SystemWindow editable fields?

[Dan Soneson]

I just discovered the systemWindow property, which presents great 
possibilities for me in terms of building a web browser navigator. I am 
interested in directing the user to a specific web site and then 
presenting a set of activities and tasks to do with the material on the 
web page, for educational purposes. The systemWindow property allows me 
to keep my activity screen floating above the web page, even when the 
browser is the active application.

However, it seems I am not able to enter text into editable text fields 
in my window. I can select the field, but cannot enter text. I can drag 
text from the web page into one of the fields in my window, but once 
there, cannot edit the text either. (only tried with Rev 2.1.2 and OS X 
10.2.6 so far)

I attempt to set the stack to editable via the topLevel command -- to 
no effect, with one exception. If I include a button with the following 
script, it works just fine:

on mouseUp
    answer "You can now enter text into any field"
    lock messages
    topLevel this stack
    unlock messages
end mouseUp

It seems calling up the answer dialog box allows me to set my stack to 
the toplevel. Without the answer dialog, the topLevel command has no 
effect. However, whenever I click on the browser window I lose the 
ability to enter or modify text in the fields in my window, until I run 
the answer dialog again.

Is there any way to topLevel my systemWindow stack without a dialog 
box? Or any other workaround for allowing users to enter text into a 
stack with the systemWindow property set to true?

Thanks,
Dan

Daniel B. Soneson
Director, Language Lab
Southern CT State University