Hello
I have a movie named "picture database" in which there is an internal cast
and an external cast named "externalcast"
I would like to have a growing projector by allowing the user to paste
pictures onto the stage which would save to the "externalcast"
Originally I thought it would be good to automate the creation of new
members but after trying this based on Mark Boyd's terrific
help, I found that this might not be necessary (self creation of new
castmembers) for my project because I would always be in a position to
define the number of members of the cast I would use. I have the original
messages copied here but I am adding exactly what I am trying to do now on
top under "new concept" so I can get some help with the lingo. Thanks to
you who read and respond.
Steven
here is the New Concept---
1. Movie named "picture database"
2. Upon opening the movie the user would be at frame 1 and would see
a. An editable text field named "entercastname" ( this would initially be
empty)
b.Instructions to the user to externally copy an image to their clipboard
and press a button called "PASTE GRAPHIC" (the pressing of this button would
paste the clipboard IMAGE onto the stage and replace a one pixel 'standin'
member already there on frame one, and it would be positioned correctly.
Besides the user seeing the image on the stage it would be placed in the
castlib "externalcast" The user would have to Name the image by the prompt
of an alert box ( if they left the field "entercastname" empty) before the
actions of the button worked correctly thereby assuring that the image,
text, or sound would be properly named in the "externalcast" and nothing
would happen if the field "entercastname" was left empty.
C. if the user wasn't pasting an image but rather some type of text it
would be the same as the previous step except the button would be a
different one called " PASTE TEXT" with the same response.
D. If the user had sound copied to the clip board they would in the same
way press a button " PASTE SOUND" for the same set of actions.
3.I, the author, of the director movie would have made markers to accomodate
the number of entries the user would place in the movie. In other words, If
the user had 200 pictures, sounds or text boxes, I would make a movie
projector for them with at least 200 markers in it. etc.
4. The point being in step 3 above is that it would allow the creation of a
button called "next" which would take the user to the next previously
arranged marker and they would do the process all over again until all the
images, texts, and sounds were placed in the movie and preserved in the
external cast "externalcast" with the proper names attached.
5. The user would have access at any time to a forward and backward button
to review the contents of the stage for accuracy, So there would be a way to
check all the movie for correct labels of each image , sound, or text.
6. If the image pasted was a sound, it would need to have the ability to
play the sound by clicking on a specific button for doing that .
7. To summarize ; I would author a movie for a client to with 200 images,
they would get a projector with predetermined markers to allow for their
number of images or text, or sounds. They would paste each image in
according to the instructions and produce a movie with all the images pasted
in that they could review at any time, and produce an external cast
"externalcast" which would be returned to me to further work with their
images already as a cast and properly labelled.
The new concept is different from the old one because I originally thought I
should have a self expanding movie which pasted in new cast members but the
idea of arranging it ahead of time is easy enough and I think the lingo
might be easier.
>From: "Mark A. Boyd" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Re: <lingo-l> x-post PASTING external cast name -
>growingprojector database?
>Date: Tue, 06 Feb 2001 04:48:48 -0800
>
>
>At 14:53 2/5/2001, Steven Frazier wrote:
Old Concept --------
>>1. A movie named "picture database"
>>2. a Field named "entercastname" where the user would enter the name of
>>the picture they paste in.
>
>This is the member name to extract the text for naming the newly created
>member (as per Florian's reply).
>
>>3. a Field named "frame" which would automatically display the frame
>>number of the movie.
>
>I would store the value in a global variable. Each time the user hits the
>New button, add 1 to the global variable and put it into this field's text
>property.
>
>>4. a "New" button for the user to advance to a new frame and do the whole
>>process once.
>
>Since you probably have no idea how many frames the user will create, you
>may want to think in pseudo frames. That is, stay on one frame in the score
>even though the user doesn't know it. Just swap the members on the fly and
>increment a variable to illustrate a "frame" number.
>
>global gFrame
>on mouseUp
> gFrame = gFrame + 1
> member("frame").text = string(gFrame)
>end
>
>>5. a Button Named " paste picture " which would do the following.
>> a. paste a picture to the stage on this frame only (one frame)
>> b. create a new cast member in an external cast named
>>"externalcast"
>> c. name that newly formed cast member with the name placed in the
>>field "entercastname" by the user to describe the picture they pasted
>>onto the stage.
>> d. When it is finished doing the above steps - it would create a
>>new blank frame - number the frame in the field "frame" and the process
>>would start all over.
>
>I might disagree with the order of things here. Thinking as the programmer
>rather than the user, you would want to create the cast member before
>attempting to place anything on the stage. Also, if hitting " paste picture
>" automatically creates a new frame, is there any need for a "New" button?
>I would probably omit that step from the paste function, but use it if it
>makes more sense in your project.
>
>As to how to dynamically place sprites in the score, there are a couple of
>popular methods. One involves puppeting an empty sprite channel and setting
>that sprite's member to your new member. Not officially supported by
>Macromedia but sworn to & loved by some of the members of this list. This
>will likely require manually setting the rect & other properties as well.
>Another popular method is to create a 0 pixel bitmap member named, say,
>"standIn" and place it on the stage. Then just set that sprite's member to
>your new member. I believe there are articles on the DOUG site at
>http://www.director-online.com that describe one or both methods in more
>detail.
>
>This might be how it would look as a behavior on the " paste picture "
>button. Note that this is UNTESTED EMAIL LINGO and doesn't have any error
>trapping or testing for what type of member is created after the paste
>function. Check into "Type (cast member property)" in the Lingo Dictionary.
>Also, beware of empty text in "membername" or duplicate names.
>
>-- over simplified
>global gFrame
>on mouseUp
> newMem = new(#text, castLib "externalcast")
> newMem.pasteClipBoardInto( )
> newMem.name = member("entercastname").text
> -- assumes you have a "standIn" member in sprite x
> -- replace x with your sprite number
> sprite(x).member = newMem
> gFrame = gFrame + 1
> member("frame").text = string(gFrame )
>end
>
>Again, I did not test the above script in your scenario. Chances are you
>would need to use a global object or global variable that stores all the
>information as the user creates the slides. Then your bitmap sprite might
>check this variable in its beginSprite handler so that it knows which
>member it's supposed to display. Perhaps a global list that you update at
>the end of each paste method. The list could look something like:
>
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