#MCI Calls
8 messages in this thread
<<The size of the animation is fixed based on the resolution of the FLC file
and the resolution of the Windows driver. Changing the window size will just
produce grey area around the Animation, or crop the animation. If you need to
dynamically rescale the image, you will need to switch to a format like AVI.>>
I am about to download the MCIAAP.zip in order to call the MCI driver from
within Authorware for windows (a Macromedia product). The reason I need to
create my own calls is because I want to play back 320 x 200 flics fullscreen
(640 x 480). I notice in AAWIN.EXE that you can 'use fullscreen' when playing
back. Can I do this with an MCI call or perhaps a DLL call. What would be the
Syntax?
Thanks for you help,
-KT
Kieth,
I'm not sure the "use full screen" option is what you are looking for. It does
not mean to use the full Windows screen, but to bypass the windows environment
entirely and call a VGA screen mode right from the hardware. No window, no
title, no control, etc. In the case of a 320×200 animation, it would fill the
entire monitor at 320×200 resolution!
You can see what I am talking about by choosing full screen from the options
menu just before hitting the play button in the Windows player. See if this
will work for you. If yes, one way to access it is to set full screen mode up
in a script, and call the script instead of the FLI file. You can also get to
it directly from the .DLL but not via the MCI driver. If you need help with
that, just let me know.
-Brian
Brian,
I am trying to use the AAPLAY.DLL to control a flic. I am not certain what
needs to be done to run the flic full screen. So far I have set up a script to
play the flic full screen. When I run the script from my calls, The screen
goes to full screen, then blinks back to the windows desktop with the animation
in a window (and paused). What do I need to do if I want to play a script full
screen from my own code usiing AAPLAY.DLL?
Jonathan R. Borden
Brian,
What I am trying to do is fill the entire monitor with a 320 x 200 flic at that
resolution. The reason is to get a better frames/sec ratio, but I do want to
fill the screen. However, I am not sure Bypassing the windows environment is
the answer, since it cannot be done "seamlessly."
I would, however, like to try this out and see how it works. Authorware (which
is the autohoring environment I will be calling it from) can talk directly to
.DLL's. Can you help me with the syntax to call AAPLAY.DLL and AAVGA.DLL. (I
am guessing that AAVGA.DLL is the full screen 'driver'. Is that correct?)
Thanks,
-KT
This is for both Kieth and Jonathan,
For those of you following along in your manuals at home, The information
begins on page 17 of the C programmers Reference Manual for the Windows Player.
The entry point to the .DLL we are concerned with is aaLoad. the proper syntax
is:
HAA aaLoad (lpzFileName, hWnd, wMode, x, y, cx, cy, orgx, orgy)
aaLoad will load an animation in preperation for playing. It will also allow us
to alter various playback parameters.
In this case we are interested in setting the Window Handle (hWnd). The
parameter we need is the AA_FULLSCREEN parameter, which is represented as (32).
(AA_FULLSCREEN indicated the animation plays full screen, not within the
Windows hWnd.)
Thus if we pass 32 as the second argument on that line, we will load the
animation and pre set it for full screen playback.
Now there are a dozen or so other parameters that you can pass within this
argument, and I can't go through them all here. You'll just have to read the
book. If you want to pass more than one arguement to the window handle, the
easiest way is to add the binary numbers together. (For example AA_MEMORYLOAD
has a represented value of (1). If we wanted to load into memory AND play full
screen we would pass a value of (33) for the hWnd argument.)
-Brian
Oh Yeah,
For those of you following along at home who have lost or misplaced their
secret decoder manual "The Windows Player Developers Kit for the Windows .DLL"
you can get this developers kit by calling 800-879-4233. It includes the C
Programmers reference manual for the Windows Player, The Visul Basic Reference
manual, and a host of other goodies.
Act Now! Become a member of the secret developers club and we'll teach you how
to say things like "lpzFileName" without spitting on your friends.
-Brian
Brian,
Thanks for all you have answered so far. If it would not be too much to ask,
can you give an example of what it would take to load (prepped for fullscreen)
and play back an animation using the .DLL?
Thanks,
-KT
Keith,
I'd be happy to write a little snippet of code to demonstrate a call to the
.DLL. What language are you using? VISUAL BASIC? Visual C++? C? etc.
-Brian