Startup

[Richard Gaskin]

DunbarX wrote:

> In HC, one is always assured that the home stack script will be placed well
> back in the message hierarchy when HC is first started, regardless of how
> that process is initiated. So that a "startup" message can be handled in a
> central, guaranteed-to-be-there location.
>
> In Rev, Is the stack "revStartCenter" typically used in a similar role? Is
> it the "home" where general application startup handlers should be placed
> similarly to "home" in HC? Its script is certainly accessable, though this is
> not particularly obvious.

The revStartCenter is named as such only because of its role in the user 
experience, but that doesn't reflect its role in the message path.

Rev has a Home stack which is similar to HC's in that regard, in 
Toolset/home.rev.

That Home stack is the starting point of the process, but because of 
that role it's also password-protected so it can coordinate the boot 
process which includes the reg key checking.

But even if it weren't protected, because it gets installed fresh with 
each release you'd lose your scripts each time you update.  As a general 
rule, anything you modify in the /Toolset/ folder is subject to change 
by Rev.

If what you want is a set of scripts available for all your stacks in 
the IDE, it would be much simpler to just make a plugin:


1. Just make any stack you like, and add a preOpenStack handler in its
    card script to put the stack into use as a library:

    on preOpenStack
        start using this stack
    end preOpenStack

    You'll want to do this in the card script rather than the stack
    script, since once the stack is brought into use as a library
    any handlers in it will be triggered from any such messages.


2. Save the stack into:
     ~/Documents/My Revolution Studio/Plugins/

    You may need to create those folders if you haven't done so already;
    annoyingly, while this is the only place to put plugins that will
    work when you update, Rev doesn't make these folders automatically.
    This problem was solved in MC by allowing the user to specify any
    folder for plugins, but alas not so with Rev.


3. You may need to quit Rev before your plugin is recognized; I
    believe their Plugin manager is not as adept as MC's in allowing
    you to add stuff to it on the fly.


4. Launch Rev, and choose Plugin Settings from the Development->Plugins
    menu.


5. Select your plugin stack from the popup list at the top of the
    Plugins Manager, and choose the appropriate radio control for the
    behavior you want (probably "Open plugin when: Revolution starts").

That's it.  Now you have a stack that will always be available as a 
library whenever Rev starts, and it'll survive updates so you can use it 
forever.

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World
  Rev training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
  Webzine for Rev developers: http://www.revjournal.com
  revJournal blog: http://revjournal.com/blog.irv