Great question.
A Lingo.ini file lets you do a very limited number of commands - its main
value is to set up some global variables before the start of the movie. It
also used to be used to load some XObjects (precursors of Xtras), though
its value for that I think started to disappear in D4 - it certainly was
gone in D5. You can do some 'put' commands. You cannot for the most part
call any handlers or anything else from them, and you have access to the
most limited of Director calls, if any, perhaps 'set the centerStage to
TRUE'. Nowadays with 'on prepareMovie' functionality in Director, you
don't need LINGO.INI to set things up in advance before the first frame
executed.
Prior to Director 6, I think, you had to make sure to ship a LINGO.INI
files with most projectors, even if the file was empty, otherwise you'd get
some error or complaint every time you ran the projector, at least on
certain systems. I've forgotten the specifics now, though I did write an
article on it at some point. It certainly was an issue with Director 4,
and I think it was to a lesser degree an issue with Director 5.
Also, at least in 5 and 6, I think, there was a command in there that did
some math assignment like 'if string(0.0)="a" then nothing', the purpose of
which was to initialize the floating point system or something so it
wouldn't crash later.
Nowadays you don't really need LINGO.INI, at least from D7 on, but it's
there if you want it.
Lingo.ini is normally demonstrated with an 'on startUp' handler, but as I
think I demonstrated once, it doesn't really matter what you call the
handler and, in fact, I think having it in the form of a handler was
optional altogether, though don't hold me to that. Director just seemed to
parse whatever was in there and act on it. It certainly didn't invoke
startUp() by name.
You have to understand that in a former life, Director would put up the
first frame and THEN it would call startMovie, if I recall, so the big
purpose of lingo.ini was to get an opportunity to get your fingers on the
system before it got too fired up. Modern day calls like 'on prepareMovie'
and 'on prepareFrame' alleviate the need for this. You guys nowadays have
it too easy. :)
- Tab
At 11:38 AM 4/18/01 -0400, Charlie Fiskeaux II wrote:
>What is the purpose of a lingo.ini file?
>
>Charlie Fiskeaux II
>The Creative Group
>www.cre8tivegroup.com
>859/858-9054 x29
>cell: 859/312-3883
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