A ToolBook application consists of one or more books, with each book composed of pages. This book-and-page metaphor is similar to HyperCard's stack-and-card metaphor. ToolBook functions at two levels: the Author level and the Reader level. When ToolBook is at the Author level, the user can create and modify books. At Reader level, the user can run books, but cannot make permanent changes to a book.
Each ToolBook book is a DOS file. You create programmable objects in a book by drawing graphics, fields, and buttons with the built-in tools or by pasting graphics from other applications. Objects can be copied, shared among pages, and moved and sized without affecting other objects on the page. Each object has its own script and other attributes that determine how the object looks and behaves in an application.
An object's script is written in OpenScript, ToolBook's embedded programming language. A script can start a routine, such as sound playback or an animation sequence, control an external device, navigate to another page or book, communicate with other applications using Windows Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), or call functions from a Windows Dynamic-Link Library (DLL).