noob questions --> mainStacks & subStacks

[Phil Davis]

kee nethery wrote:
>> If you're using HC extensively, you're gonna love Rev! I guarantee it.
> 
> 
> I have only three complaints about Rev as compared to Hypercard.

--snip--

> 3. I'm still not that clear on how the sub-stack thing works, especially 
> when the sub-stacks have sub-stacks. 

That could be a nightmare! Thankfully it's not possible. A Rev file 
always contains one "mainStack" and zero or more "subStacks". There can 
be only one "layer" of subStacks in a given file, and all of them are 
directly subordinate to the one mainStack. There are no sub-subStacks. 
Also, a Rev file cannot contain subStacks only.


On the other hand, you can certainly have a bunch of Rev files that each 
contain only a mainStack, and establish the roles of main and sub among 
them. This is a fairly normal approach to Rev standalone app 
construction - you'll have the double-clickable "startup" file (the 
stackfile that has the Rev engine glued to it) and all the other Rev 
files (each containing a stack) that each contain part of the 
application's functionality - they may be dialogs, limited-purpose 
windows, etc.


Certainly one major conceptual difference between HyperCard and Rev has 
to do with this stack-file relationship. While oversimplified, consider 
this:

- In HC, "stack" and "file" are basically two ways to view the same 
entity, one from HC's point of view and the other from the OS point of 
view.

- In Revolution, "stack" and "file" are two related but different 
entities; the file is a container holding one or more stacks inside.


FWIW.

Phil Davis