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| 3 | <title>Untitled</title> |
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| 5 | <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> |
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| 6 | <br> |
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| 7 | <font face="Arial" size=4><b>Handler Menu</font></b><font size=3> by Alex da Franca -- </font><a href="mailto:alex@farbflash.de"><font color="#000096"><u>alex@farbflash.de<p> |
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| 8 | </a></font></u><font color="#000000">Quickly <b>execute handlers</b> which are found in the <b>currently open stage movie</b> from this menu.<br> |
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| 9 | Holding the <b>Option/Alt</b> key pressed, while selecting a menu item <b>opens the script</b> and highlights the handler in the editor instead of executing the handler.<br> |
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| 10 | Holding the <b>Shift key</b> pressed <b>copies the syntax</b> into the clipboard instead of executing the handler. So you can paste it in the script you are currently working in.<br> |
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| 11 | You can <b>constrain</b> the handlers which get listed in the "Handlers" menu using the <b>search field</b>. Now only handlers containing the string in the search field will be listed in the menu. If the search string <b>starts with</b> the reserved character "*" the search is executed as "match starts with chunk", if the search-string <b>ends with</b> "$" the search is executed as "match ends with chunk".<br> |
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| 12 | There is also a <b>"Utilities" menu</b> with some of my <b>authoring helper handlers</b>, which I frequently use, but don't have in the castlib of every movie, as I do not use them at runtime. So instead of adding the script to my movie, to have the handlers appear in the "Handlers" menu, I simply have some "built-in" functions.<br> |
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| 13 | Access and control both menus via the keyboard. <b>Ctrl+TAB opens the "Utilities"</b> menu and <b>Ctrl+Shift+TAB opens the "Handlers"</b> menu. It may take some milliseconds to register the key-events, as I don't get keyDown events in an inactive MIAW, so I poll them on a regular basis. This also means, that the menu appears even, if director is in the background :-( If you want to disable the keyboard-control just uncomment it in the framescript "keyboardNavigation_FrameLoop" (member(2,1)). Once the menu is showing you can use the cursor keys to navigate the menu and the RETURN key to execute.<p> |
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| 14 | </font><font size=4><b>Important Note!<br> |
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| 15 | </font></b><font size=3>This movie calls the sleep method of the UIHelper xtra on idle, as otherwise the CPU usage would permantly be very high and not only consume my powerbook battery power, but also heat the computer up and make the fan spin as if there is no tomorrow. In order to avoid that stupid behavior I spin the performance down making the engine release the cpu for 1 tick on mac (1/60 second) and 1 millisecond on a windows PC on every idle event. This impacts the playback speed of your movie too. So keep in mind, to close the tool miaw, if you make performance tests with your movie. Or, if you prefer, turn this feature of by simply commenting the line in the "on idle" handler in the first movie script.<br> |
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| 16 | <p> |
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| 17 | </font><font size=4><b>Requirements:<br> |
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| 18 | </font></b><font size=3>This movie requires the Xtra "BuddyMenu" from Gary Smith, the maker of many great Xtras, like for example the indispensable "BuddyAPI". Get it the latest version at: </font><a href="http://www.mods.com.au/BudMenu/index.htm"><font color="#000096"><u>http://www.mods.com.au/BudMenu/index.htm<p> |
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| 19 | </a></font></u><font color="#000000">In order to open the script editor and highlight the match (selecting a handlername in the menu while pressing the Option/Alt key) the <b>UIHelper xtra (Win: JavaUiHelper.x32)</b> is required.<br> |
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| 20 | The UIHelper Xtra is one of the standard Xtras, which were delivered with Director until version 8, as part of the 'save as java' xtra components.<br> |
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| 21 | The UIHelper xtra is also in the standard-install of Director MX and MX2004. Director 8.5 is missing the xtra, but fortunately the UIHelper Xtra from version 8 works with 8.5 as well. If you use "HandlerMenu" with D 8.5, copy the UIHelper Xtra from previous versions over to your D 8.5 Xtras folder.<br> |
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| 22 | Note: You need to have the java components installed in Director 8 for the UIHelper Xtra (Win: JavaUiHelper.x32) to appear in your xtras folder. You'll find the installer on your D8 CD<br> |
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| 23 | (Mac: run 'Install Java Components' from the rootlevel of the D8 CD;<br> |
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| 24 | Windows: run setup.exe which is contained in the folder 'Java Components' on the root level of the D8 CD).<br> |
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| 25 | <br> |
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| 26 | Some of the built-in "Utility" handlers also require Xtras. These are mostly the standard Xtras, but some handlers require Valentin Schmidts great <b>Shell Xtra</b>. Get it at: </font><a href="http://staff.dasdeck.de/valentin/xtras/shell/"><font color="#000096"><u>http://staff.dasdeck.de/valentin/xtras/shell/<p> |
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| 27 | </a></font></u><font color="#000000">Since this movie is an opensource project you can put your own Utility handlers into it, which may require other xtras.<br> |
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| 28 | If you want to add your own built-in handlers, add them to the parentscript "alexUtilities" and add the handlernames to the behaviorscript "simpleBMMenu", just like the already existing handlers. Two things to keep in mind:<br> |
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| 29 | 1.) the parameters are parsed form the menu string, so add the required parameters to the string, which appears in the menu, just like the other menu items.<br> |
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| 30 | 2.) the parentscript is executed from within the scope of the stage movie. So every member and other script you refer to in your Utility handler istaken form the castlibs of the stage movie rather than form the castlibs of this movie.<p> |
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| 31 | If you like this movie you may also want to take a look at my modification of the <b>Start Page.dxr</b> movie, in order to auto-open the last opened document and also auto-open your favorite Athoring Tool Miaws, like for example "Handlernames" or "3DPI" or "Scenelist" or "FindAll" :-)<br> |
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| 32 | <br> |
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| 33 | I hope you enjoy this movie <br> |
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| 34 | Alex da Franca<br> |
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| 35 | </font><font color="#000096"><u><a href="http://www.farbflash.de">http://www.farbflash.de<br> |
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| 36 | </a></font></body> |
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| 37 | </html> |
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