>EXT.dll, EXTDDE.dll EXTEXPORT.dll EXTSHELL.dll EXTSPEECH.dll
EXTWINDOW.dll
>ReadMe.doc
There is an external collection demo stack which is included in the
standard distribution. It installs the external into the resource fork of
a stack on MacOS and contains examples of various external
commands/functions. Registered users can then download different parts of
the same external(extcomponents) to maybe save on file size.
> or at any
>time, and then, once it is set at any point in time/saved, it remains
set
>and does not have to be set again each time the stack is opened?
right.
>But the MetaTalk reference card 514 on the externals property, makes no
>distinction between Mac OS and Windows OS and thereby implying that
setting
>the externals property to a file list should work on both platforms.
i.e.
>why not, instead of using the resource fork on the "Mac" stack just set
the
>externals property?
Because the externals property is ignored on MacOS, and is only there so
the engine can find an external on Windows and unix flavors.
> I thought the whole point was that one
>stack would run on both platforms using different engines
The external itself like the MetaCard engine would have to be different
for each platform, as it is compiled not interpreted. It may be possible
to use a single stack still for both platforms as MC for Windows will
probably ignore any resource fork(which probably won't translate to
windows anyway) and load the DLL, and the Mac engine will load the
external from the resource fork.
>3) "These executables or libraries must be stored some place on the
current
>PATH environment variable."
If MetaCard is at C:\MetaCard\mc.exe and the external is at
C:\MetaCard\plugins\ext.dll then you set the externals property of a
stack to "plugins/ext.dll"
>4) And most importantly of all, where is the syntax guide for each of
the
>specific externals
In the demo stack which is part of the standard distribution.
>5) Then, for internet delivery, since DLL's have to be loaded to the
hard
>drive and called from there (maybe that assumption is not correct). .
.does
>this mean that externals simply cannot work on Windows stacks that are
>received via the net unless you have the client save all the files in
the
>right places first and then manually boot the stack?
The DLL would be download with the engine and could installed in the same
directory as the engine. Since the external collection "ext.dll" contains
the sum of its parts "ext.speech",extshell".ect only one external would
be used for all the stacks downloaded (if they use an external at all).
If however you need for some reason to grab a dll and save it you can
probably use something like put url
"http://www.somesite.com/stuff/ext.dll" into url "binfile:ext.dll", and
the engine should load the external when you load the stack.
regards,
Tuviah Snyder
Diskotek
Custom Application Development & SuperCard/HyperCard Conversion at a low
price
Web: http://members.aol.com/diskotek1/ ICQ:66810408 Fax: (505) 218-2902
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