Helping newcomers anticipate that standalones can't save to themselves

[Mike Bonner]

Late to this, but I like the Mark T thought idea.  I still remember when
the datagrid first came out, one specific part of the documentation was a
big bold link that said something like.. "What things do I need to know to
avoid needless headaches.."  It included things like building a
standalone/splashstack combination, and putting a fake datagrid stub
substack as part of the splash so that the builder would know to included
the datagrid stuff.

If a list of such things could be put together and shown on first run, it
might be a just the ticket.


On Fri, Aug 15, 2014 at 11:46 AM, Peter M. Brigham <pmbrig at gmail.com> wrote:

> Would it be possible for the standalone builder to automatically create an
> .exe stack that opens invisibly and does only one thing: opens what the
> user has presented as the mainstack? Then things would work exactly the
> same as in the IDE and changes made to the mainstack  would be saved. Some
> attention would have to be paid to not messing up the message path, I
> guess, but it seems feasible on the face of it. (Of course, lots of things
> seem feasible when you don't really know what you're talking about….)
>
> -- Peter
>
> Peter M. Brigham
> pmbrig at gmail.com
> http://home.comcast.net/~pmbrig
>
>
> On Aug 15, 2014, at 10:13 AM, Richard Gaskin wrote:
>
> > One of the most frequent frustrations new users have with LiveCode is
> the moment they realize the standalone they've built can't save changes to
> its stacks.
> >
> > Often this happens very late in the process, just after building the
> standalone to test out the work they've been doing, and suddenly everything
> that worked so well in the IDE stops working, with no readily discernible
> cause.
> >
> > So they come into the forums or this list, and folks mention everything
> from refactoring their work to use an anchor window (or "splash" screen)
> pattern, or completely rewrite everything to use an external text file or
> database or what have you.
> >
> > The LiveCode User Guide's section on building standalones includes a
> bold purple callout box explaining this (p 299), but it's a testament to
> the usability of LiveCode that apparently a great many people can use it
> productively for many weeks without ever cracking the User Guide.
> >
> > Clearly something more is needed.  What should that be?
> >
> > Putting a note in the Standalone Builder might help, but if they've
> gotten that far it's too late, they probably have to start rewriting things.
> >
> > How can we help users anticipate IN ADVANCE that no OS will allow their
> executable to write to itself, so they can write useful things from the
> very start?
> >
> > --
> > Richard Gaskin
> > Fourth World Systems
> > Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
> > ____________________________________________________________________
> > Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com
> >
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