Serious First Steps In UserTalk Scripting
by Matt Neuburg
Author of the book Frontier: The Definitive Guide
This tutorial introduces the programming component of Frontier. It will get you writing scripts in Frontier's language, UserTalk, so that you can put Frontier's power to work for you, solving problems you want to solve, doing jobs you want done.The tutorial is a hands-on exercise. First we'll write and refine some simple scripts, for practice. Then, we'll write a useful, powerful Frontier script from the ground up: we'll start by stating what we want to accomplish, we'll plan how to do it, and we'll put the plan into action with Frontier.
When we're done we'll have a bells-and-whistles Frontier script that you can use to impress folks with your programming prowess, and that also does something darned useful if you happen to be a Web site manager.
At that point, you'll know enough about UserTalk, and enough about how to find out more, to be able to go on independently to develop programs of your own.
Note: It is assumed that you have studied at least the first half of the Web site management tutorial:
http://www.ojai.net/matt/webTutorial/index.htmlYou need to be familiar at last with the Frontier milieu -- the database, outline and table edit windows, navigation, and so forth -- and studying the first 7 or so chapters of the Web tutorial will provide this familiarity. If I've said something there, I don't repeat it here.
- About This Tutorial
Squash the learning curve and start writing your own UserTalk programs.- What Does Frontier Do?
A brief reminder of Frontier's various powers.- Keywords, Handlers, Verbs, and Calls
We learn to count from 1 to 10.- Loops, Variables, Parameters, and Conditionals
We count from 1 to 10 more cleverly, and then we count from anything to anything.- The Handler Rule
Pushing the Run button and calling one script from another do different things.- Returns, Addresses, and Dereferencing
When a script calls a verb, an answer comes back -- sometimes more than one answer.- Scope and With
Precisely which "x" are we talking about here?- Strings and Files
We begin fearlessly messing with your hard disk.- Outlines and Tables
Driving Frontier to build an outline from scratch.- Running, Debugging, and Getting Help
General techniques for developing and working with scripts.- Datatypes
The kinds of objects UserTalk can work with.- A Real-Life Problem
Introducing the AmelioWeb demo, as seen in Los Angeles.- String Parsing and Substitution
Part 1 of creating the AmelioWeb demo for ourselves.- Manipulating Files and Folders
Part 2 of creating the AmelioWeb demo for ourselves.- Final Touches
Part 3 of creating the AmelioWeb demo for ourselves.
All text is by Matt Neuburg, phd, matt@tidbits.com.
For information about the book Frontier: The Definitive Guide, see my home page:
http://www.tidbits.com/matt
All text copyright Matt Neuburg, 1997 and 1998. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
No one else has any right to copy or reproduce in
any form, including electronic. You may download this material but you may not post it for others to
see or distribute it to others without explicit permission from the author.
Downloadable versions at http://www.ojai.net/matt/downloads/scriptingTutorial.hqx and http://www.ojai.net/matt/downloads/scriptingTutorial.zip.
Please do not confuse this tutorial with a certain other Frontier 5 tutorial based upon my earlier work.
This page created with
Frontier, 2/11/2000; 6:59:00 PM.