"This book provides an alternative approach to using
Macromedia's Director multimedia authoring application.
You'll discover a new twist to Lingo programming when you move beyond
the deceptively simple syntax of the manuals and delve into the world
of object oriented programming. It is a world which has to be
discovered, not learned.
For Web applications it may give you an important programming edge
because it shows you how to work outside of the Director
metaphors.
The book shows you how to make full use of the vesatile list
structures of Lingo. The book will teach you to think in objects.
It'll show you how to work with a different mind set to use objects
and lists to deliver information and entertainment with real style
and originality.
Above all, it will provide your imagination with a powerful new
vehicle for producing truly creative multimedia."
Why learn about list and objects - The enigmatic quality of object-oriented techniques - OOPS as an aid for the creative process - OOPS as a way of dealing with complexity - Objects and lists in nature
What is an object - Creating a simple object - Getting the object to do something - Sending messages to objects - Object properties - Giving an object an image and stage presence - Objects which exist independent of the movie which created them - Moving objects from movie to movie
Giving objects memories and intelligence - Defining your objects and deciding what objects are needed for a given task or project - Making an object which can find its way around the stage - Creating objects which can perform useful tasks - Getting an object to tell you what it can do - Getting an object to tell you how it is coded - Getting objects to help prepare the production of movies - The awesome potential of using objects
An overview of object-oriented thinking - Semantics - Paradigm shifts, mind sets and conceptualization - Abstraction, encapsulation and hierarchy - Objects, classes and ancestors - Virtual objects
Sending spacecraft objects on a mission to another planet - Multiple instances - Putting several objects on stage - Communication between objects - Setting up a message control object - Remote control of objects - Feedback from objects and feedback control
The ancestor property - Creating message paths with objects- -Sharing object properties - Polymorph objects - Design of a virtual calculator
Building complexity from a simple base - Using objects to repair or modify complex systems - Giving an object the ability to make its own calculations
Linear list commands and functions - Creating and manipulating linear lists - Getting objects to use and manipulate linear list structures - Mathematical manipulation of linear lists
Property list commands and functions - Creating and manipulating property lists - Getting objects to use and manipulate property list structures - Mathematical manipulation of property lists
Functions which operate on lists - Copying, transferring and saving lists - Making uses of lists - Using lists for switches and networks - Multi dimensional lists
Message paths of event messages - Tapping in to Director message paths - Different ways an object can communicate with a user - Using the message box as an object - Treating scripts as objects
Creating and modifying message paths between objects - Using lists in message paths - Sequencing list operations - The actorList - Using objects in a non object-oriented system - Objects in a hierarchical structure - Killing objects in a hierarchy
Teaching an object to communicate with a user - Monitoring user actions - Communicating through the mouse - Communicating through the keyboard - Complex user choices
Using an object to create and control menus - Dynamic menu changes - Feedback from menu selections - Pop up and pseudo menus - Intelligent menus - Time and timing with objects - Time controlled action
Objects which change form - Objects which can clone themselves - Objects which design and build other objects - Complex object assembly - Custom made objects by remote control
Designing the painting tools and color palette - Recording the sequence and details of each stroke in list structures - Storing dynamic pictures - Reproducing paintings a stroke at a time - Adapting the paint box to draw mathematical graphs and shapes
A generic button object - Clickable map objects - Multiple hot spot palette objects - Irregular shaped clickable map objects - Objects which help design image maps - Draggable palettes
MIAWs (Movies In A Window) is a particular feature of the Director program, which allows more than one movie to be present on the same web page. Movies in Director are equivalent to apps, so this chapter refers to having several apps on a single web page that interact with each other and with users.
The important point here was the realisation that all kinds of objects from different parts of the web can interact with each other and with the user on the user's desktop. Not only that, the interactions could include other users, who could be part of a shared system that they would also see on their desktops.
Even more importantly, these systems need not have algorithmic (fixed) structures but could be designed to be completely flexible in terms of architecture and content: changing and evolving as a result of combined user interactions.
Getting a MIAW object mind set - Creating and destroying MIAWs - Treating MIAWs as objects - Communicating with MIAWs - Message paths with MIAWs - Playing a game of cards with a couple of MIAWs - Special features of MIAWs - The windowList
MIAWs as intelligent guides - Getting a guide's face on screen - Communicating to the user with MIAWs - MIAW palettes - Navigation palettes - Updating and patching using MIAW objects
[Index]
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Peter Small August 1996
Email:
peter@petersmall.com
Version 1.00
©Copyright 1996 Peter Small