RE: locH limits
> Sounds like the maxinteger? No, the maxinteger is 2,147,483,647. It looks like the locH is a 16-bit signed integer. If you set it to 65536, it actually sets it to 0. 32767 sets it to 32767, and 32768 sets it to -32768. I've gotten around the problem pretty easily. I'm attaching a script to each of my event sprites, and it calculates its theoretical locH. When the time line window gets close to its location, it places itself. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: locH limits
> I would recommend keeping a list of the spites and the order > they need to be shown in, keep them no more than -+ 500 > pixels off the side of the stage and only move them when its > their turn to come onto the stage. That was actually my first approach. The calculations needed to figure out if a sprite is on-stage or not took more time than simply positioning the sprites as the scroll bar is dragged. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
locH limits
Is there a limit on the locH of a sprite? I'm trying to set it to 51688, and it shows up as -13848. The application is a time line. Drag the slider, and I reposition the sprites relative to the slider's location. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Cast window icons
> I am using Director MX (9.0r383) with Mac OS 10.3.4. > > When I view the cast in list mode the icons which used to be down the > left hand side are no longer there. I think this happened when I > upgraded to OS 10.3 from 10.2 but am not absolutely sure. I can live > without the icons but they were convenient things to have and I would > prefer to have them back if I could. It's a known bug with MX and 10.3. MX was released before 10.3, and there were some issues. Nothing catastrophic that I've found, but nagging little things like you noted. I think the only solution is to upgrade to MX 2004. It's probably worth it anyway to get the new features like multiple Flash sprites in a single instance of the Xtra and JavaScript support. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: scaling 32bit bitmap grief
> I'm getting aliasing/pixelation problems scaling down 32 > bit+alpha graphics on dark backgrounds using > ratio based sprite(x).width/height > > any workarounds for this, bar literally running through a > bunch of pre-scaled members? I seem to remember running into this a couple of years ago. I believe I ended up scaling the member on the fly, not the sprite. My memory is a bit hazy, but it's worth a try. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
Time arithmetic
Is there a built-in way to do time arithmetic like you do date arithmetic? I can get the number of days between two dates with something like date(, mm, dd) - date (, mm, dd) (thanks to those who provided that info last week). Now I'm looking for a way to get the number of minutes, hours, or seconds between two times. The two times can be on different dates. If there's not a built in-way, or some old code lying around, I can figure it out easily enough. If it's already out there, though, I don't want to reinvent the wheel. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: XPOST: Private Methods
> That looks like it'd slow things down a lot - and be a > pain to type. Not really. The comparison takes a millisecond or two, and it's only used in private methods. Typing is easy--type it once, and copy and paste. > And it could easily be got around: > > behav.mGetData(behav) > > I don't think there's a simple code method to enforce it. Fair enough. Like I said, it's not foolproof--in fact, that's exactly where it fails. It would be nice if Lingo had true private methods and properties. Then people like you and I wouldn't need to come up with workarounds. Your method of privatization looks like it would work as well as the one I proposed. Of course, neither is foolproof. The best we can do is to make people think twice, or three times, before they access a private method. Or, if you're so inclined, you could, as a team leader, see who is breaking encapsulization and go by their cubicle and bludgeon them into submission. Works better with dogs than cats. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
XPOST: Private Methods
Hi folks,
Forgive the cross post, but I realize there are people here who aren't
on some of the other Director lists.
This is one for OOP fools like me. I have a method for enforcing private
methods, and I'd be interested in comments. Fridays are slow anyway ^_^
on mGetData me, caller
-- make sure I'm being called internally
if caller <> me then
alert ("This is a private method." & RETURN & "It cannot be called
from the outside")
return void
end if
The call looks a little goofy:
me.mGetData (me)
but it works.
It's not always foolproof, of course. You can find ways around it. It
is, though, one more way to enforce encapsulization, especially in a
multiple-developer environment.
Comments?
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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RE: Request for Shockwave 10 Content Proposals [was: RE: Lingo-l digest, Vol 1 #1344 - 15 msgs]
> Not knowing MACR's take on the duel, I'd be extremely > skeptical about this. Welcome Back, Pekka :-) I'm not too skeptical, myself. I think it's a neat idea, and I might submit an idea myself. Macromedia is a pretty big company, with, I would assume, a pretty broad spectrum of political views. They might shy away from really controversial content like comparing Bush to Hitler, or saying Kerry lied about his war record. I wouldn't expect them to be too heavy-handed when it comes to the party you are supporting. Maybe I'm naïve, but I tend to take them at their word. I think they're primarily looking for interesting content to promote the Shockwave brand, not a political party. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Request for Shockwave 10 Content Proposals
> If so, Macromedia would be > interested in talking to you about creating cool, viral, > election-themed Shockwave 10 content Viral? Beware geeks bearing gifts. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Sprite alpha?
> Sometime earlier you allocate this channel to a > sprite that > needs to have its #color or #foreColor altered and that this setting > persists. Can you try setting these props to rgb(0,0,0) in > your allocation routine? Yep, that's it Sean. You and Rob can split the grand prize. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Sprite alpha?
> Did you check if your placeholder the sprites are colourized > (in the pi)? Bingo! That's it, Rob. Thanks. I colorized them yesterday when I was trying to set the color of a #shape sprite (rather than a #vectorShape sprite). Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Sprite alpha?
> Just curious...is tabSprite = > sprite(pSpriteManager.mAllocateChannel()) > referencing back the exact spriteNum it should be > referencing? Yes. My available sprite channels go from 10-500, and the tab sprites are being allocated in 12-14. Checked it in the debugger. > And/or, did you try ink=36? Background transparent? Hmm...no, I didn't try that. I tried copy and matte. Hold on...nope, 36 does the same thing. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
Sprite alpha?
Got a head-scratcher here. I'm creating some sprites at run-time, and
they're showing up with odd colors.
The code is pretty simple:
tabMember = member("Tab")
repeat with i = 1 to channelCnt
-- Place the tabs
tabSprite = sprite(pSpriteManager.mAllocateChannel())
tabSprite.member = tabMember
tabSprite.rect = tabMember.rect
tabSprite.loc = point(channelLeft + tabSprite.width / 2, channelTop
+ tabSprite.height / 2)
tabSprite.ink = 0
channelTop = channelTop + channelRect.bottom
end repeat
They should be a nice grey color, with a drop-shadow. Instead, the
colors are all over the place--grey, lime green, lemon yellow, but with
drop shadows.
The member is 32-bit, with an alpha channel. The sprites have a holder
member, a zero-pixel bitmap, 32-bit. All have "use alpha" checked. There
is nothing behind the sprites except the stage.
Any ideas what's going on?
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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RE: Setting vector colors
> member("vect").strokeColor = rgb( 255, 1, 158 )
> member("vect").fillColor = rgb( 104, 1, 158 )
> member("vect").endColor = rgb( 104, 200, 158 )
> member("vect").backgroundColor = rgb( 35, 1, 158 )
>
> these work for me
Ok, I think I see what's happening. My cast member was a #shape, which
doesn't have those properties. I created a #vectorShape, and it does.
Hmmm...I'm not even sure how I created the #shape in the first place. I
think I copied it from an old program. Is that something that's changed
in the last few incarnations of Director? I'm still on plain MX.
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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RE: Setting vector colors
> member("vect").strokeColor = rgb( 255, 1, 158 )
> member("vect").fillColor = rgb( 104, 1, 158 )
> member("vect").endColor = rgb( 104, 200, 158 )
> member("vect").backgroundColor = rgb( 35, 1, 158 )
>
> these work for me
Thanks, Buzz. That's what I was looking for.
I've been scratching my head, because setting the sprite's forecolor in
the message window doesn't work either, but setting it in the pi does
(the sprite, not the member). Now, why can't those properties be
documented?
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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Setting vector colors
I'm trying to set the color of a vector graphic at runtime. I need to
give it an rgb value, but it seems to only want to take palette colors.
