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HyperTalk Reference

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icon

set [the] icon of button ¬
to posInteger
set [the] icon of button ¬
to text

where text is the name of an icon.

The icon property returns or sets the icon displayed by a button. Setting it is the same as choosing an icon from the Button Info dialog box. HyperCard sets the function the result to "Can't find that icon." if it can’t find the icon (otherwise the result is empty).

The value of the icon property is an integer corresponding to the ID number of an available icon resource. If a button has no icon, the icon property is 0. For an icon to be displayed on a button, its resource must be available in the current stack, one of the stacks currently being used, the Home stack, or HyperCard itself.

Click the goldfish bowl to see simple icon animations.

Examples

set the icon of bkgnd button "Prev" to 23875
set the icon of bkgnd button "Prev" to "Prev"
if the icon of button 1 is 34567 then ...

Related Topics

Placeholders

button

HyperTalk Definition

An expression that identifies a button by name, number, or id, using one of the following forms:

[card] button id posInteger [of card]
[card] button text [of card] -- name
[card] button posInteger [of card]
ordinal [card] button [of card]
bkgnd button id posInteger [of card]
bkgnd button text [of card] -- name
bkgnd button posInteger [of card]
ordinal bkgnd button [of card]

For example:

card button id 3894
card button "Return"
card button 1
first card button
bkgnd button 2 of card 2
last bkgnd button

When used inside a button script: me

When a button receives a message: [the] target

A button can also be referred to as a part when you’re talking about its position among all buttons and fields within the same card or background.

AppleScript Definition

An expression that identifies a button by name, number, or id, using the same forms as HyperTalk except that “background” must be used in place of “bkgnd”.

posInteger

An expression that evaluates to a positive integer.

For example:

3
67 mod 13
the number of bg fields
the number of backgrounds
the number of cards div 2

See also: background, bkgnd, button, card, chunk, field, menu, and menuItem

text

An expression that evaluates to a text string.

A text expression can be a literal string surrounded by quotation marks or the value of a container.

For example:

"Hello"
"The sum is:" && 3
card field 1
line 1 of bg fld "Address"
the Message box
the selection
myVar -- a variable

See also: background, bkgnd, button, card, field, menu, menuItem, and stack

HyperTalk Reference

Version 0.8b4 (July 4, 2025)

Made with Macintosh

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