Anomalies

[Shari]

>Shari wrote:
>
>>  I wonder if I should bombard Kevin with the anomalies I've had to
>>  find workarounds for... such as random(0) = 1
>
>Under what circumstances would random(0) be expected to provide a useful
>result?  Why not save the clock cycles by using 0 directly?

 From my original post when discovering this anomaly:

Why would one want to get random(0), you ask?

If 0 is a variable, which could be any number, and you write a 
mathematical function, assuming that if the variable is 0, the end 
result of the function will also be zero, the function fails.

It is quicker to let the result be 0, which affects nothing, than to 
say "if the variable > 0 then... run the function"

The following failed when item 17 of terrData was 0:

add round((random(item 17 of terrData)) * multiplier) to \
               item 56 of line x of gStats

Had to go thru and add a whole slew of "if..." statements to the code.

>
>>  and that the Mac menubar won't update when you hide/show btns in it,
>>  unless you click outside the stack and back in... I had to come up
>>  with a really klutzy workaround for that one.
>
>Does calling "lock menus" before the menu update and "unlock menus"
>afterward fix the issue?

Nope.  Trust me, I spent over a week on this one thing.  I asked all 
of you.  Nada.  So I created a klutzy, but functional fix.

>
>>  Or that sometimes front/backscripts disappear, presumably something
>>  in a MC written handler resets them, deleting mine.  So on resume
>>  stack, I have to reset them....
>
>I've been using frontscripts and backscripts extensively since they
>premiered in SuperCard in '97.  I've found the MC implementation to be the
>smartest yet, and very robust.  Could there be some other factor affecting
>those?
>
>--
>  Richard Gaskin

Many say that they have no troubles.  I don't know * why * the 
scripts disappear.  My code creates/inserts them.  Nowhere in my code 
did it delete them.  I do insert several Metacard stacks into mine. 
When I initially created standalones, I'd insert just the recommended 
stacks, and this failed.  My standalone would not run properly, as it 
wanted code from other MC stacks.  So I try to figure out what the 
standalone may need, and include those stacks.  They must be gotten 
from the Metacard Menu Bar itself, rather than the dialog to move a 
stack to yours.  This may be the issue, that something in Metacard's 
stacks affect the front/backscripts.  My standalone has the main 
stack, many embedded stacks, and two external, non-embedded stacks.

Shari C
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