Here's my code:
channelColorList = [160104100, 192138100, 189180112, 135162111,
112147110, 101155153, 98134145, 95113146, 127104147, 131095122]
(in a loop:)
channelMember.rect = channelRect
channelSprite = pSpriteManager.mAllocateChannel()
sprite(channelSprite).member = channelMember
sprite(channelSprite).rect = channelMember.rect
sprite(channelSprite).loc = point(channelLeft, channelTop)
sprite(channelSprite).rect = rect(channelLeft, channelTop, channelLeft
+ channelRect.right, channelTop + channelRect.bottom)
sprite(channelSprite).ink = 0
sprite(channelSprite).foreColor = channelColorList[i]
channelMember is the vector graphic. I've tried it using
RGB("#YADAYADA"), and that doesn't work any better. The forecolor always
ends up 108, it seems.
What do I do to set the color?
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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RE: Converting to Japanese
> I author on either win2k or xp with japanese locale > installed. By golly, you're right. That would work! Good show, Anand. You can download Microsoft's Japanese, Chinese, and Korean IME's here: http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/preview.aspx?AssetID=HA0103473610 33&CTT=6&Origin=EC010553071033 I still prefer to have the actual Japanese/Chinese/Korean system to test on, but that should work for development. > To view the > CD/DVD the target system also needs to be configured with the > japanese locale... And therein lies the rub. I do a lot of educational development, and a lot of schools won't install the Japanese IME. For one thing, it's a 50 MB download. Plus, a lot of schools and companies tightly control what can be installed on their systems. In my experience, people who need or want Japanese either have a Japanese system, or one of the add-ins (e.g. Twin Bridge) installed. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: AW: OOP structure (was shortest handler name)
Irv Kalb wrote:
> 1) Your routine "t" doesn't (and shouldn't need to be) a method of a
> parent script. Instead, it should just be a globally available movie
> level handler.
No real argument, Irv--that's a straightforward way of doing it.
A couple of parameters, though. If it's actually the way Michael wrote
it where the cast member is hard-coded, it would be faster, especially
in recurring calls, if the cast member was a property. E.g.:
property pTextCastMember
on new me
pTextCastMember = member("some member")
end
on mGetHtml
return pTextCastMember.text
end
Of course, it would be much better to parameterize it as you did with a
list. Or, alternately:
on mGetHtml me, whatMember -- leave out 'me' in a movie-level handler
return whatMember.text
end
I'm implementing my current project with a new OOP structure where
everything is encapsulated. There is one global which exists to keep a
master object alive, and that master object births all major objects,
including text handlers, system info, activities, and the like. For
stylistic consistency, I would put that method in an object.
I'm working on a couple of articles, no publisher committed to yet,
describing this technique, and how I use inheritance. I know there are a
lot of Lingo OOP gurus who don't use inheritance, don't need it, never
will, but I'll be presenting it as an option.
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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RE: OOP: shortest handler name
> htmlText = member(3, "websiteBuilder").text & member(2, > "websiteBuilder").text & member(7, "websiteBuilder").text > > I can write htmlText = t(3) & t(2) & t(7) > > with the function > > on t chunkNumber > return member(t, "websiteBuilder").text > end > > > Or is there a smarter way to do this? I like the function. I'd probably parameterize the name, either as a property or an argument, because that _is_ faster, but the function is a good one. I just wouldn't use the name. Is it really that much harder to do htmlText = mGetHTML(3) & mGetHTML(2) & mGetHTML(7)? It takes no longer to process, and just a few seconds longer to type. Copy and paste for recurring references. I understand the urge to use shorthand. God knows I've done it enough myself. It just goes against my grain to use meaningless designators, especially in OOP where the idea is that you don't have to look at a handler's code to know what it does. I try to code with a couple things in mind. I may get hit by a truck tomorrow and somebody else will have to take over my code. I may have to go back and maintain it in a couple of years, and I don't want to spend the time looking up the 't' handler and figuring out what it does. I also keep my own employability in the back of my mind. Clients, and, in the past, prospective employers, often want to see my code. I know engineering managers who would automatically disqualify me if they saw calls to a mysterious function 't' sprinkled through my code. Fair? Maybe not, but reality. I've seen your posts, Michael, so I know you're a decent programmer. I also know the traps I've fallen into myself, and gotten burned by. This is one, and I personally wouldn't do it. Just my opinion, though. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: OOP: shortest handler name
> I tried > > on x > end > > and called it with: > > x() > > And it worked! > > However I am sure there must be something wrong with it. > There must be a reason for the "me" after all. You need the "me" if you're going to refer to that object or sprite at all. Mouse events and the like need "me." In general, I would very, very strongly advise you NOT to use 'x' as a handler name. It makes no difference in execution time, because the names are tokenized. Any time savings you would see by using it would be more than offset by the next poor sucker who tries to maintain your code. And that next poor sucker may be you, six months from now. Use meaningful variable and handler names. It's THE first rule of reusable programming. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Converting to Japanese
> I've been developing CD-ROMs for a Japanese client for over a > year now...i use D8.5 and have embedded the appropriate > japanese fonts that i require...my target is only windows > systems though.. > > content is in XML format...i parse that in flash and pass the > html text to d8.5 which then renders them just fine! Interesting, Anand. I've tried embedding Japanese fonts, with no luck, at least on English Windows/Director. Could you share with us your technique? What font do you use? Is it a Shift-JIS font? It's not Unicode, I presume. I'm really interested. I can display Japanese and Chinese in programs like Outlook and Word, but not Director. In fact, I have the Chinese and Japanese IME (it's a free download from Microsoft), and I can use it in Outlook, but not in Director. It would be great if you could share your secrets with us. I love to be proven wrong--it means I've learned something. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Converting to Japanese
> I think there would be a language barrier there. :) Maybe not as much as you think. You can use the same keyboard shortcuts (Alt-F, O opens a file), and most menu items are in the same place. You can have Director running on an English system and just count over and down to get to the right menu item, even if you can't read it. This is a pretty common thing in localization houses. I've localized products into as many as 13 different languages, including Greek, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian (think Disney). Those are all different OSen, and of course I don't speak all those languages, but you learn to get around. You don't really have to speak a language to resize a dialog box or text sprite, and test it on the native system. > Mine need is much simpler. I just need to get Japanese > phrases inside of text cast members. They will be displayed on > the screen and the ONLY thing I need to do is change color of > the text upon rollover and mouseClick. Everything else is > behind the scenes and has NOTHING to do with any language or > font. This is strictly a means for a user to read selections > and pick one. That's it. But I can't find a Japanese font to > embed in Director so that I can copy and paste in the new phrases. You won't find a Japanese font that you can reliably display on English Windows. Maybe what you should do, then, is to use graphics. You could have the graphical text done in Flash and display the Flash sprite if you're worried about space. As long as it's unchanging text, I think that's what I'd do. Then it would run on any system. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Converting to Japanese
> I have a project that's completed and out the door. Now the > client wants to make a Japanese version. > > 1. Does anyone know of a resource where I can get this > character set (which will work with Director MX)? On Mac, you can get the Japanese Language kit. On Windows, the best thing to do is develop using Japanese Director on a Japanese Windows system. > 3. Any other pitfalls that anyone is aware of in doing this > conversion? A few. Input is the big gotcha. If your program takes keyboard input, you _MUST_ use the JLK or Japanese Windows. DO NOT let the client talk you into writing something to accept Japanese character input on any Western, single-byte system. Input Method Editors (IMEs) are a big, big issue that C++ programmers have been dealing with for over a decade now. You do NOT want to roll your own. The same thing would go for Chinese and Korean. If you pass text between Director and Flash sprites, be aware that Flash uses Unicode, and Director doesn't. Generally, text you pass from Director to Flash will work ok, though you may have to embed a font. Text passed from Flash to Director will probably fail unless you pass it through a filter first. Beware of search functions. Japanese groups stuff quite differently from Western languages. It's very difficult to tell where a word begins and ends, because spaces are not word demarcations. Character sets. Japanese uses four character sets: kanji (Chinese characters), hiragana and katakana (phonetic Japanese character sets), and romaji (Roman letters). They are mixed freely--it's not uncommon to see a sentence with all four character sets. Directionality. English is left to right. Written Japanese usually is too, but it can also be vertical. Check next month's edition of MX Developer's Journal. I, and a couple other people more expert than I, have written articles on localization, and I think they will appear in the August issue. They were initially slated for July, but for various reasons, got pushed out a month. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Mac Shockwave on Windows
