play "harpsichord" tempo 700 g4 a4 b4 c5 d5 c5 b4 a4 g4w
visual effect venetian blinds to black
visual effect venetian blinds
go card "beginning"
end mouseUp
-- part 14 (button)
-- low flags: 00
-- high flags: 0000
-- rect: left=325 top=27 right=252 bottom=500
-- title width / last selected line: 0
-- icon id / first selected line: 0 / 0
-- text alignment: 1
-- font id: 0
-- text size: 12
-- style flags: 0
-- line height: 16
-- part name: New Button
----- HyperTalk script -----
on mouseUp
play "boing"
end mouseUp
-- part contents for background part 45
----- text -----
(Press command-tab if you lose the Tools.)
-- part contents for card part 10
----- text -----
Good job! Here's how to get started with your own story.
First, make a copy of this stack with a new name, so you don't lose the original. Storybook starts with 2 pages, named "beginning" and "end". Right now you're reading page "end". At the bottom of each page is a row of developer buttons which you use to create your story. When you're done you can hide these buttons as discussed below.
TOOLS
You may press the "Show Tools" button to see the tool window. The drawing at the right shows what it looks like. To choose a tool, simply click on it. (Don't click on the drawing! Click on the REAL tool window.) You should remove my illustrations from the "beginning" and "end" pages by using the eraser tool. (Or you may leave the "end" page intact so you can refer to these instructions while working on your new story.) Remove my buttons (except for the ones at the bottom of the screen) by choosing the button tool, clicking on the button, and pressing the BACKSPACE key on the keyboard. Likewise, remove my text fields using the field tool.
You can move the tool window by dragging it by the bar at the top. You will need the browse tool (the finger) to be able to press buttons again. If you accidentally close the tool window while using a different tool (by pressing the tiny box at the top of the window), you can get the browse tool back by pressing COMMAND-TAB. That is, press the COMMAND and TAB keys at the same time. The COMMAND key is illustrated at right.
ADDING PAGES
Start your story on the page named "beginning". You can add as many pages as you want by pressing the "Add Page" button, and you don't need to end on the "end" page.
ADDING BUTTONS
Buttons are used to connect one page of your story to another page, or to produce sound effects. When you add a button (using the "Add Button" button) you may specify the page this button "links to". You can also specify the sound effect when your new button is pressed as well as the visual effect if you like. The new button appears in the center of the page. You can use the button tool to move and resize the button on your page. (Drag a corner of the button to resize it.)
ADDING FIELDS
Fields are used for typing text in such a way that changes can be made later on. After creating a new field with the "Add Field" button, you move and resize it in the same way as for buttons, but using the field tool. Remember you must return to the browse tool to actually type into the field.
To optionally change the field's characteristics (like this scrolling field), double-click on the field using the field tool. It is useful to do this so you can "lock" a field once you've typed something in it, or to make a field "opaque" to improve readability.
GO TO PAGE
At any point, you can go to another page in your story by pressing the "Go To Page" button.
DRAWING
The HyperCard tool window includes a pencil, eraser, and several other useful drawing tools which you should experiment with. The HyperCard menu bar contains several useful options for persons more familiar with HyperCard and painting applications. Using the menu bar is discussed below.
Some useful keyboard commands when drawing (which are also available from the menu bar) are: BACKSPACE to delete the last item drawn, COMMAND-Z to "undo" the last change, COMMAND-X to "cut" the selected item (use the selection rectangle or the lasso), COMMAND-C to "copy" the selected item, and COMMAND-V to "paste" the selected item. For example, if you use the paint bucket to dump paint into a part of your page and the paint spreads to fill the whole screen, you should press either BACKSPACE or COMMAND-Z immediately.
FINISHING UP
When you're done, you can hide the developer buttons at the bottom of the screen (except the "Home" and "Help" buttons) as follows. First get the HyperCard message box by pressing the COMMAND-M key combination. Next type:
hide background button "Go To Page"
Do the same for the other developer buttons. Press COMMAND-M again to hide the message box. If you decide to make changes later, you can show the buttons again by typing in the message box:
show background button "Go To Page"
It is a good idea to add a field to the "beginning" page showing the title of your story, as well as your name, address, and distribution information (freeware, shareware, price, etc.).
HYPERCARD MENU BAR
IMPORTANT. You can show and hide the HyperCard menu bar with COMMAND-SPACE. This gives you numerous useful options if you are already familiar with HyperCard. In particular, you can DELETE pages ("Delete Card" or "Cut Card"). DON'T DO THIS! If you delete a page, the page name will remain in Storybook's page list, leading to possible errors. Likewise, always use the "Add Page" button at the bottom of the screen instead of HyperCard's "New Card" menu command. This will ensure the page name will appear in the page list correctly.
SCRIPTS
Storybook automatically sets your user level to 4 ("authoring"). If you are interested in looking at your stack's scripts (the HyperTalk "program" which governs the operation of buttons and other objects), you may press COMMAND-M to show the message box and type:
set userlevel to 5
Now when you double-click on a button using the button tool you can see its script. Storybook creates simple scripts for you each time you add a new button. Feel free to experiment with these scripts. However, it is advised that you don't change the scripts of the pre-existing buttons at the bottom of the page, nor the background or stack scripts (available from the HyperCard menu bar).
Have fun, and please write if you have any comments or results.
