Webtalk is a web-implementation of HyperTalk. That doesn't mean you have to be online to run it. You can download it and run it from a computer with no internet connection.
That's another topic, which I'll expand upon a bit further down. If you never had a chance to get into the hypertalk language, you really are missing out. HyperTalk was the scripting language used in HyperCard. There's lots of ways you can experience what HyperCard was (is) today.
Webtalk is loosely based on the HyperTalk scripting language, and the goal is to be compatible in most major respects. There are additions to it and perhaps things missing from it. The boring bit is I'm not implying it's fit for any particular purpose, and there's no guarantees implied or otherwise about how it might run on your system. (Being based on Javascript and CSS, it heavily relies on what your browser is capable of).
The point of it is it's a programming language that's easy to type and understand. For example, If I wanted to output the current date in javascript, I'd have to type:
const now = new Date();
const days = ["Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday"];
const dayName = days[now.getDay()];
const dateTimeString = now.toLocaleString();
document.getElementById('datetime').textContent = `${dayName}, ${dateTimeString}`;
And although to do that in Python is simpler, it's not as readable:
from datetime import datetime
now = datetime.now()
formatted = now.strftime("%A, %d/%m/%Y, %H:%M:%S")
print(formatted)
Which again, gives us this:
Whereas, if I want to do that in HyperTalk, I'd be able to use:
put item 1 of the long date & "," && the date & "," && the time
However, the great thing about hyperTalk (and webtalk), is that it can also be quite flexible:
put item 1 of the long date & "," && dateFormat(the dateitems, "%d/%m/%Y") & "," && the timeHyperTalk was the programming language created in 1987 by Dan Winkler, and used in the HyperCard application, created by Bill Atkinson. Creating programs in HyperTalk was known as "scripting". HyperTalk scripts were much more similar to written English than many languages available at the time.
A simple example of webtalk scripting:
This gives you an idea of what I'm aiming for here, to have something that is platform-agnostic which is capable of running HyperTalk scripts.
I'm trying to give a comparable set of features that were available in Hypertalk, but in Webtalk - so they are available to everyone. As such, there won't be specific Mac-only, Windows-only or Linux-only features implemented on this project. If I add a feature, it will be supported across all platforms.
The current documentation containing the release notes are here, as a PDF
You might also want to read the license agreement on that last page of the documentation too.
You can download a copy of webtalk, (current version), from here. You don't need anything special to run it. Just a recent browser (if you are using Safari, needs to be version 17 or above)
Alternatively, you can run it in a wrapper. The wrappers are larger in size because they are akin to a standalone app version. The advantage of the wrapper versions is that they also allow use of the shell (download) command in Webtalk. Note, I don't update these as often as the non-wrapper versions - purely because it's a lot of work. They get updated sporadically.
Or lastly, if you prefer, you can try it as an online live demo here. You might also want to check out the testing pages, which give you a list of commands and handlers that are currently implemented.
A project overview (text file) is also available, which covers how this all works at a quick glance.
I should really mention, you can load JSON stacks with:
load stack "" -- if it can't find the file, it will ask youSee the archives (release 141-180 and 181 to 220) for earlier notes.
In this version I've added the selectedText and SelectedChunk commands.
put the selectedChunk of field "myfield"
-- would return char x to y of the selected text in the field
put the selectedText of field "myfield"
-- would return the actual string of selected text in the field
I then added the put the curve command curve example-2. This can be used to plot a curve from point A to point B, and you can vary the accentuation of the curve.
I also added shape addition and subtraction for points of a graphic. As well as creating interesting shapes, this can be useful for terrain generation in games.
All of this is covered in the documentation on page 114.
In this version I've added controlAtLoc(x,y) and the inverseAngle property. This is explained on page 116 of the documentation.
Added the scrollBarDrag event for scrollbars:
on scrollbarDrag
put the thumbPosition of me into field "output"
end scrollbarDrag
I also added controlWithinRect:
put the controlWithinRect(myRect) into myObjects
-- returns a list of all the objects within this rect.
-- filter out undesired objects with:
filter myObjects without "*Name*"
This is handy for interactive object types, or situations where you might want to use it for games.
It's now possible to hide and show groups too using:
hide group "myGroup"
-- or
show group "myGroup"
I also added physics calculation (or the start of), and added pivotPoints and massPoints. gravity-and-mass example.
Testing position and rotation via fields and variables: fix-pos-and-rot.
This is detailed on page 116 of the documentation and onwards.
Added the click at command:
click at 20,20
click at the loc of button "test"
Simulates a mouse click (mousedown, then mouseup).
Added the copy and paste keyboard shortcut for objects when in edit mode.
Added an 'Align' option. You can find this when in edit mode. (Right-click on an object and you will have alignment choices):
You can now fully control menu popup buttons via script.
You can also get the HTML formatting of any field object -- try it with this table stack 2 (set to a table, then click on the 'put html' button).
Links now properly get saved in version 224 to stack JSON files, and are restored on stack open.link-test-2. No special scripting needed to make the hyperlink appear after a stack load. Testing here with multiple formatting and adding links at the same time.
Added the controlWithinObject for more accurate collision detection.
Added to the gravity-and-mass detection -- now supports colliders, collision events, and rigidbodies.
More information and specifics on page 117 of the documentation (and onwards).