> I saved my movies as shockwave movies and I don't really > know if the windows > machine had shockwave installed. I'll be back there tomorrow > and will check. > The machine did prompt me for a program to open the movie > with. I'm still not sure what you did. Can you tell us just how you saved your movies as Shockwave? Did you create a projector? Or did you go to Xtras -> Update Movies -> Convert to Shockwave? Or did you use File -> Publish? A shockwave movie--that is, a dcr--generally won't run if you just double-click it. It's much more reliable to do File -> Publish. That creates the html file your browser can use to show the Shockwave movie. Does that help? Or have I got it all wrong? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: mac windows problem
> I created a few director movies (very simple stuff) on my Mac that i > wanted to send to someone on a cd, which I burned. I burned > it in mac osx and shockwave. Then I tested it someone's windows > machine and it didn't work. How come? What did I do wrong? More info, please, Paul. Was it a Shockwave projector, or was it running from an HTML page? How did it not work? You've given us very little to go on--sort of like calling up the doctor and saying "Doctor, I don't feel good. Can you prescribe something for me?" Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Director Multilingual IDE
> Thanks. Pity there are these limitations. Let's say in > Dreamweaver you can install some other language packages that > would change the default UI language Can you do that in DreamWeaver? It would be nice, but I don't know of a single application that allows you to use your choice of language. Do you? I've done one product where you could switch the UI from English to Spanish, and vice-versa. Lots of issues with just one [known] language. Think about what it means to do a UI in a new language. All the text--menus, prompts, etc.--have to be translated. All the dialog boxes have to be resized. The help has to be translated. If you go outside ISO 8859.1, you have to allow for other code pages. There are cross-platform issues. Mac and Windows have different encodings. If everybody used Unicode, it would be easier, but we don't. Cultural issues are important, too, in localization. You might want a different version for Taiwan and Beijing, even though they speak the same language. Usage is different. There are other cultural issues you would never think of. You like the Robin Hood-like fox character in that math program? His green hat would never sell in China. There's the marketing and sales side, too. Publishers would lose a lot of unit sales if the UI language could be changed at will. No, it's a nice idea, but, at this point in the computer industry, I'm afraid it's no more than a wishful thinking. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Director Multilingual IDE
> Can i change the UI > language of the application itself? That is, let's say in > Director you go to File > Save and Compact, can all these > menus be translated to other language? No. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Director Multilingual IDE
> Norwegian included in this as well? Yes ^_^ The last I checked, ISO 8859.1 covers French, Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Portuguese, Italian, Albanian), Rhaeto-Romanic, Dutch), German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Faroese, Icelandic, Irish, Scottish, and English, and, incidentally, also Afrikaans and Swahili. So, it effectively covers Western Europe, North America, Central America, and most of Australia and Africa as well. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Director Multilingual IDE
> You may download Director in a couple of language flavors. I > wonder, was this app designed to exist only in these > incarnations or is it possible to change its environment > language to some other one? The Director languages have more to do with the development UI you see than the languages you can use in your app. There are two basic versions of Director, single- and multi-byte. English, German, and French are the single-byte versions, and Japanese and Korean are the multi-byte versions. But, that doesn't mean you can't display English on Japanese Director. You can do just about any Western European language with any of the European versions of Director, and probably with Japanese and Korean as well. With a few exceptions, all Western European languages use the same character set, ANSI or ISO 8859.1. Most of the same characters are found in the Mac character set as well. You might have some problems with languages such as Russian or Greek, depending on the font you use. You probably won't have much joy with bidirectional languages (Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi). You can use Japanese Director to develop in Japanese, Chinese (simplified and traditional), and Korean. Just install it on the target language system and develop away. I believe MX Developer's Journal has a section on localization in August. It was slated to appear in July originally, but got pushed back a month. I believe James Newton will have an article on multilingual development that's well worth watching for. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: multilanguage project
> Thanks for the info about the hiragana and katakana info... > Would it be > safe to say that most translation agencies worth their salt should > provide material in all 4 scripts? Probably, but it's more accurate to say they would provide it as a Japanese speaker would expect to see it. Japanese isn't either-or. They mix the four script types. People's names, for example, are often written in Kanji for the family name, and Hiragana for the given name. Kanji are the ideograms they borrowed from Chinese (and, by and large, have the same meaning as in Chinese). They probably account for about 40-50% of the text you will see on any given page of a Japanese book or magazine (or Web site). The kana are phonetic characters. Hiragana is for native Japanese words, and Katakana is used for loan words, most often from English. The two scripts match character for character, with the same pronunciation for corresponding characters. Each character represents a syllable, and, with the exception of the 'n' sound, all end in a vowel. Check out the Romanization of Japanese words, and you'll see that words always end with a vowel or an n. Parenthetically, Mandarin is pretty much the same, except they have a few more consonant endings like 'ng', but never a stopped consonant (k, t, d, b, etc.) In fact, you'll find most native Japanese and Mandarin Chinese speakers will have a lot of trouble with the words "stopped consonant" ^_^ Romaji (note there's no 'n') is for foreign words to be written in their native script--often names (people's names, brand names), but often just because it looks cool, or there's no way to accurately spell it with the kana. Cordially, Kerry Thompson P.S: I bet you didn't know that written English uses ideograms, just like Chinese. So does German, French, Turkish, Russian, Arabic...almost every written languages use ideograms. [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: All those DLLs
> 1. Look inside the projector, are the DLL's there? If yes, > unpack them to a temp directory and link against those > temporary copies. Aha! Now it makes sense. The .dll's are packaged with the .exe, just like the xtras, but are not really part of the "core" executable. They're still loaded at runtime, after unpacking. It appears they aren't statically linked. Excellent write-up, Tom. Thanks. It clears up a lot. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: All those DLLs
> So, then, you are suggesting that there is no such thing as a single > icon self-contained executable Director movie on Windows? I > don't think that is the case. You may be right--I'm not sure. I don't think the .dll's are included in a normal projector, but I'm too far away from the C/C++ world to know for sure. The Macromedia tech notes I've read suggest you may be right. I know that for a fast-start projector, media and xtras are packaged externally, and Shockwave compression is used. Because of the Shockwave compression, you have to have the .dll's externally. I include the .dll's in my program directory because I've had problems in the past with conflicts with outdated versions. I'm not certain that is still the case, but it certainly does no harm. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: multilanguage project
> Perhaps this is the wrong forum but I know there are quite a few > international folks on this list and others who have done quite a few > international projects... Anyway, I am about to embark upon a > multilanguage project with multilanguage installers and had a few > questions about double-byte fonts. May I suggest that you pick up a copy of the July issue of MX Developer's Journal? They have a section devoted to multilingual projects this month. There are articles by luminaries such as James Newton, Tab Julius, and even ordinary guys like (ahem) me. > We tend to use flash alot for UI stuff, and seeing how it generally > supports unicode, we think that would be the best route to > take. Are you going to use the swf files in Director? You won't be able to pass strings back and forth, because Director doesn't support Unicode. There are rather intricate workarounds--search the archives for the past 6 months or so for Mark Jonkman. If you're going to do text input in Director, it's pretty much taken care of by the system, but you'll get multibyte Japanese text encoded in EUC or Shift-JIS. Once again, (ahem) my article contains more details. > what about dynamic input text > with double-byte characters? One localization that we are doing is > Japanese, and I know there are 4 different scripts for the > language, but > generally what is the best script to use, Romanji? The only way to do a legitimate Japanese product is to support all 4 Japanese scripts: kanji, hiragana, katakana, and romaji. Romaji is the least important of the four, and absolutely cannot be used as the sole input. You would be laughed out of the Japanese market. You don't have to do much to support Japanese input, though. Japanese Osen (Windows, Mac) have built-in IME's (Input Method Editor). When a user types in some text, you'll get whatever he types in, and the system will recognize it as kanji, hiragana, etc. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: All those DLLs
> But if the projector is not Fast Start, aren't the DLLs
> simply included within the executable?
