To hear everyone tell it, HyperCard is going to change the world. So who am I to disagree? After all, to be colloquial about it, it’s one hell of a product. But how do you reach all that information when you’re in a word processor or spreadsheet? Sure, there’s MultiFinder, but the memory requirements will soon send you shopping for SIMMs. [Editor’s Note: Version 1.0 of HyperDA is MultiFinder-hostile, but Symmetry says that has been fixed with version 1.01 and higher.]
Enter HyperDA, a desk accessory from Symmetry Corporation that lets you open and browse HyperCard stacks from within another application or from the Finder, even with 512K Macs.
Call HyperDA from the Apple menu, choose a stack from a standard Open dialog, and you’re in. The stack appears and runs just as it would under HyperCard’s Browse tool. All stack links remain operational, and you can navigate through the information in normal HyperCard fashion. Several of HyperCard s Command-key sequences, including peek at buttons (Command-Option) and peek at FIELDS (Command-Shift-Option) are supported. If a button triggers an action that HyperDA doesn’t support, clicking on it will produce no response.
HyperDA also lets you search stacks with the find command. You type a character string into the message box and comb your stack for references. Or you can type in HyperTalk commands (HyperDA supports a subset of rhe HyperTalk language) just as in HyperCard. HyperDA also lets you copy graphics or text to the Clipboard and paste it into an application document. The Option key turns the Pointing Hand cursor into a cross hair for deploying a selection rectangle. Move the hand over text dements, and it changes to an I-beam cursor for selecting blocks of text. Need hard copy? You can print Individual Cards directly from HyperDA.
In the process of making stacks more accessible, HyperDA adds some things that HyperCard left out. First of all, the menu bar is accessible at all times. HyperDA can also open a stack into a resizable window. Command-W toggles from Card to Window mode, which facilitates cutting and pasting operations.
Stacks behave differently depending on the mode of display. In HyperDA's Card mode, stacks are always active. Click on a button and its function (if possible) is executed. And, even when hidden behind an active application window, the DA intercepts Command-key sequences. So, be aware of possible conflicts, such as COMMAND-F (FIND) and COMMAND-P (print). When a stack is displayed in Window mode, however, the window must be activated before HyperDA commands will work or the stack can be browsed.
The manual is short, well written, and to the point. Everything you need to use the program is there. If you prefer, keep the stack version online and refer to it with the DA itself. Included is an appendix listing the HyperTalk commands supported by HyperDA. Other technical notes are available from Symmetry as well.
Of course, HyperDA is not HyperCard. It does not have all the original's features nor its functionality. You cannot modify stacks. Most of HyperCard's visual effects are not supported. Neither can you launch programs or execute functions such as automatic dialing. But then replacing HyperCard is not HyperDA's purpose. Its business is the retrieval of information, such as your appointment schedule or address book, from stacks without having to leave your application. HyperDA is, if you will, a link to HyperCard.
I tested HyperDA with a variety of popular programs and encountered no difficulties. HyperCard aficionados should find this DA extremely useful. Because it works on 512K machines (it's shipped on an 800K disk, so a double-sided drive is necessary), HyperDA is especially valuable to those Mac users who have not yet upgraded their machine’s memory to the minimum 1 megabyte that HyperCard requires. HyperDA gives these users access to the ever-growing stacks of stackware without having to use HyperCard at all.
Martinez, Carlos Domingo. (May 1988). HyperDA. MacUser. (pgs. 110, 112).
Bill Appleton
Applications
out of 10 (0 vote)
3 / 
2021-12-05 / 
0cd8d2aec5be85da2379a6ff4d69b1d0363e54cd / 
/ 
HyperDA.sit_.hqx
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Mini vMac