Added quite a bit this time around, as usual I've updated the documentation (page 119 and onwards).
Here's a live demo of changes and additions in version 225 of webtalk.
Numerous improvements, and a bug fix (page 123 of the documentation).
A live demo of changes in version 226 of webtalk.
A couple of bug fixes to do with text editing (page 124 of the documentation).
Added block commenting:
Expanded try-catch errors support.
Extended support for other modifier keys, re-added and revised the AST expression parser (from v133 beta), and added the Among keyword (page 125 of the documentation).
Expanded modifier keys demo.
Implemented the message path, added rotation of groups (page 126 of the documentation).
Live demo of custom handler following the message path, group rotation, abbreviated terms, and the prevent close property (along with openstack message).
Added functions to Webtalk. Also added the ability to apply image masks, and added support for text colouring in fields to mimic the script editor formatting
Live demo of Handlers and Functions and Applying a mask to images.
Documentation updated (page 127).
This time, I've added the find command and the paramcount for handlers and functions.
Live demo of the find command and example using the paramCount.
Documentation updated too: (pages 127 and 128).
A few bug fixes, and a few additions.
Fixes for the visual effect when a script error occurs, additions to sound playback abilites, fixes to autotab in fields, allowed custom handlers to be less restrictive with parameters, expanded the select command with synonyms, and lastly - introduced a direct shell.py through the cgi-bin localhost method (download that stack here, instead of live-demo'ing it).
Documentation updated too: (page 129).
A few bug fixes, (as detailed on page 131 of the documentation) and a new addition: the mirror image command.
In this release, I've expanded line referencing to be a bit more fuzzy, added move to points command, referring to objects using parentheses, and lastly added the notify command for sending browser notifications.
Covered on page 132 of the documentation
This week, I've added gradient-fills which can be set on buttons, graphics, and the background of fields:
This is detailed on page 133 of the documentation
In this version, the following has been added: encryption and authentication, exponential commands, and other bits. There's quite a lot to cover, so this is all detailed on page 134 of the documentation
This week, my changes are shown in this stack: Additions in v237 and documented on page 137 of the documentation
This week, there's been quite a lot added, and it's probably easier to read page 138 of the documentation, however here are some examples showing the changes: Answer image, hiliteColor, text-editing, and a few other bits.
I've been busy with gradients and patterns this week: Additions in v239 and documented on page 140 of the release notes
This time, changes are shown here: Additions in v240, 3d-rotate and documented on page 141 of the release notes. Please do not forget to refresh your browser page cache (see tip at bottom of this page)!
Also fixed a bug with the Button generation.
Just a relatively small addition in this version: barcodes.
(Have also added a 'noscale' parameter too, to prevent any antialiasing)
In this version I've added support for progress bar dialogs, changing the 'selectedColor' of list fields, and fully user customisable alert dialogs.
All documented on page 143 of the release notes
This week, I've added these things in v243 (buttons with different types of borders, gradient fill for borders), and spinner progress dialog. You can also right-click in edit mode on a graphic, choose "Edit points", and edit the points of the graphic.
I also added the ability to export sounds: exporting sounds back to wav files.
I also added an example of setting, editing, and referencing a handler in the backscripts.
Page 145 of the release notes.
Quite a few things added again this week: (page 146 of the release notes).
scalefactor and turtle graphics,peel and waterdrop. Also, the backscripts support simplified loading and setting up, so the whole process is easier. I've also increased the compression level when saving wts files. Please read the documentation notes on page 146 for further details regarding these changes.
I should mention, you aren't stuck with having to use a turtle. This stack demos how you'd swap it to a snake instead.
Also, (almost forgot!): I updated the wrappers to version 244 as well.
Added guides:
.
To invoke this, you simply run:
show guides
Oh, there's one more thing: I started working on a geometry palette too.
It's very beta at the moment, but gives you an idea. It has a few things I've yet to work out how to do, but I will refine this in the next couple of versions.
When you click on one of the lines, it first changes to red. This means it's fixed in position. If you click it again, it should change to be cyan. A Cyan line indicates that it will be resized proportionally with the stack window. You can also set the minimum width and minimum height too.
To open the geometry palette:
show geometry
Modified the geometry palette further:
I've added tooltips and refined the UI slightly, while also fixing some bugs (objects shouldn't jump about now). This being a GUI feature, I've not really documented it yet, but I will mention it in due course. This is working towards fully adaptive layouts, so stack elements can be resizable based on the user's screen size. This version is more of a checkpoint release: just to give a point to regress to if I mess something up (I'll get onto version 247 fairly quickly).
Most of this week, I've been working on the soundtrack system for webtalk:
There's lots to cover about this in the documentation, but the easiest way is probably just to try it out. Of course, it's fully scriptable and can be controlled via a set of webtalk commands and syntax. I also detailed those on the example stack.
I've added an animation palette to webtalk.
This all starts on page 150 of the documentation. answer file, find in field, answer menupick, answer group draggable, expandedRect, unicode tests. (I had a week off, which is why the large amount of progress this time around).
Please ensure you fully refresh your browser cache between testing various versions of webtalk. Here's a great little firefox extension I use for this. In fact, once installed, 
refresh the page you run webtalk in a few times - I've also tried implementing a few methods of cache-blocking recently in the interpreter.