
Zeus Productions
zOpen Capabilities FUQ
(Last substantive change to this page made April 4, 1997)
Copyright © 1996-1997. Zeus
Productions. All Rights Reserved.
Please consult the following list for answers to the most common pre-sales
questions regarding zOpen, as well as additional technical information not
covered on the zOpen Summary Page. Refer to our
Needs Analysis FAQ to determine if zOpen or some
other tool is right for you.
Details on zOpen's Capabilities
Q. Can zOpen locate a document to open?
You must generally specify the path
to the document you wish to open, even if you may not know the location
of the application with which to open it (see below). You will need to know
either the absolute path
or the relative path (relative
to the location of the Projector or the root of the current drive).
Q. How can I determine the path to a file on a CD?
If you are constructing the parameter list
dynamically via Lingo, you can use Lingo's the
pathName
function to determine the current path, including the
drive letter.
If you are using a configuration file to specify the parameters, zOpen will
automatically insert the current drive letter if you omit it. For example,
if you specify a directory such as:
"\mydemo\mystuf"
, zLaunch will automatically insert
the current drive letter, resulting in something equivalent to "d:\mydemo\mystuff".
Q. Can zLaunch determine the name and/or location
of the application to launch?
zOpen will locate the executable associated
with a given extension, such
as .HTML. Using zOpen, you do not
need to know the application's name, so long as it is associated with a
file type in the WIN.INI or Windows Registry File.
Q. Can zOpen return the path to an application?
zOpen will return the path to an application,
so long as it is associated with a particular document type.
Q. Does zOpen cover the desktop of a large monitor while the launched application
is active?
zOpen optionally covers the desktop around
the launched application's window on large monitors. When the launched application
terminates, the window will be dismissed.
Q. Does zOpen always cover the desktop in black?
Under Windows, you can specify the color of
the background as an RGB value. Although
you ordinarily would want the background covered, you can also turn this
feature off.
It is often a good idea to use a black screen during transitions between
applications. Black can be used to ensure that any palette changes go unnoticed,
because black is constant in all palettes.
Q. Will zOpen trap mouse clicks outside the application's window?
Yes, if you use a desktop cover, zOpen will
trap mouse clicks. This prevents another applications, such as Director
or the Program Manager from accidentally being brought to the foreground.
Q. Can I pass command line parameters to the launched executable?
zOpen allows you to pass parameters to the
executable that it launches, as you could from the Windows command line.
This can be used to tell Acrobat to print a PDF file, while specifying any
applicable flags, for example.
Q. Does zOpen allow Director to control or communicate with other applications?
Does zLaunch support OLE?
zOpen is designed primarily for locating
an external application and using it to print or open documents, and as
such, offers a certain degree of control over other applications.
zOpen does not support OLE, but, on
the Macintosh, Zeus Productions sells the zScript
Xtra that can control other applications which respond to Apple Events.
Q. Can zOpen launch a second projector from the primary projector?
Because Director projectors attempt to install
temporary drivers into the Windows directory, the two projectors will conflict
when you attempt to start a second projector using Lingo's open
command or zOpen. Instead, use Lingo's "go movie
"
or "play movie
" command to branch to a different
DXR or DIR file.
If you only have access to the DXR files, you can still open the movie with
the "play movie
" command. An implicit "play
done
" will be issued at the end of the movie.
If it is impossible to obtain DIR or DXR files, you can launch one projector
from another with zLaunch for Windows. This is
because zLaunch allows the first projector to quit before launching the
second projector, reducing potential conflicts. Again, however, this is
not the preferred method.
If you are using Projectors from earlier versions of Director, you should
instead try to update the DIR files to the most recent version and link
to them as described above.
Q. Can zOpen set the working directory for an application?
Yes, you can set the Windows working director
for the launched application.
Q. Will zOpen solve "Protection violation" or "Files
in use" errors (error -49 or -51)?
You do not need zOpen to solve this problem.
Refer to the TechNote, "Solving
Protection Violation Errors".
Q. Will zOpen resolve palette conflicts?
You would ordinarily jump to a black screen
before opening another executable to reduce any palette conflicts. Palette
problems within Director itself are discussed in the TechNote,
"Using Palettes in Director".
Q. Is zOpen supported when running over a network?
Whereas it may work in certain situations,
this is not a supported configuration.
Don't forget to check out the questions addressed in the General
zOpen FAQ.
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Copyright © 1996-1997. Zeus
Productions. All Rights Reserved.
(This page last revised April 25, 1997)