LiveCode Forums.

Hello everybody Can anyone point me to anything other than what's offered with Runrev to get into this very gingerly? Sorry if you see this kind of plea often but I didn't see a similar thread in my initial forays into this forum. I have found some of the samples jumping way over my head or going to places I don't need to quite go and it's frustrating me. I have some ancient experience with HyperCard and ToolBook but that was a couple of decades ago now. I've never been much of a programmer and just want to create a simple document with some fields and buttons. Thanks for any help.

You've come to the right place. This forum is filled with helpful people eager to lend a hand.

Your background in HC and ToolBook will come in handy. Since your initial goals seem modest enough, having taught LiveCode for many years I'd encourage you to dive in and do your best to get your layout working as you like, and feel free to post here as you have specific questions.

Like TB, LC is a deep product, and I'm afraid there's no shortcut that beats simply working with it. But dive in - the water's fine, and the community here will support you along the way.

Looking forward to seeing your progress here, and I'd wager you'll be feeling confident with LC within just a couple weeks.

Hi.

As Richard says, dive in; it is the best way to learn. I might suggest that you dig up any Hypercard books you might have, as these still can form the foundation of learning LiveCode. LC is a superset of HC, and though there are differences, they are very much alike in form. He is correct about the community here. Ask often

Craig Newman

The lessons and tutorials in the developer section of the RunRev.com site are great ways to start.


The most important things to know at first are (I tried to put these in a useful order to learn):

1) what are stacks and cards
2) every object, including stacks and cards and groups, can have code associated with it.
3) The application browser window shows you the organization of a stack, cards, groups, and objects, AND there's a column there that shows how many lines of code are in each object
4) What are events like MouseDown and how to make your own procedures/events/functions/etc...
4.5) "answer" is useful, but so are text fields
5) how to use "me"
5.5) "Message box" is a great way to test line(s) of code
6) Custom properties are neat
7) grouping fields can be useful, especially when using object orientated design ideas
clone, copy, paste
9) move, hide, show, and layer
10) arrays are powerful and easy to use in livecode

Also, in relation to Clone, Copy and Paste. Know how to use LAST.


The built in code "dictionary" is great.



Also, when you do copy, clone, paste something, remember that you might have multiple copies of something laying around now. I have often cloned an object, changed some code in the original object and then wondered why the new object isn't reacting via the new code.

Be sure to at least have a look at each of the scripting conference stacks, which is probably one the easiest ways to gain a very wide view of "what can be done simply and easily", as well as the "how to" aspects of LiveCode:
http://www.runrev.com/developers/lesson ... nferences/

Best regards,
-Doc-