dynamically adding links with textStyle, linkText, and an ask dialog

[Curt Ford]

In my project I want to let users enter text into a field, then  
highlight some text to add a link; the field contents are then saved  
to a text file to be read in later & displayed with an active link.

This works fine, attached to a button for adding a link:

on mouseUp
   set the textStyle of the selectedText to "link"
   set the linkText of the selectedText to "http://www.google.com"
   put the HTMLText of fld "source" into fld "resultHTML"  --a check  
to see how it looks
end mouseUp

But when I try to let the user enter a link with:

on mouseUp
   ask "Please enter a link:"
   put it into tLink
   set the textStyle of the selectedText to "link"
   set the linkText of the selectedText to tLink
   put the HTMLText of fld "source" into fld "resultHTML"
end mouseUp

..the link ends up following the text that was selected; so if in  
"one two three" the "two" was highlighted, the result is:

<p><font face="Geneva">one two<a href="www.google.com"></a> three</ 
font></p>

Is there a way I can keep the ask dialog box from interfering with  
the selection?

Curt





Dr. Curtis Ford
Instructor of Russian and Linguistics
Dept of Languages, Literatures and Cultures
University of South Carolina

cford at sc.edu