Helping newcomers anticipate that standalones can't save to themselves

[Mark Talluto]

On Aug 15, 2014, at 7:13 AM, Richard Gaskin <ambassador at fourthworld.com> 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?

I would think that this could be solved with a document titled something like: “Things you should know…” or “Getting Started” or “Read Me Before Starting” or something entirely different. 
This document should be in the ‘User Guide’ and the intro screen that pops up for the first few times when LC is started.  It might be a useful Blog of things to know about LC when starting for the first time.  It should be in a document on the website in the documentation area as well.  

Bonus points for checking for the following in the script editor on compile and then popping up a dialog that states “Did you know…” or “this code will not work as in a standalone”. 



Best regards,

Mark Talluto
CanelaSoftware.com
LiveCloud.io