>I started out with one frame. I clicked-on the frame and then the script
>button to enter:
>
>on exitFrame
> go the frame
>end
>
>This is suppose to create an endless loop which I suppose technically can
>not be exited easily.
Close. It does loop, but it can be exited easily.
I know what's happening to you, but let me lay some groundwork first.
To understand how Director works, imagine a frame script as an object that
receives event messages. Let's say you have your tempo set to 15 fps. Your
frame script will receive these messages 15 times per second:
prepareFrame
enterFrame
exitFrame
The prepareFrame event lets you do things offstage that you don't want the
user to see.
Then, on enterFrame, stuff happens on stage.
After the enterFrame event, you have a hiatus in which you can do
things--trap mouse events, do calculations, whatever. It's here that it's
easy to break out of a loop--just use a go to frame command.
Now, here's what's happening to you. Your commands are being executed just
like you expect. The "go to frame 2" is working exactly as it should. The
problem is, you haven't told Director what to do next. Without a script in
subsequent frames, it thinks it has reached the end of the movie, and goes
back to frame 1.
You can confirm this by copying the frame script from frame 1 to frame to.
You will see it now goes to frame 2 and loops.
You could also confirm this by changing the tempo to 1 fps and watching the
playback head.
An interesting side note is that you will probably eventually have a lot of
1 fps movies if you get heavily into Lingo. Somewhat counter-intuitively,
you get better performance on some things at a slower tempo--audio, video,
flash animations, for example, work better because they are not constantly
being interrupted by the frame events.
While you're at it, look at your control panel. I don't remember what D5
looked like exactly, but in D8 there's an icon that is either a straight
right arrow and a "|", or an arrow that curves back on itself. This
controls whether the movie automatically loops, or continues to play.
>The strange part is that I have read of this problem before, but I have yet
>to see an example of "going to pages" in director. The program problem was
>listed at Macromedia site, but I have yet to see a working example of this
>simple task.:(
Believe me, it works, and darn well--don't give up yet :-) You've just
begun to explore one of the most powerful and flexible multimedia and Web
authoring tools in existence. Expect some bumps on the road, and a steep
learning curve--but also some help from your friendly neighborhood Lingo List.
I do strongly suggest, though, that you get Director 8. It's light years
ahead of Director 5. You can download an evaluation copy free from the
Macromedia Web site and try it out for 30 days. A lot of things have
changed--the score style, Lingo commands, even the basic runtime engine. If
you're going to learn, you should take advantage of the latest and best
version.
Good luck, and check in with us from time to time as you discover more
questions :-) In the meantime, lurk, and read the postings--you'll learn an
amazing amount from the folks here. You'll learn quickly whose interests
correspond with yours, but there are some really, really bright people on
the list--Colin Holgate, Zac, Luke Wigley, Jakob Hede Madsen, Ike
Eisenhauer, Irv Kalb, Mark Jonkman, Robert Wingate, Terry Schussler, James
Newton, Roy Pardi, Stephane Comeau, Fumio Nonaka, even Rob Koberg. I'm sure
I've left off some of the major contributors, but if you watch for posts
from those folk, you can't go wrong.
Cordially,
Kerry Thompson
Learning Network
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