No, I don't think so. It's been 4-5 years since I've programmed in C++,
so I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure things are still the same.
First, look at the name--dynamic link library. That suggests that it's
linked dynamically, i.e. at run time.
The idea of a .dll is to have some code that different programs can use.
The msvcrt (for Microsoft Visual C Run Time) dll is a good example.
Virtually every C/C++ program written with Visual C++, including
Director, uses that runtime library. Some Visual Basic programs use it
too--maybe a lot of them.
If you want to use a .dll in a C/C++ program, you generally specifically
load it. I forget the syntax, but it's something like
loadLibrary("library.dll").
There is such a thing as a statically-linked dll, but I'm not familiar
enough with their use to talk about them. They may be included in the
executable, but I believe they are less often used.
When you create an executable in C/C++, it's typically at two-step
process. First, you compile all your source code files. That turns them
into machine language, but with a lot of unresolved references--objects,
variables, methods, etc. in other source files and .dll's.
The second step is to link them all together. That resolves the
references. Together, the compile-link process is usually called
"building."
That typically does not include the .dll in the executable. In fact, if
you don't specifically load the .dll in your code, at the right time,
you will get errors, either at run time or during the build (I don't
remember exactly--it's been too long).
HTH.
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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RE: All those DLLs
> For "fast start" projectors, the DLLs are external. There's more to it than that. It's a matter of insuring that your projector plays at all. The scenario: a projector is an executable, and it loads the .dll (dynamic link library) files at runtime. Anybody who has programmed in C/C++ knows all about that. When Windows looks for a .dll, it looks in certain folders, in this order: - The directory where the executable module for the current process is located. - The current directory. - The Windows system directory. - The Windows directory. - The directories listed in the PATH environment variable. Now, here's the rub. Sometimes installers will put Dirapi.dll, Iml32.dl, and/or msvcrt.dll into the Windows system directory. If somebody has an old version that's incompatible with your projector, and you don't provide the right version (in your executable folder), your projector may fail, or you may get weird error messages. Msvcrt.dll is a Microsoft C/C++ runtime library. I believe Director needs the version from Visual C++ 6.0 or later. Whichever one is in your Director program directory is the right one (Director itself, not your projector). I believe dirapi.dll and iml32.dll are Macromedia dll's. I'm not sure about Tbrsrc.dll. I can see how it would affect fast start projectors. If the .dll is right there, your projector doesn't have to ask Windows to go looking for it. I don't see how it can help having it in the xtras directory, though, unless they are directly associated with one of the xtras. I have always put them in the projector folder. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
OS X Text wrap
OS X (Panther), Dir MX. I use this string for a DirectOS alert box with this code: alertMsg = "Press OK to enter Dedicated Key Scanning mode." For some reason, OS X wants to wrap the last word to the next line, so I get Press OK to enter Dedicated Key Scanning mode. I'd write it off as a DirectOS anomaly, except it shows up that way in the debugger, too, before I ever pass it to dosMessageBox, when I hover the mouse over the string to get the rollover text. It displays correctly in an alert box, and of course the alert box doesn't have the icon the dosMessageBox has. Any ideas what could be causing this? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Get a Director variable value from within a swf sprite
> > Or, you could do a getURL:Lingo call to a Director handler
> that would
> return the value of the variable.
>
> This is what I wasn't able to figure out the correct syntax for.
I was thinking about something like this. In Flash:
getURL("lingo:variableStatusRequest");
and in Director:
on variableStatusRequest
me.pMySprite.setVariable(variableName, newValue)
end
You can make it a lot more flexible, but that's the basic approach I'd
use.
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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RE: Get a Director variable value from within a swf sprite
> I figured I could keep checking > what the value was until the as code got it, then move on in > the function. I just can't figure out the right syntax to do that. Well, how about a little different approach. You could have Director call setVariable, and then all you would need to do in Flash would be to watch the variable. Or, you could do a getURL:Lingo call to a Director handler that would return the value of the variable. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Fusion City
> are you able to do freelance work Jonathan, was this meant for the list at large, or were you asking somebody in particular? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Really unloading members
Well, well. Indeed, it does work. I tried unLoad, which purports to do the same thing, with no result, but unLoadMember does the trick. In fact, I did a little experimenting, and came up with an even simpler script which seems to work as well: on mUnloadMembers me unloadMember end I think Mare remarked that unloadMember with an argument just marks the member for unloading. It appears you don't even have to do that. Thanks! Cordially, Kerry Thompson > I have my director project setup similar to what you have. > Everything is loaded and linked on the fly, and after > something is placed onto the stage, they are added to a > global list that stores all these members. During some > interval, I traverse through the list and call unload on each > member. In the past, this seems to work well. I took another > look today and noticed that the memory usage was still > creeping up. Rather than take the painful approach on > unlinking castlib, I experimented with unLoadMember without > any parameters, and this seems to work. > > to use your example, my code now looks like this: > > on mUnloadMembers me > if pMemberList.count > 0 then >repeat with i = 1 to pMemberList.count > pMemberList[i].unload() >end repeat >unLoadMember > end if > > pMemberList = [] > > This seems a much simpler and faster solution than relinking > castlibs. Maybe you could give it a try? [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
xpost: Really Unloading Members Solved
Forgive the cross-post, but I posted the question on a couple of lists yesterday, so I'm posting my solution today. I was having memory problems because I was loading all my assets dynamically, through code, not in the score. Cast and score memory kept creeping up, and I couldn't get Director to release the cast members. Cole Tierney set me on the right track. He suggested I temporarily "unplug" my linked casts. That did the trick. I created a dummy cast with nothing in it, and every time I go to a new activity, I call this: on mUnloadMembers me if pMemberList.count > 0 then repeat with i = 1 to pMemberList.count pMemberList[i].unload() end repeat repeat with i = 2 to 7 -- 1 is internal fName = the fileName of castLib i the fileName of castLib i = the moviePath & "dummy" the fileName of castLib i = fName end repeat end if pMemberList = [] end unloadMembers There's some other stuff I have to do--I have to take a snapshot of the stage and put it on stage while I'm resetting the casts. Otherwise stuff disappears and reappears as the casts are reset. That's basically the solution, short of going to a new movie and back (that would have been a major rewrite). Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
Really unloading members
I think this has been discussed before, but I can't find it in the archives. I need to unload members from memory, and unloadMember doesn't seem to be working. Dir MX, Win XP Pro and Mac OS X (Panther). My program is mostly code. I have a number of zero-pixel holder sprites that I load members into as I need them. Any kind of member--video, audio, text, graphics, and so on. If I don't actively manage the unloading, the memory usage quickly climbs until things stop working. So I put in some code to unload an activity's assets when I leave that activity. It's in an object, and here's the relevant code: on mUnloadMembers me if pMemberList.count > 0 then repeat with i = 1 to pMemberList.count pMemberList[i].unload() end repeat end if pMemberList = [] end unloadMembers I've checked, and the list contains the members I want to unload. For example, I'm at a break point in the debugger, and pMemberList[i] is (member 28 of castLib 4). But memory usage continues to climb as fast as if I weren't doing anything. I check the loaded property of the member in the debugger, and it stays true even after it has been specifically unloaded. This isn't a code memory leak--in the memory inspector, the "Used by Program" memory stays pretty constant. The "Cast and Score" memory is what's killing me. Any ideas? How can I _really_ unload cast members? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Hi-res printer fonts
> Wouldn't the problem be the resolution you are printing at? > > I mean, if you are using POM to print the director screen, > you have only > the number of pixels as the screen size. I'm using POM, but I'm not printing the screen. I'm setting up a table and populating it with text. I'll run some tests. It may work just fine if I set the printer to high-quality text. TT is vector-based, so it should work. I think the difficult I ran into was that I was working on Windows, and Quark was on the Mac. I expected the Russian text to show up on the Mac (it's just Times New Roman, which has Cyrillic in it, at least on Windows). Also, I'm not very familiar with Quark, and I don't know if it has the same font capabilities as Word. I'll have to experiment. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Hi-res printer fonts
> Are you thinking about using these in Director somehow, or for some > other purpose? I need to be able to print high-quality (1200 dpi) text with PrintOMatic from Director, eventually. At the moment, I need the fonts to go in a Quark File for a presentation. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
Hi-res printer fonts
I need to get a high-res (1200 dpi) printer font for Chinese and Cyrillic--we need to do high-quality print output. Does anybody have any ideas how to get those? I've only dealt with on-screen fonts. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: dual monitor projector?
