[MWForum]creating MW2.0_ and web-compatible projects

[Wendy Petti]

Hi Folks,

I'd like to call your attention to a few differences between MW 2.0_ and
MW Pro so that projects posted to this list can be enjoyed by as many
list members as possible.

But first let me mention that I've now uploaded Daniel Ajoy's keypress
project (which was attached to RE: to advance the turtle) and Jeff
Knope's Lineweaver v 1.04 project to the MW Forum attachments page:

http://www.mathcats.com/mwforum/attachments.html

for the benefit of those receiving the daily digest version.  (Digest
members have been seeing a lot of gibberish in the digests recently;
that is what happens to the attachments in the digest version, and
that's why I repost the attachments to the link above.)

I have learned from Shawn of LCSI that I erred in a recent message when
I suggested that I could upload projects in the form of MW projects as
well as MW Pro projects.  No, in fact they are indistinguishable - they
both have the extension name .mw2 . If MW Pro users take note of a few
differences between MW 2.0_ and MW Pro, then all members of this forum
should be able to open and use the attached projects.  Please be aware:

MW 2.0_ does not have as many SET and GET capabilities as does MW Pro.
MW 2.0_ does not understand
set "project "___________
set "page "___________
set "hyperlink "_____________

So, recent projects sent by Jeff and Jay return an error message when
opened in MW 2.0_ because they both use  set "project "______ in the
startup procedure.  I had suggested to Jay that he use the simple
command PRESENTATIONMODE (instead of SET "PROJECT "PRESENTATIONMODE?
"TRUE)  for compatibility with all versions of MicroWorlds.  In Jeff's
project, he wishes to display the top status bar while hiding everything
else... okay, but when a user opens the project in MW 2.0_ and gets an
error message, then nothing is hidden at all.  So just be aware of this.

In addition, for those of you using shapes, keep in mind that different
versions of MicroWorlds display different default shapes.  If you are
using a default shape and referring to it by number, be aware that users
of other versions will see a different shape than you expect when they
open your project.  However, if you modify even one pixel of a default
shape and resave it, it is now a custom shape and will display on all
versions.

MW 2.0_ has a 64-shape capacity; MW Pro has twice as many possible
shapes.  If you use shape 65 or higher, no matter what you name it,
users of MW 2.0_ will not be able to open your project at all.

There are other issues to be aware of if you wish to create a
web-compatible project, but I won't get into those right now!

But here is a strange thing I noticed when I attempted to open Daniel's
keypress project online:  when I pressed "go" and then pressed a key,
nothing happened at all.  When I opened the project in MW 2.0_ and did
the same thing, the turtle moved.  Back on the web version, I then
clicked on the background of the page, and the turtle responded to key
presses after that.  In MW Pro, it is necessary to click on the
background of the page before the project will respond to key commands,
(and apparently the web version also relies on the Pro version of
MicroWorlds but I'm not sure about this).  If you want to activate key
commands, you might design a way to force the user to click on the
background, such as designing a fake button that says "go" which is
really a colored rectangle - NOT a turtle - (designed using two shades
of the same color) with the color programmed to launch the "go"
procedure.  Clicking on the fake "go" button thereby ensures that the
background has been clicked on.

By the way, having said all that, the projects posted on the attachments
page are not meant to be opened online; PC-users should right-click on
the link and choose "save target as" to save the project to your
computer.  (Frankly, I'm not sure what Mac users need to do; can anyone
tell us?)

I want to thank those who've been sharing projects and ideas recently -
they've been very stimulating!  Keep 'em coming!

Wendy Petti
MW Forum moderator