Newbie question

[J. Landman Gay]

Bob Sneidar wrote:
> Yes, the primary difference between Hypercard and Revolution is that
> in HC cards WERE your records.

And they can be in Rev too.

> Similar data got added in fields on
> many cards with the same "background". With Revolution, you have
> access to use SQL databases, so cards become more like forms that
> temporarily hold data for the user to work with. You script reading
> from and writing to the SQL tables. Using that method, you can see
> that there is not much use for backgrounds as such, except to repeat
> elements in order to maintain some kind of consistent "look and
> feel".

Right, that's the preferred approach for large data sets. On the other 
hand, HC-style card records work just fine in Rev. For someone coming in 
from HC, I often recommend doing it the comfortable way first. It's easy 
to change over to a database approach later, and the learning curve is 
much easier for HC refugees that way.

I have had several clients who just want their old HC stacks ported so 
they will run on modern computers. Most of them are desperate and don't 
want to spend a lot, and they don't want to learn a new layout. They've 
been using their stacks for 15 years or more and they like them. For 
those people I just fix the stacks to make them Rev-compatible -- 
sometimes even leaving in the old bitmap graphics if I have to. (I fight 
that. But one client had drawn them himself and didn't want them 
removed. The customer is the boss.)

The HC way isn't the most optimal approach for large data sets, but for 
anything under about 5,000 records it works. And the HC folks are 
usually happy with it, at least at first, until they learn the greater 
potential Rev has.

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