Choosing an AutoPlay Multimedia Software Development Tool

Getting started developing multimedia software applications can seem intimidating at first, especially if you’re not coming from a computer programming background. Even if you are familiar with common programming languages like C++, Delphi and Microsoft Visual Basic, developing interactive multimedia software means some very unique challenges.

There are many different software development tools that you can use, but very few are suited to the task of multimedia authoring. You want a development environment that makes it easy to combine multiple types of media into a single application. For example, a specialized multimedia software development tool like AutoPlay Media Studio, will allow you to simply drag and drop images, music, video, Adobe Flash, HTML, text and interactive control objects right onto a blank page or “canvas”, and then arrange the layout using your mouse.

Traditional programming languages can be used to build multimedia applications, but you’ll have to invest a large amount of time into learning how to adapt them to the task at hand. You’ll find that you spend a lot of timing struggling to reinvent the wheel, such as dealing with low-level graphics, handling video playback formats and streaming multiple audio channels. Don’t waste your time figuring all of these things out from scratch. You’d be much better off picking an appropriate development system that can handle these things right out of the box.

There are also a variety of tools that are suitable for making multimedia animations and simple applets, but aren’t particularly well suited for developing full software applications. I put products like Adobe Flash into that category. Flash is a fantastic tool for making website content, short videos and mini applications, but it’s really not suited for building desktop multimedia applications. You should instead look for a tool that can incorporate “bits” of Flash into your application for effect, and then extend that into a full professional software application.

Creating the visual interface to your application is the first step in multimedia software development, but that’s just the beginning. You’re going to want to tie together all of those visual elements into an interactive software product. For example, if you have a button on your application screen that says “Install Software”, you need a way to hook in the logic and events that make that button do something! A good multimedia software development tool will make this extremely easy on you, the programmer.

Whether you’re making an autorun CD / DVD menu system, a database front-end or a software training application, the basic process is the same. There is an “object” like a “button” that has “events” like “Mouse Click” associated with it. When that event occurs, the program will execute a particular sequence of actions, or a “script”. What that script does should be totally in your control. For example, AutoPlay Media Studio has a library of over 750 functions that you can use, including running programs, sending email, copying files, parsing XML data and much more. The more actions you have at your disposal, the faster you can create your software applications without having to develop any custom code.

Once your application has been developed, you’re going to want to distribute your software to your customers. That’s sometimes the most complicated step in the process. If you use a product like Visual Basic, you may have dozens of ActiveX controls, OCX controls or other addons and libraries that need to be distributed as well. Keeping track of them all can be a real headache. On the other hand, products like AutoPlay Media Studio generate a single-file executable, without any external dependencies. Additionally, it can burn your application right to an AutoPlay CD-ROM or DVD-ROM that will autorun as soon as your customer inserts it into their computer. Alternatively, if you distribute your software from your website, you can just upload that single autorun.exe to your site and your customers can download it directly. No software installation or setup wizard required!

Getting started with multimedia software development can be difficult if you choose the wrong programming tools, but if you do your research and choose an appropriate agile software development tool, you’ll be able to rapidly create professional multimedia software applications in no time.

About the Author
Colin Adams is the President of Indigo Rose Software Design Corporation. Indigo Rose has been creating professional software development tools like AutoPlay Media Studio since 1991 and can be found on the web at http://www.indigorose.com.

Create Windows 7 Compatible Software Installers with Setup Factory 8.2

(WINNIPEG) – Indigo Rose Software today announced the launch of Setup Factory 8.2 with full support for Microsoft Windows 7. Software developers can now build a single software installer program that works just as well on the latest Windows operating systems (Windows 7, Server 2008, Vista) as it does on legacy systems like Windows 95, 98, 2000 and XP. This makes Setup Factory 8.2 a unique solution for software developers who require the widest compatibility for their setup programs.

An easy-to-use Project Wizard helps programmers create ready-to-build software installation projects in minutes. They can simply drag and drop files and folders onto the project window and they’re ready to build. Setup Factory outputs a compact, single-file setup.exe that is ideal for distribution via Internet download, CD/DVD-ROM, USB memory keys and corporate networks.

“Indigo Rose is excited to launch this new version of Setup Factory,” said Colin Adams, President at Indigo Rose Software Design Corporation. “Making Setup Factory compatible with Microsoft Windows 7 ensures that our customers can deploy their software development projects on the widest variety of Windows operating systems possible. It’s just one more reason that over 20,000 companies worldwide rely on Indigo Rose’s software development tools to help deliver their digital products.”

While retaining Setup Factory’s popular visual development environment, Setup Factory 8.2 also includes a fully featured scripting engine. It has everything from “for, repeat and while” loops, to “if/else” conditions, functions, variables and associative arrays. With a library of over 360+ functions and a fill-in-the-blanks style Action Wizard, advanced installers can be created to handle even the most sophisticated installation tasks. High-level actions are provided to make registry changes, call DLL functions, execute programs, start and stop services, interact with web scripts, enumerate processes, parse XML data, download files and much more.

With Setup Factory 8.2’s Visual Dialog Editor and Skin/Theme System, software engineers can create installers that even the marketing department can approve of. Developers can either create custom install wizard dialogs from scratch, or select from 20+ ready-made dialogs such as license agreement acceptance and serial number verification. Once the dialog sequence has been created, installation developers can then choose from dozens of pre-made visual themes, letting them customize background images, fonts, logos, colors and other style settings with a single click.

Other features of Setup Factory 8.2 include high performance LZMA data compression with up to 300% better compression ratios and 20% faster installation speed, automatic Authenticode signing, support for files larger than 2GB, an extensive Windows Installer MSI action library, auto-detecting international language support, HTML-based project reports, full uninstaller, silent install mode, and support for automated builds.

Setup Factory 8.2 sells for $395 (US$) per developer or $995 for the Five Developer Team Pack. It can be purchased through all major software development tools resellers, or directly from Indigo Rose Software at http://www.indigorose.com. A free 30-day trial download is available from the company’s website.

###

Setup Factory 8.2

Perfect for those projects needing the custom installation logic that only a scripted installer can give you. It’s extremely easy to use, but it’s also incredibly powerful.