MainView Broadcast PD 1.04 Documentation
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Introduction
************

   This is the Public Domain version of MainView Broadcast, MainActor
Broadcast's external player. It only has a limited amount of
loader/sound modules, but supports all features of MainView Broadcast.

   We did make this version available to enable owners of MainActor
Broadcast to give away their animations, together with sound, which
they have created with MainActor Broadcast.

   The following animation formats are supported by MainView Broadcast
PD : IFF-Anim5/7/8, CyberVision, FLI, FLC, Picasso, Piccolo, Retina,
Merlin, Spectrum.

   MainView Broadcast only supports IFF and .mod sound files. MainActor
Broadcast supports more than 20.

   MainView Broadcast needs an MABROADCAST: assign !

   For more information about MainActor Broadcast, contact your local
VillageTronic dealer, or :

     MainConcept, GbR Mönig/Zabel
     Hermann-Heusch-Platz 3
     D-52062 Aachen
     Germany
     
     Tel: +49-241-4090444
     FAX: +49-241-4090445
     BBS: +49-241-4090446
     
     EMail: info@mainconcept.ac-copy.com
     WWW:   http://www.ac-copy.com/maincpt.html

MainView Broadcast
******************

   MainView Broadcast is MainActor Broadcast's external player. It can
display all animations/pictures for which MainActor Broadcast has the
proper load modules.  You can simply intgrate it into file managers
like `DiskMaster II' or `DirectoryOpus'.

   The key commands while playing animations or showing pictures are
the same as if you would view them directly with MainActor Broadcast.

   If MainActor Broadcast saved an icon for the animations/pictures to
view, MainView will take the view settings from this icon (overruling
its own settings)!

   MainView will use MainActor Broadcast's `Center' option (which
centers the display of your animations or pictures) by default. If you
specify an X or Y Offset the center option will be disabled and the
specified offsets will be used instead.

   You can start MainView Broadcast from the Workbench or from the CLI.

Starting MainView Broadcast from the Workbench
==============================================

   If you start MainView from the Workbench (per icon), you can select
the file(s) to view in an ASL requester. For multi selecting just press
one of the shift keys and select the files with the mouse. (Starting
from OS 2.1+)

MainView supports the following tooltypes:

`DisplayModule=<Module>'
     This tool type gives you the possibility to select your prefered
     display module, like Amiga, Picasso, etc. and to pass that
     information to MainView Broadcast.

`DisplayType=<Number>'
     If the selected display module supports more than one display type,
     for example `Intuition Window' or `Intuition Screen', you can pass
     your prefered display type to MainView Broadcast with this tool
     type. The display types in the display modules are numbered in
     lexicographic order with 1 being the first display type.

`LoaderModule=<Module>'
     The default load module is the `Universal' module.  You can select
     another module with this tool type.

`Directory=<Path>'
     This is the initial directory for the ASL requester. The default
     value is `PROGDIR:' for the directory MainView Broadcast is
     started from.

`Center'
     This tool type activates the `Center' option of the display
     modules.  All graphic information will be aligned to the center of
     the output device (screen or window)

`XOffset=<Value>'
     You can directly set the start x offset. 0 is the left border.  If
     you specify an `XOffset', centration will be disabled !

`YOffset=<Value>'
     You can directly set the initial y offset. 0 is the top border.
     If you specify an `YOffset', centration will be disabled !

`FrameCounter'
     `FrameInfo' enables the FrameCounter option of the display modules.
     You can get the number of the actual frame from the upper right
     corner of the screen. It is disabled by default.

`StopPlayback'
     This option is quite useful for recording animations on a video
     recorder.  The tool type makes the playback stop after displaying
     the first frame; you can then start recording on the video
     recorder and continue playback with the SPACE bar.

`EndlessRepeat'
     This option makes MainView Broadcast play all animations
     continously.

`Repeat=<Value>'
     Repeats the animation <Value> times. For example `Repeat=1' would
     play the animation one time. Disables the `Endless Repeat' option.

`CacheData'
     Enables caching. With caching enabled, MainView plays all pictures
     and animations from the RAM disk and not directly from the
     harddisk (or whatever). If you do not have enough RAM, MainView
     Broadcast automatically disables this option and loads the data
     directly from device.

Starting MainView Broadcast from the CLI
========================================

   Starting MainView from the CLI will give you enhanced functionality.
You can, for example, define patterns for animations or picture lists.
The commands are identical to the tool types, so please refer to the
section `Starting MainView Broadcast from the Workbench' to get details.

   Usage is :

     DM=DISPLAYMODULE/K,
     LM=LOADERMODULE/K,
     FC=FRAMECOUNTER/S,C=CENTER/S,
     XO=XOFFSET/K,YO=YOFFSET/K,
     SP=STOPPLAYBACK/S,
     CD=CACHEDATA/S,
     ER=ENDLESSREPEAT/S,R=REPEAT/K,
     DT=DISPLAYTYPE/K,F=FILES/F

   MainView Broadcast supports Amiga wildcards, for example:

`MVBroadcast CD REPEAT=1 DISPLAYMODULE=PICASSO WIDTH=1024
HEIGHT=768 cd0:fli/#?.fli'.

   This example would play all files on the device cd0: , which end
with ".fli".  They would be displayed on the Picasso-II graphics board
with a resolution of 1024x768 points; the data would be cached in
memory and played only once.