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zymad
03-26-2004, 01:22 AM
Hey there folks...

Been looking through forum stumped with this one still...

Been a few discussions on the use of preloaders and Dlg messages used when loading/opening a large file through AMS...

My current project see's me creating a menu whereby the user hits a button and it loads/opens a RoboDemo .exe video demo, the largest of these files comes in at around 18.2M...the problem I've had is the drag between user hitting button and the movie starting can be as much as 15 seconds and that's on my system so the time drag on a standard user's system would be unacceptable :(

I am still relatively new to this kind of design and not yet up to full speed with the scripting although working hard at getting there :D

So the question lol :

1. Is there some way that I could preload the videos ro something on page entry and not have the visibilty set as a workaround.

2. Or how can I use a preloader correctly, or for that matter the StatusDlg message, I have tried both and they appear only for a split second and then are gone leaving user with the blank screen thinking nothings happening...

3. Has anyone come up with another workaround for a similar problem...?

Any help on this folks would be very appreciated as this has kept me going all night and I still ain't any further on :wow

Thx

zym

yosik
03-26-2004, 05:44 AM
zym,
looks simple enough.
1. on previous page, run your file in minimized status and disable wait (thus, the app is only on the taskbar and AMS continues.
2. check open apps and run the one you want.

This is, of course, based on the assumption that loading your app doesn't interfere with AMS. A bit a pre-planning might be needed.

Good luck
Yossi

zymad
03-26-2004, 11:55 AM
Thanks for ther pointers on this yossi, haev looked at what you suggest and have also tried to put a little of something worm came up with a while back that really got my interest up...

showthread.php?s=&threadid=6272&highlight=windowhandle

the only thing stopping me at the mo (lol and there's always something) is getting to grips with the 'Get Window Handle' side of things...

I have no clue on how to obtain an app's window handle :oops

Been looking through the example that worm posted on the above thread (fade dot apz) to try and think of a way to apply it to this instance...

My buttons to start the RoboDemo.exe's are on page 4 of my project, have thought about inserting an action like FileRun to open all the video's (although this mightreally slow things up!!!) on PageShow event then get the window's (plural) handles and use the WindowHide action until the corresponding button is pressed for each 'Video'...

But as always this seems to be a 'Long-Winded' process and I can't help thinking there's an easier way of doing it that I'm just not seeing at the moment !!!???

Will keep experimenting in the meantime but if anyone has any clues to give as to the wonders of WindowHandles I'm all ears ;)

thx folks

zym

Worm
03-26-2004, 12:03 PM
Be specific about what you want to know on this, and I'd be glad to offer any assistance where I can.

zymad
03-26-2004, 12:15 PM
hiya again worm...

thx for the offer here...

erm where to start...

I have 4 tutorials at the mo they are on page 4 of my AMS project, the problem I've experienced is the start time for each when they are selected by the user, presently I'm using the File.Run action when a button is pressed to load and play each tutorial.

The largest tutorial is 18.2 M is size and the smallest is around 13 M, they have been produced with RoboDemo as RD.exe's although have the choice to produce them in SWF format (although file size does not get greatly reduced here) I want to cut down the time from the user hitting the button to displaying the video at the mo it takes approx up to 15 secs to display the tutorials and thats a long wait...

Your example app that I referred to has you opening an app and fading it in, so I thought there might be a way of when I start my AMS project or open page 4 that I could also open/run the videos but set there visiblity to nil or use the window hide action...

however I can't figure how to code it

ie. i can't obtain the window handle of my video's and/or set there visible qualities...?

I figure if the videos are already loaded and actually 'open' that I could set the buttons to simply set the visible qualities of each video when clicked on this should overcome the problem of the loading time I have at the moment...

does this make any sense...????? :ok


hope you can point me in right direction here mate....

thx zym

csd214
03-26-2004, 01:34 PM
At first: I don’t want to “compete” with Worm. the Great Knight of the User Forums (his kind contributions are more worth than a beer…).

But, in another thread (http://www.indigorose.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=6930) I had example code how to load Acrobat Reader at start up and use it on page 3. The code shows how to retrieve the windows handle.

I’m not sure whether this is an answer to your question.

zymad
03-26-2004, 02:00 PM
Thx for the pointers on that earlier post it actually helped explain a few things quite well...have been badgering away in the meantime and meant a little more now that I've been doing some reading up :)

Have also come up with quite a satisfactory solution aswell I think !!!! :D

I have inserted a flash object into my page:

Visibilty = False
Size = 2,2
Play = False

my page Preload :

Flash.Load (my file)

and the OnClick event of my buttons :

Flash.SetVisible ("Flash1" , True)
Flash.SetSize ("Flash1", 1024 , 768)
Flash.SetPos ( 0 , 0)
Flash.Play ("Flash1")

the example here is for only one of the videos of course...

still having a slight hiccup with the SetSize and Position though at the mo can't get the video to play full window size still :(

but as for the time delay thats disappeared and working well as when user hits the button my videos appears almost instantly :D

any ideas on how to solve my size/position problem, would be welcomed though....


thx zym

zymad
03-26-2004, 02:03 PM
lol

:oops

no comments on the size and position aswell please...didn't think of how that might appear really did I...

or is that just my over active mind at work...!!!!

Worm
03-26-2004, 02:16 PM
I'd go about it this way. Set the visible property to true after you've moved the Flash object into positon.

Flash.SetSize ("Flash1", 1024 , 768)
Flash.SetPos ("Flash1", 0 , 0)
Flash.SetVisible ("Flash1" , True)
Flash.Play ("Flash1")

zymad
03-26-2004, 02:21 PM
thx for the suggestion there worm...

have tried the way you suggested previously but to no avail...

the flash demo simply gets cropped into my AMS project window...?????

so instead of playing in fullscreen mode as it is (actually recorded at 1024x768) it's inserted into a 630x425 (AMS page size) window ????

any clues on how to start it fullscreen and set it to correct position upon desktop at all...

zym