation you have typed. At the moment the system has no problem with letters being left out, but if you scramble the order the letters should go in e.g. allowdrop then the property will not be recognised.

Abbreviations
The shortest abbreviations that will not clash with other commands.This list is not complete, QuickTools recognises lots of properties. If in doubt, try one out!

True or false properties:

allowtabs at
allowobjects aj
allowdrop ad
allowdrag ag
autotab au
showlines sl
showfill sf
widemargins wm
showlines sl
showname snm
showruler sr
showframe sfr
focushilite fh
dontsearch ds
dontwrap dw
disabled di
default df
visible v
poparrow pa
autobackground ak
autohilite ah

The Powerfield