> I am about to start a project which will use two monitors - > one will run > video and the other the interface. Has anyone done this? Is > the best way to > treat the stage as one large stage covering both monitors? > Any pitfalls? Advice? Colin gave you some good advice. I would emphasize Colin's advice about checking the deskTopRectList. Some people will have their two monitors set to different resolutions, even on a Mac, so full-screen really isn't an option. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: FileIO: writeReturn method failure
> Hi Kerry, > > Pity this doesn't work even after I've used all possible > error checking. To tell the truth, I have never tried writing a return like that. Try making a return part of the string you're writing, rather than writing it separately. E.g., myStr = "One: " && "1" && RETURN Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: FileIO: writeReturn method failure
> But if you
> simply use it you'll get an error saying "Symbol expected".
Are you sure the file is being created? You should put a check in after
the new() statement:
fileIO = xtra("FileIO").new()
if not objectP(fileIO ) then
alert "FileIO not installed."
end if
You should also check the status of each call with status:
fileIO.createFile(filePath)
err = status(fileXtra)
if err <> 0 then
-- you have a problem.
-- check the docs.
end if
> Further more, if you paste this function via the popup menu
> from the Scripting Xtras, this method would be pasted with 2
> arguments: symbol and platform ones. How do I use this
> function after all?
I don't use the scripting xtra, so I'm not sure. The rest of the code
looks ok. Check for errors and you'll likely find the problem.
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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RE: Stopping a Flash sprite
> Yup. That´s in case you to do it realtime. But if that > image it will > always be the same and if you´re not trying to save space, > then it´d be > faster to have the bitmap already created and just doing the sprite > member´s swap realtime. It has to be realtime. It's a "skip intro" thing--click the mouse to skip over the annoying intro animation. > I know it but never tried it myself... but looks like > the static > property would also do the job. Do you mean set #static to true? Hmmm... hadn't thought of that. I like it. It would be easier than the dozen or so lines of code to get the frame, grab the bitmap, put it in a cast member and on stage. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Stopping a Flash sprite
> Dunno what IOW means but if your problem is that the > Flash sprite > remains in the screen buffer, then you can refresh it by doing the > stageColor = the stageColor. IOW = In Other Words. The problem seems that the flash sprite *doesn't* stay in the screen buffer. If it did, I don't think I would be getting the white flash. > Here´s one possible hack. How about changing the > sprite´s member for a > bitmap whose image is the Flash movie in the frame that has > stopped? You > could do this on the fly (remember to set the posterFrame of > the Flash > member first) or have a bitmap ready for this. That's an idea. I would want the poster frame to be the current frame--I can get that from the frame() function. How about the hold function? Would that keep the current frame showing? There's no audio, so it doesn't matter that the audio keeps playing. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
Stopping a Flash sprite
I'm getting a white flash on screen when I stop a Flash sprite from Lingo. The sprite is not dts, and it's lock-step. The sprite is assigned dynamically at run time, from an existing linked member. The artist and I are trying to figure out if it's his animations, or my code. When I issue a pFlashSprite.stop() command, I thought that would be the same as goToAndStop in Flash. IOW, it stops the animation, but leaves the current frame on the screen. But maybe not. Would it give me a blank screen for a frame while I load the next animation? If so, how can I avoid that empty frame? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: printing from director
> i need to print from my projector in an easy way and > with no bugs or > expensive xtras do any body knows how to do it PrintOMatic Lite is the best solution. It depends on your definition of "expensive". I don't think it's free, but it's cheaper than the full version. I use PrintOMatic, and it's pretty stable. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Event processing (was: pass with prepareMovie not possible?)
> Does this sound about right, or does anyone have any further > insights to offer about the event processing model? In > particular, can anyone think of any further peculiarities > relating to MIAWs, LDMs or anything else where cast > references might be skewed in some way? It sounds right. It's not complete, but I assume you did that for brevity. Here are some things to look for: - prepareSprite happens before startMovie - the same event can be processed multiple times if multiple behaviors with handlers for that event are attached to a sprite You might want to take a look at Bruce Epstein's "Lingo in a Nutshell." It's out of date in a lot of ways--it hasn't been updated since 6.5--but it covers the event-handling model very thoroughly. Or was it "Director in a Nutshell"? One of the two--maybe both of them. I think Lingo. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: When and when
> First, I'm very happy as I managed to defend my M.A. thesis > to an excellent mark. Second, I'm a bit confused: when do I > use variables and when do I use functions straight ahead? Congratulations! Here's a rule of thumb I apply to decisions about when to use a variable and when to use a function. If the value you are seeking needs to be calculated, use a function. If it is something you can store for later use (even though it may change), use a variable. And remember, variables are almost always faster than functions. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Controlling a Kiosk monitor
> Hello all: > > Well par for the course just before final delivery my client > has asked for > an "aside". He wants to know if I can control the kiosk > monitor to have it > turn on at 8am and turn off at 9pm every day. Platform? [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: [x-post] A Common Question - Director & XML/Web Services
> Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any resource on where to > get started on the Director end! I've read a few articles > about XML, and that proves to be already a pain with DMX's > XML parser... I recall an alternative solution but can't find > a reference to it :( I use Andrew White's xml parser. I works just like Director's except without the memory leak. Or, if you have MX 2004, I understand the memory lean was fixed. It might be faster than Andrew White's, too--it should be compiled, where Andrew's is in Lingo. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Language Local Setting
> The details of the problem are as under: > > When I change the language setting by following method: > Windows 2000 --> Start\settings\control panel\Regional options > and select the Czech option. Then I run the projector, it > gives the error msg. Details are: > > > OS - Windows 2000/ Win 98 > Director version - MX2004 > Error: When I run the projector the following msg appears: > A Fatal Error has occured. CLick ok to quit. Great--now we have something to go on ^_^ Can you tell how far the program gets before it crashes? Can you set the debugPlaybackEnabled = TRUE and add some puts? Like, "put "prepareMovie done," etc? Sorry I can't test it myself--right hand in a sling, index finger In a splint, dexterity limited. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Language Local Setting
> I have created a projector on Windows English operation > system. Now when I change the language local setting to Czech > and run the projector it gives error. Pl help! Hey, Deepesh, ya gotta give more info. Would you call your doctor and say "I don't feel good. What do I do?" So a few questions. - OS - Dir version - What error? When> - If it's a script error, do you have a projector.ini file (projector being the name of your projector) with these lines: [Lingo] DisplayFullLingoErrorText=1 Do you have embedded fonts? Give us something to work with, and we can make suggestions, Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Verbose vs Dotose
> I get an error using this: > > put(castLib(1).member(1).name) > > and this one works > > put the name of member 1 of castLib 1 > > Does that mean that it'll work only in verbose syntax? Version? [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Dot syntax for 'delete the last char of...'
