On Mon, 10 Jan 2000, Peter Reid wrote:
> I'm very keen on the QuickTime developments in MC 2.3B3.
> Unfortunately, some of my customers will not allow QuickTime to be
> used on their Windows systems! Therefore, I need to know exactly
> what functionality is available using Video for Windows so I can plan
> the type of training interactions that I can provide using MC 2.3.
>
> For example, which of the following are supported with Video for Windows:
This has not been documented AFAIK and I didn't write this code and
don't really understand it, but I'll try to answer based on a quick
review of it. Backward compability testing has been very limited
(you're actually lucky that it works at all because we seriously
considered dropping support for VfW entirely), so your best bet is to
actually try them and find out. Either that or spend your time
developing a persuasive argument that your customers' refusal to
install QT is a mistake ;-)
Also note that you actually have better control over things using the
mciSendString function, though it can be difficult to figure out what
the proper syntax is. Unfortunately I'm not aware of any good
documentation on the MCI layer, neither from Microsoft nor from any of
the vendors of the other products that rely heavily on it (like
ToolBook).
> - player objects
> - player object properties:
> - fileName
> - currentTime
> - playRate
> - duration
> - formattedWidth, formattedHeight
> - paused
> - player object messages?
Yes.
> - showController
> - alwaysBuffer
> - startTime, endTime
> - showSelection
> - playSelection
> - callbacks
> - timescale
No. VfW doesn't have equivalents for these.
> If player objects can't be used with Video for Windows, how much
> equivalent functionality is supported using the older style "play
> videoClip" command?
The "play vc" command should work like it used to. But note that all
it does is create a temporary player object, start it, and then delete
it when the playStopped message is sent.
> For example, is it possible to display a
> controller which the user can interact with to play, pause, stop,
> rewind, step forward/backward? Also, can I tell the dimensions of a
> video clip for on-screen sizing, or where and when a clip has been
> paused by the user?
The user can't pause the clip, but you can do this from a script. You
can get the dimensions of a movie, and it should play into a player
the proper size if you set the lockLocation property of the player,
but VfW doesn't support a visible controller, so you'd have to build
your own if you need one.
Regards,
Scott
> I need to know these capabilities ASAP as it might be a show-stopper!
>
> Thanks for any help or feedback.
> Peter
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Peter Reid
> Reid-IT Limited, Loughborough, Leics., UK
> Tel: +44 (0)1509 268843 Fax: +44 (0)1509 264986
> UK Mobile: 0378 632533
> E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Web: http://www.reidit.demon.co.uk
>
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