THE HYPERCARD CENTER

HyperTalk Reference

Note: This is a work in progress and many formatting issues have been fixed. Read more about the project on the home page.

owner

get [the] [long|short] owner of card

get [the] owner of window

This read-only property tells you the name of the background to which a specified card belongs, or it tells you the creator of a window.

Long owner of card returns the full path name of the background. Short owner of card returns the short name of the background.

Owner of card returns “bkgnd” plus the leaf name of the background.

The window form returns HyperCard if it's a stack or built-in window, or the name of an XCMD if it's an external window.

Examples

palette navigator

answer the owner of window "navigator" -- if it's showing

answer the owner of window "tools"

answer the short owner of card 1

answer "This card is in Background" && the short owner of this card

Placeholders

card

An expression that identifies a card by name, number, or id using one of the following forms (in AppleScript, use “background” in place of “bkgnd”):

recent card

back

forth

card id posInteger [of bkgnd

card text [of bkgnd] -- name

card posInteger [of bkgnd] -- number

ordinal card [of bkgnd]

position card [of bkgnd]

ordinal marked card

position marked card

marked card posInteger

For example:

card id 3894

card "Index"

card 1 of background 1

prev card

previous card of this background

next card

this card

first card

last card

middle card

any card

first marked card

last marked card

next marked card

previous marked card

marked card 1

marked card (the number of marked cards)

When used inside a card script in HyperTalk: me

When a card receives a message: [the] target

window

One of HyperCard’s built-in windows, the window containing the current stack (called the card window), or any other window containing a stack, as follows:

card window

tool window

window "tools"

pattern window

window "Patterns"

scroll window

window "scroll"

[the] message [window]

[the] message [box]

[the] msg [window]

[the] msg [box]

window "message"

message watcher

window "message watcher"

variable watcher

window "variable watcher"

window "Home"

window "Readymade Buttons"

-- if longWindowTitles is true:

window "My HD:Home"

window 6

window ID 21403082

Note: If a window containing a stack is inactive, you can set only its location and visible properties.

Important: External windows can’t be substituted for the window placeholder (see the externalWindow placeHolder).

HyperTalk Reference

Version 0.8b4 (July 4, 2025)

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