> > Is there a way of expressing "delete the last char of > myString" using > > dot syntax? > > Yes: delete myString[myString.char.count] With the caveat that it only works in MX 2004. Cheers to the Director team for a more complete dot syntax this time around! Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Setting file access
> Looks like buddy can do this: > baSetFilePermissions( "Macintosh HD:users:shared:somefile", > "o", "rw" ) Thanks, Cole, Kurt. That did the trick. I had to update from Buddy 1.4 to 1.5 to get the OS X tricks. Cole, it turns out that creating the file isn't enough. Other users will have read-only access, in my tests. Buddy did the trick nicely, though. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: turning off useHypertextStyles thru Lingo REPOST
> Sorry, haven't seen either of those... Don't know how that > could happen--I watch my email around the clock... Can I > persuade someone to resend, perhaps off-list? Many thanks! > Sorry for the extra traffic. S. I've got him covered, folks. No reason for him to get 10 copies ^_^ Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Setting file access
> Looks like buddy can do this: > baSetFilePermissions( "Macintosh HD:users:shared:somefile", > "o", "rw" ) > > But you might not need the above. I'd do a quick test. If the file is > created while the user is running the program and is created in the > shared folder, you may find that the file is already accessible by > others. Funny, my Buddy docs didn't list that format for the call. I'll give it a try. Thank, Cole. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Setting file access
> I use BuddyApi for everything like that That was my first instinct, too, but I don't see a way to do that. Setting file attributes just sets them for the current user. I tried--created a file in "shared", set the attributes in Buddy, switched users--cannot access the file. OS X 10.3, Dir MX. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
Setting file access
Is there any way to set file access privileges from Director? I'm creating some user tracking files on OS X, and I want any user to be able to read and write that file. Ideally, I'd create a folder in "Shared", and give all users read and write access. Can you do that from Director? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
Setting rights
I need to set rights on a file when I write it. It want it to be readable and writeable by any user. The best option appears to be to use fx_FileSetWriteState and fx_FolderSetWriteState from FileXtra4. Can anybody verify that if, say, I'm logged in as an administrator and create a file, then later log on as a limited user, I can still access this file? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Font problem
> This is a GREAT response, and should be codified somewhere in > the www.macromedia.com/support/director site. *blush* Well, fwiw, that was from an article I submitted for the MX User's Journal. If it's accepted and published, it will at least be in print. Slava, you said you have had success with these fonts. I'm guessing that you are able to get Czech fonts to display on Latin-2 (code page 1250) systems, and Russian on CP 1251 systems. I've had some success with embedding Czech and Russian fonts on English Windows. You can get the display to work sometimes, but xplat is pretty dicey, and of course, input without a Russian keyboard is hopeless. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Font problem
> I tried to use the Czech font in DirectorMX2004 - but some > characters changes to other characters. Even by dynamically > loading the text form XML or text files the characters like u > changes to u. Please help me with this! Ah, if you could only wait a couple of months, you could read the article I just wrote. In the meantime, I think you're running into a code page problem. Either that, or you're using Unicode, which Director doesn't support. Flash does, even in Director--just don't try to pass a Unicode string to or from Director. Windows uses ANSI encoding for text--kind of an extension of the old ASCII encoding. ASCII is a 7-bit standard, and only covers characters 0-127. ANSI defines the other 128 characters. The upper range of ANSI is where you will find characters like ü, È, and other accented characters used in Western European languages. Macintosh uses a similar encoding, but there are some differences in the top 128 characters. ANSI is essentially the same as ISO 8859-1, or Latin 1, a specification that defines character codes for just about every Western European language. And here's the rub--Czech isn't Western European, and isn't covered by ANSI or ISO 8859-1. It's specified by ISO 8859-2, which covers Central and Eastern European languages that use the Roman alphabet (as opposed to, say, Cyrillic or Greek). Chances are that your font has Czech characters in it, but you can't get to them. That's because the Czech characters are on code page 1250, and English Windows, and English Director, uses Code Page 1252. Font publishers often include several national character sets--it's simpler if you can just install Arial, and have Roman 1 on an English system and Cyrillic on a Russian system. You could imagine a font as a stack, something like this: Code Page ISO 8859 - 12508859-2 12518859-5 (Cyrillic) 12528859-1 (Latin 1) 12538859-7 (Greek) 12548859-9 (Turkish) 12558859-8 (Hebrew) And so on--read my article for more details. Director doesnt do a good job with anything other than code page 1252, ISO 8859-1 on Windows, and the corresponding encoding on Macintosh. It's a shame, really, because I can install a Russian font on my computer and type a letter in Russian with Word (well, I could if I spoke Russian). The best work-around I have found is to create a Czech font on code page 1252 and embed it in Director. It's more work than it needs to be, but at least it works. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Lingo Animation Optimization Test
> How would this speed things up? I think it will speed things up if you have something like this: on exitFrame nothing end Otherwise the next exitFrame handler--e.g., in your frame script--gets called. If you have a timeout that's running significantly faster than your frame rate, it keeps it from doing a lot of extra processing. It's been discussed a fair amount in the past--enough that I know it's an issue, but I'm afraid I wasn't paying close enough attention. Somebody else should give you the skinny--Buzz? Jakob? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Lingo Animation Optimization Test
> I am looking forward to seeing how this could be reduced to one line of code. ;-) I'll leave that up to Colin. He's the one-line champion. Your code is very clean, and you obviously know what you're doing. As to assigning the member to the sprite, I don't see how you could do that more efficiently if you're creating animations on the fly. If you're using film loops, I've got a nifty little script that will tell you when the film loop is done: property pLoopSpriteNum property pMyOwner property pMyCallback property pSkipAnim on new me, loopSprite, myOwner, myCallBack pLoopSpriteNum = loopSprite pMyOwner = myOwner pMyCallBack = myCallBack pSkipAnim = FALSE add the actorList, me return me end on stepFrame me tell sprite(pLoopSpriteNum) atEndOfLoop = (the frame = the lastFrame) end tell if atEndOfLoop or pSkipAnim then call (pMyCallBack, pMyOwner) end if end on mouseUp me pSkipAnim = TRUE end I notice you don't have any handlers for frame events in your object. A timeout object sends frame events--I'm not sure which ones, off the top of my head, but if you put prepareFrame, enterFrame, and exitFrame handlers in your object, it will speed things up. Somebody help me here--it's been a while since I've used timeOut objects for animations. How exactly do you handle frame events to keep them from bogging down the timeOut? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Lingo Animation Optimization Test
> I have been performing some optimization tests for lingo > driven animations. The results may be downloaded here: > http://www.lifelinestudios.com/animation_optimization_test.dir > Any thoughts or input? It's what I would have expected. If you use the member name, Lingo has to parse the string and find the member every time. You eliminate that step by using the reference or number. Updatestage is a huge timewaster if it's not needed (and it usually isn't--one dependable sign of a beginning programmer is liberal use of updatestage). I can't comment on setting the sprite's member out of context. I'd have to see the rest of the code. In fact, if you posted the code, I bet you'd get a whole bunch more optimizations. Colin would probably reduce the whole thing to one line that would run 437 times faster than anybody else's. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Language and DoubeByte Language
> The product has some character entry...file names, order > stuff, etc. And > there's also some character parsing like "Using % to wash > your clothes is > &." where they intend to have strings translated into > multiple languages > and hopefully still do some parse-replacing of characters. The character entry will still need the native-language system, unless you are restricting entry to few enough characters that they can choose from an on-screen palette. I don't see that type of parsing as a problem. I assume you will be saving possible answers as separate entities, so you won't have to parse the Chinese, Japanese, or Korean text. I don't know if you saw my original response a week ago, so forgive me if I repeat myself. I'm not so familiar with Korean, but Chinese and Japanese have no natural word breaks like most Western languages do, and that makes parsing a real challenge. There are several issues: - They may or may not use spaces. If they do, spaces will not necessarily indicate a word break. - There is no set sort order for Chinese/Kanji characters that corresponds with our alphabetic ordering. There are a few commonly-used ordering schemes, but nothing universally-agreed upon. - Words can break across lines without hyphens. - There is no way, other than context, to know if a character is a self-standing word, or part of a multi-character word. For example, "you" in Chinese (pronounced "yo", like Sylvester Stallone would). It can be used by itself, it can be the first character in a word (you-yi, friendship), or it can be the last character in a word (peng-you, friend). Likewise, the "yi" in "you-yi" and the "peng" in "peng-you" can appear in different contexts. - Japanese freely mixes kanji, katakana, hiragana, and romaji. - Chinese is usually read from left to right, but can be right to left, or top to bottom. I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Parsing CCJK is several orders of magnitude more difficult than alphabetic languages. If you're going to have to parse unknown input, you will need to set aside a huge chunk of time and money to develop your parsing routines. And, they will be different for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Language and DoubeByte Language
