🚀 go-pugleaf

Kwok Hung Lee wrote:

> 1) Can lingo act like as worksheet to store and calculate the data( like
> Ms- Excel), if it can, how?
> 2) how to add a tools bar to the top of the screen?
> 3) does lingo have the searching and data storage functions? if it can ,
> how?


Lingo is pretty powerful and can do almost anything that you can describe with
it. With the addition of extensions written in C or C++ (called Xtras) all the
gaps are fillable.

In itself, Lingo is a lower level language than you might be expecting which
closely resembles Applescript and hypertalk and distantly derives from
Smalltalk and LISP. It fully supports Object Oriented structures, in many ways
more flexibly than Java or C++, though the documentation of OO is rather poor. 

Though lingo itself operates at a level comparable with Java (interpretation
of precompiled bytecode) its "wrapper", Director, provides a pretty high level
interface which takes care of pixel blitting, media import and storage,
windowing and so on.

This means that you would probably have to code a spreadsheet yourself. If I
am not mistaken though, I think I heard about an Xtra which allows you to open
Excel spreadsheets in a Director executable, if not, there are other Xtras
which will allow you to communicate with external applications. Director by
itself can open external apps, though communication is limited unless you can
use Applescript.

If, by "Toolbar" you mean a menu, you can do this very easily using Lingos
"installmenus" command, which is fully documented.

Searching is another thing you would have to code yourself, but data storage
is very well supported. There are a full range of built in datatypes including
various kinds of array (or lists as they are called), both fixed size and
dynamic. Data can be freely stored and retrieved in external files as well as
in internal resources and RAM.

Lingo is not a difficult language, but you can expect to take a good six
months to become at all competent. Within a year you can be a power user.

Brennan

-- 
__________________________________________________
The Planet
multimedia design studio
_____________________
  Klerkegade 19, 4.
  DK-1308 Copenhagen K
  Denmark

  Phone  +45 33 93 00 20
  Mobile +45 21 66 67 10

Company site: http://www.planet.dk
Company mail: mailto:beam@planet.dk