Player use

[Richard Gaskin]

Frank R wrote:
 > Richard Gaskin <ambassador at fourthworld.com> wrote:
 > If the player is working for you why not use that?
 >
 >   1. It didn't make sense, and I'm trying to learn the product

The play command is an old interface to the system's video and audio 
playback.  While not officially depricated, it doesn't offer nearly the 
flexibility of the player object.

I may be wrong on this, but I believe the play command is limited in the 
variety of formats it can play.  Technically speaking, a MIDI files 
isn't an audio file per se, but merely instructions to create an audio 
experience dynamically.  It may be that the play command simple doesn't 
handle the MIDI format.

I never use the play command, so I'm sure one of the readers here with 
more experience with it can chime in with details, but I do use the 
player object regularly and can help you get going with that newer, more 
flexible interface.


 >   2. The play command makes it easy to play a segment of the
 > file, which I need to do

Player objects have a startTime and endTime property, and a 
playSelection property which governs whether the startTime and endTime 
are honored.

To play a specific segment of a file:

   set the playSelection of player 1 to true
   set the startTime of player 1 to 500
   set the endTime of player 1 to 1000


 >   3. I need to start the player programmatically, and while I
 > see messages to send to the player, I don't see a way to start
 > it yet.

   start player 1

And the player can be stopped with:

   stop player 1

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Managing Editor, revJournal
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