> Entry and display. CCJK Text entry means the user _must_ have the appropriate language system, either native or add-in like Twin Bridge. Literate Chinese means knowing about 4,000 characters--you need about 3,000 just to read newspaper, and a scholar will know 8,000-10,000. Japanese requires about 2,000 Chinese characters (Kanji), plus hiragana, katakana, and romaji. With that many characters, there is no Chinese keyboard. Rather, CCJK use an "Input Method Editor," or IME, which allows the user to enter a character with a few keystrokes. In Chinese alone, there are a half-dozen commonly-used schemes for entering characters, and the IME must support them. So, it's impractical to write a routine in Director to allow the user to enter multibyte characters (Chinese , Chinese , Japanese, Korean). If you had the language knowledge, you could maybe write your own IME in a year or two, probably as an xtra. In short, input on a system that doesn't support it is a Very Very Big Job. That probably means that you will need to test on the native language systems, plus systems with the add-in. > Not sharing. But will need to interact with the user and the > user's computer. How will the data need to interact with the user? Is it a matter of displaying info they have typed in, like name? That should be pretty straightforward. If you're trying to parse data, though look out. That's a real tough assignment. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Sorting lists properly
> How do you get it to go wrong? Here's what I get: > > t = [1,17,129] > put t > -- [1, 17, 129] > sort t > put t > -- [1, 17, 129] > > t = [129,1,17] > put t > -- [129, 1, 17] > sort t > put t > -- [1, 17, 129] Hmm... so it is. I could have sworn I got it to misbehave an hour ago, but it's doing it right now. I'm going to have to go back and figure out how I got it to break. Jim was seeing the same thing. Was it mass hysteria? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Sorting lists properly
> The problem is though is > that it only takes the first two characters into > consideration when it sorts it, so when I add numbers > like 1, 17, 129, etc the 129 appears before the 17 in > the list. Yuck. So it does, even in a linear list, even with numbers and no alpha characters. The only thing I can think of is to use your own sort routine and add the list items at specified points in an unsorted list. Is there an xtra that will do this better? Preg maybe? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Sorting lists properly
> I've been playing around with the sort function for my > property lists in order to have a sorted list that I > can add properties to at any time in any order and > have it sort it correctly. The problem I'm having is > that when you add numbers like 1, 17 and 129 it only > sorts them up to the 2nd character so 129 comes before > 17 in the list. Also some of these numbers are > followed by a letter such as 15a, 15b, 15c, etc and > these are entered in any order as well. Director will sort the list the way you want as long as you add numbers. It looks like you're adding strings as properties, though, so Director is sorting them (correctly, but not the way you want) by ASCII value. You can't use value() when you're adding properties, because that will return for 15a, and that would really upset Howdy-tzi. Is there any way you can use numbers for your properties? Can you use decimals (15.1, 15.2, etc.) or charToNum() instead of letters? That would work. In the message window: pl=[1: "a", 2: "b", 12:"c"] pl.sort() put pl -- [1: "a", 2: "b", 12: "c"] pl.addProp(1.5, "d") put pl -- [1: "a", 1.5000: "d", 2: "b", 12: "c"] Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: flash/director
> i have this project that mix 2 flash swf files integrated in > a director > enviorment. > one of the problems that arose was that i need one flash swf > inside the > projector to command the other swf file to execute some > task do any > body knows how could it be solved this clue > thanks from advanced. I think you'll need to go through Director, like two kids who aren't speaking to each other. "Daddy, tell Flashy to go to frame 500." Flash uses getURL:Lingo to send commands to Director. Director has a wide variety of ways of communicating with Flash--check the online help. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Window in front
> Hello, > > I am opening a projector.exe from a projector. The problem > is that the projector that I am opening is opening behind the > first projector application. Is there a way tell which > application should be in the forefront. Have you tried Buddy's baWindowToFront? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Black flashes in MX2004
> Hi! > I have just translated a large project from MX into MX2004. > It has a number of dirs which go from one to the other, and > casts which are > shared. The casts are being switched depending on what > language is being used. > > It works well in authoring, but in the projector, there is a > lengthy black > flash between some of the dirs. I've seen this some times when there is a blank frame at the end or beginning of a movie, or you are manipulating a lot of assets in a prepareMovie or beginSprite handler. Do you have a bitmap that you can be sure is on stage when you call go to movie, and is on stage in the first frame of the next movie? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Dynamic Flash Sprite
> You might try calling the 'goToFrame' after an 'exitframe' cycle.
>
> The way you have it now the Flash sprite does not have a
> chance to initialize before you're giving it commands.
That was it, John. Thanks. I added an updateStage just before the
goToFrame and it works fine now.
Next question--is there a way to get Flash to call an object in the
Director movie? I have a navigation manager object, and it would be nice
to have it get the callback.
The Flash movie has this: getURL("lingo:flashAnimDone");
The only way I can figure to get the flashAnimDone call to the object is
to catch it in a movie-level handler or a behavior attached to the
sprite. Neither is particularly onerous, but it would be nice if I could
call the object directly.
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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RE: Dynamic Flash Sprite
> It's a silly thing, but are you sure that you're passing > strings to flash? Yep. I can see it in the debugger. Actually, the cast member name and the frame are the same [string] variable in my code. I changed them in the code I posted to avoid confusion. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Hybrid DVD
> But aren't DVD-R data discs burned in a different format that > CD-ROM data disc's? Yes, but that shouldn't make a difference. CD-ROM, Zip Disks, hard drives, network drives--they're all different formats. As long as Windows or Mac can recognize it as a disk, and the read the files, it shouldn't make a lot of difference where they reside. Of course there are different formats for DVD, the plus and dash. I think most DVD writers and readers now can do both. Dual-layer writeable DVD's are coming, too, with 9 GB of storage. Still shouldn't make any difference. Just don't try to write to them at run time ^_^ Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
Dynamic Flash Sprite
I think I'm missing something obvious here. Dir MX, Win XP Pro. I'm creating a Flash sprite at runtime, but it's crashing with "handler not found in object" when I issue a goToFrame command. The code is pretty straightforward: pAnimSprite.rect= member(animMemberName).rect pAnimSprite.member = member(animMemberName) pAnimSprite.loc = animLoc pAnimSprite.goToFrame(frameLabelName) Everything checks out in the debugger. The right sprite is getting loaded, it's going in the right place, and the right frame label is being called. pAnimSprite is a 0-pixel holder before getting assigned. The Flash cast member is #lockStep (there's a callback), #static, #Loop and #DTS are false. I've tested it in a movie with the Flash sprite on stage, rather than being dynamically assigned, and everything works as I would expect. Ideas on what else I need to do to kick it into gear? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Unwanted highlight
> This is what i use to get rid of unwanted hilites. I've only > encountered this problem when switching between applications, > so your mileage may vary > :) > > on activateApplication > the stagecolor = the stagecolor > end Thanks, Marvin. I'll give it a try. A couple of people have suggested it happens when a dialog box is up, which seems to be the case for me. Before the print or save dialog box, the selelction = [9, 9]. Afterwards it's [0, 9]. I've tried setting the selection back to [0, 0] after issuing the print or save command, but the selection seems to be getting set when the print or save is done. That makes me wonder: is there any way I can tell when the print job is done? I could use a timeOut object to reset the selection after a second or so, but if there was a callback, or a property I could check, it would be great. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Unwanted highlight
> Are there any other windows - for example, a print dialog - > displayed? I've > seen this happen when something else "steals" focus such that when it > returns to the stage, editable text sprites are > selected/highlighted. Very > frustrating and I'm yet to find a satisfactory work-around. Yes, there's a print dialog or a save dialog displayed. Hmmm... At least I'm not alone. Thanks. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
Unwanted highlight
This is a bit strange. When I get data from a field, it highlights the
text. Dir MX, Win XP Pro, Mac 10.3.
