Converting Lists to Fields

Date:    Wed, 1 Mar 1995 10:33:34 +1000
From:    Dorian Dowse <bakira@DESIRE.APANA.ORG.AU>
Subject: Re: Formatting and placing lists...

> I've been trying unsuccessfully to format a copy of a linear list and then
> place it into a field as a string. The main difficulties I'm encountering
> are removing the open and close brackets, and inserting RETURNs after each
> list entry.

Try this:

  repeat with i = 1 to count(myList)
    put getAt(myList,i) into x
    put x & RETURN after field "whatsit"
  end repeat

Date:    Tue, 7 Mar 1995 23:37:25 -0500
From:    STEVEN GERBER <sg0075@EPFL2.EPFLBALTO.ORG>
Subject: TIP: fast text field initialization

A tip for beginners or anyone else who hasn't yet discovered this Director quirk.

When building text fields, NEVER do this:

  repeat with i = 1 to 50
    put getAt(myList,i) after field "TEXT"
  end repeat

Instead ALWAYS do this:

  set tempString = ""
  repeat with i = 1 to 50
    put getAt(myList,i) after tempString
  end repeat
  set the text of field "TEXT" to tempString

To see the speed difference for your self, which I always want to do ;) try the following benchmark script.

* Note: you need to create a text field called TEXT before running the script.

 
on startMovie
  -- Creating a list of strings of numbers
  -- such as  ["1 1 1", "2 2 2", etc.]
  startTimer
  set myList = []
  repeat with i = 1 to 50
    set aStringOfNumbers = string(i) && string(i)
    append mylist, aStringOfNumbers
  end repeat
  put "List created in " & (the timer/60.0) & " seconds"
 
  -- Method One
 

  startTimer
  repeat with i = 1 to 50
    put getAt(myList,i) after field "TEXT"
  end repeat
  put "Method 1 took " & (the timer/60.0) & " seconds"
 

  -- Method Two
 

  startTimer
  set tempString = ""
  repeat with i = 1 to 50
    put getAt(myList,i) after tempString
  end repeat
  put tempString after field "TEXT"
  put "Method 2 took " & (the timer/60.0) " seconds"
 
end startMovie

My Power Mac 7100 puts the following into the message window.

-- "List created in 0.1833 seconds"
-- "Method 1 took 5.6000 seconds"
-- "Method 2 took 0.2167" " seconds"

Now if I could only find some trick like this for setting text styles!

Steve Gerber
Meetinghouse Technologies
Annapolis, Maryland