script scope variables inexplicably becoming unset

[Dr. Hawkins]

On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 9:51 AM, J. Landman Gay <jacque at hyperactivesw.com>
wrote:

> Again, any time you change stacks the focus will change. When that happens
> the selection usually gets wiped. Locking messages won't help in this
> situation; that just means the engine won't send event reports to your
> scripts but it doesn't change how the engine behaves.
>

The selection isn't an issue anymore; it is no longer used.

The problem is that the local script-scope variable, which is supposed to
be persistent short of the recompile of the script, is being emptied by the
opening of the palette--with both messages locked and the open/preopen
scripts of the palette stack existing and being empty.

>
> Clicking on something, opening something, etc. usually removes the
> selection, which should be considered as temporary as "the result" or "it".
> (List fields are an exception because they store the hilitedline natively.)
> It will usually still be there if nothing else happens, but in this case
> you are opening another stack and using an answer dialog, both of which
> change the focus.
>
> The best approach is to store the selection in a variable before you do
> anything else, if you are going to need it later.
>

But what I'm losing *is* a variable!  The selection manipulations have been
completely removed in favor of a handler that does things on textChanged.
The problem is that opening a stack is resetting a local variable.

I added another pair of checks here
   lock messages --chStk becomes unset during openstack!
      ck  "chStk pre:" &chStk
      palette (chStk)
      ck  "chStk post:" &chStk
      unlock messages
(and recall that openStack and preOpenStack are empty handlers in stack
ctrlChoices
The log window shows,
chStk pre:stack ctrlChoices
chStk post:stack ctrlChoices
chStk pre:stack ctrlChoices
chStk post:stack ctrlChoices
chStk pre:stack ctrlChoices
chStk post:stack ctrlChoices
chStk pre:stack ctrlChoices
chStk post:stack ctrlChoices
chStk pre:stack ctrlChoices
chStk post:stack ctrlChoices
chStk pre:stack ctrlChoices
chStk post:stack ctrlChoices
chStk pre:stack ctrlChoices
chStk post:stack ctrlChoices
chStk pre:stack ctrlChoices
chStk post:

So it works sometimes, and other times resets this varirable . .

Incidental oddities:
* saving in 5.5 format left the stack I was working on corrupted, with no
rescue file.
* 5.5.4 would open the palette *behind* the current stack, but sometimes
move it to the top when told to open an additioanl time
* 5.5.4 wouldn't pass mouseEnter to either a stack or its behavior, but
*would* catch it if the mouse entered a field on the stack.

-- 
Dr. Richard E. Hawkins, Esq.
(702) 508-8462