I'm getting it either to print or to save. Either way, I'm calling this
handler:
on mGetPrintOutput me
printData = member("InstructionsTextMember").text & return & return &
pEditableTextMember.text
return printData
end
pEditableTextMember is a text member. Before I print or save, the
selection is equal the length. That is, if the text is 9 characters
long, the selection is [9,9]. After I print, the selection is [0,9].
I swear, I'm not setting the selection anywhere. No, I take that back--I
added a method to set the selection to [0, 0] after I print or save. No
dice. The text is still highlighted on the screen.
Has anybody run into this? Any idea what's happening?
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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RE: Borderless MIAWs
> Use a 1-bit bitmap for the windowType? Or one of the
> border-removing xtras?
> Which version of Director?
MX (not 2004). Xplat.
Do you do it with something like window("x").windowType = "bitmap name"?
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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Borderless MIAWs
I'm sure this has been covered before, but is there a way to get a borderless MIAW? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Video clip loading
> Thanks for the response. My video clips are in the cast > member of my Director movie and they do not come up at the > same time. Playing from the hard drive is not a problem. But > when I have burned the projector and all its associated files > on a CD, the videoclips do not play automatically -- it asks > "where is movieclip "moviename.mov"? Once identified or > copied on to the harddrive the projector plays fine. > > I was wondering if anyone has a suggestion about how I could > play the videoclips from the CD without having to copy my > Project Folder (which has the projector and all associated > files) on to the hard drive. Once again, you have to set the path correctly. It is looking for the videos on your hard drive. Is it QuickTime? QuickTime cast members are _always_ linked. You don't have the video in the cast member--all you have is the reference, and that reference is relative to your projector. Set the path to point to the CD and you will be fine. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Time to load movies
> I have 3 movie clips that are 20-30MB in size. These > movies come up on a mouseclick. However, after burning the > project on a CD, the projector is having a hard time playing > back the clips directly from the CD. When the whole folder is > copied to the desktop, the projector plays the movies fine. > If played from the CD, the projector asks to locate the movie clips. > > My question is -- is there a way that I can make the CD play > back the movies from the CD without having the user copy the > folder on to the desktop? Compressing the videoclips further > is not an option. I assume your projector is on the hard drive. You probably have a director structure something like this: myMovie.dir/videos/palooka.mov When you run the projector off the hard drive, it's going to expect the video to be in the same relative directory. To play it off the CD, you need to use code to set the file name of the video cast member to the directory on the CD. Now, you used a couple of terms that could be confusing--movie clip, movie, and video clip. In the Director world, we usually call the Director files the movie, and refer to digital video as video. I think that's what you meant. Another possible problem is that you're trying to play two or three videos at a time off the CD. That won't work, because the CD seek time is much, much longer than the hard disk. If you're trying to play two videos off the CD, your CD will spend more time jumping back and forth than actually reading the video data. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: KeyDown, mouseDown question
> Does that still qualify for winder shins? That's up to Steve. Maybe widdershins? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: KeyDown, mouseDown question
> Try: > > on mouseDown > if the key = "z" then > put "Z Down with a click" Steve will probably dance windershins for you, too ^_^ Just a note, though. The key doesn't indicate if the key is currently down--it gives you the ANSI code of the last key pressed. If Steve is looking for simultaneous key presses and mouse downs, I think keyPressed(0) is the function to call. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Scrolling
> Creating the keyboard as a MIAW a possibility? That would work, too. I think I'm going to use the OSControl Xtra, though. I love the OSControl Xtra--it's in my top 5 "can't do without" list. I wasn't quite sure how to attach an OSControl Xtra with code yesterday. My movie is almost entirely code-based. You know the type--holder sprites assigned members and scripts at runtime, activity manager objects created on the fly. A couple of e-mail exchanges with James Newton confirmed that I can attach them on the fly, so it becomes easy. (James Newton's company, OpenSpark, is purveyor of the OSControl Xtra. www.openspark.com). Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: KeyDown, mouseDown question
> I'm having a problem getting a keyDown, mouseDown combination
> to work. I would like something along these lines:
>
> on mouseDown
> if (_key.key = "z") is down then
> (do this)
> else
> (do that)
> end else
> end if
> end
There's an easy way:
on mouseDown me
if keyPressed(0) then
-- knock yourself out
end if
end
If you want to get a little fancier, you could do something like this
(untested e-mail Lingo). This would be a frame script behavior.
property pKeyDown
on new me --could use beginSprite
pKeyDown = FALSE
end
on keyDown me
pKeyDown = TRUE
end
on keyUp me
pKeyDown = FALSE
end
on mGetKeyStatus
return pKeyDown
end
---
Then this script attached to the sprite:
on mouseDown me
bKeyIsDown = sendSprite(0, #mGetKeyStatus)
if bKeyIsDown then
-- the key will give you the last key pressed
-- knock yourself out
end if
end
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
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RE: Scrolling
> Since its a kludge anyways, you could throw up a sprite with an image > of scroll bars when you turn the system scroll bars off. That kind of goes along with the idea of grabbing the image of the text. It's not a bad idea, actually. Whenever you start dragging the sprite, just send a message to the activity manager object. Grab the image, put it in a sprite, move the text sprite offstage and replace it with the image. Some good suggestions. Thanks, folks. I'll come up with a solution, probably one that combines a couple of suggestions. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Scroll bar issues
> Well, there are the pre-made custom scrollbar behaviors that > come with Director. If you don't want to use them, I have > some pretty decent ones I made myself that require no > customization to be able to drop on and use easily. Thanks, Charles. I know about the behaviors, and I have some of my own. The problem is time. There are a dozen or so objects that are affected. If I can find a quicker way than recoding a dozen activities, I'll use it. If not, I'll either bite the bullet, or the client will have to make a choice--accept the quirk or delay the release. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Scroll bar issues
> OK, now I'm curious. I haven't seen any response, good or > bad, to my suggestion of the OSControls Xtra scroll bar > widget. What does everyone have against it? Nothing. Actually, I think it's a good idea. It might be a fair amount of work in my project, so I don't know if it's the approach I will use, but it's a good one. I own and use OSControl, and I like it a lot. It's just that we're in beta, and it's a bit late to be making that drastic of a change. This affects ten or fifteen different activities, so it would be a lot of rewrite and testing. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Scrolling
> Not sure how well this would work, but one cheesy solution > could be to set the 'boxType' property to #fixed while that > particular sprite is overlapping the text member and then set > it back to #scroll once it moves away. I thought of that, but I don't think the scroll bar goes away unless you do a media=media thing. I don't think the client would go for the look, anyway. The scroll bar disappearing and reappearing would be kind of weird. Good idea, though. Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
RE: Scroll bar issues
> Custom scroll bar. Ugh. Not really an option. Too much code, too little time. Any other way? Cordially, Kerry Thompson [To remove yourself from this list, or to change to digest mode, go to http://www.penworks.com/lingo-l.cgi To post messages to the list, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Problems, email [EMAIL PROTECTED]). Lingo-L is for learning and helping with programming Lingo. Thanks!]
