[Enhancement Request] Open and BackUp in LiveCode DP and RC

[J. Landman Gay]

On 4/24/14, 1:56 PM, Ben Rubinstein wrote:
> I'd love to know: what do other people do to customise their environment?

I use a system I started in HC 25+ years ago and have been adding to 
ever since. Back then it was additions to the Home script, today it's a 
library plugin that inserts one script into the backscripts and another 
into the frontscripts when LC launches. I don't like a lot of extra 
stack windows on screen so this is a nice, invisible way to get 
functionality. My library stack opens invisibly on startup and stays out 
of the way.

The script of the library has dozens of handlers with (usually) short 
names. When I want to use one I type it into the message box. For 
example, "uc" unlocks the cursor for those OS X times it gets stuck, 
"bup" makes a backup, "nc" gives me the number of cards and "nb" gives 
me the number of backgrounds. One I use constantly is "gn" or "gp" which 
goes to the next/previous card with messages locked, and it takes an 
optional parameter which will go to a named or numbered card instead. 
Others are more extensive, but just as easy to trigger. Some manage 
things I do repeatedly in the script editor, other handlers act on the 
selected object, some move or align objects, or flip through all the 
cards in a stack setting object properties (handy for the HC conversions 
I still do.)

I suppose this method would be harder for someone who had to learn all 
the shortcuts at once, but I've been adding them slowly over the years 
and I have them memorized. Well, most of them, anyway.

Oh, and here's another one I use all the time:

on getPaint -- replace an img's content; img must be selected
   if the selobj = "" then
     answer "Select an image first."
     exit getPaint
   end if
   answer file "Choose replacement image:"
   if it = "" then exit to top
   put url ("binfile:"&it) into the selobj
end getPaint

This updates the selected image with with a new image from disk, 
preserving all its properties. It's very handy for changing an icon 
image so you don't have to reset the icon IDs on every button in the 
stack that uses it. It's also good when you've placed an image in 
exactly the right position and layer and you don't want to have to 
repeat that all over again with a newly imported image.

-- 
Jacqueline Landman Gay         |     jacque at hyperactivesw.com
HyperActive Software           |     http://www.hyperactivesw.com