QI'm confused about the implemenation of the AutoStart feature that was announced with Quicktime 2.1's release. Can you tell me how to create a CD with this feature that will work cross-platform?
QThe AutoStart feature first documented in the release notes for Quicktime 2.1 has been available since the release of Quicktime 2.0. This means that any CD title you release today with an AutoStart application or document will likely work with most users' current installation of software since Quicktime 2.0 has been available for well over a year. (Of course, there are other benefits of using Quicktime 2.1 over 2.0 but that discussion isn't the point of this Q&A.)
The AutoStart feature is only available on HFS volumes because AutoStart relies
on information located in block zero of a HFS disk or partition. The first two
bytes in the sector of block zero should be `0' (zero) or `LK', although this
realistically should be limited to just 0 since LK designates a HFS boot
volume. The name of the AutoStart file is stored in the area allocated for the
clipboard name. This area begins 106 bytes into the sector of block zero with
the first 4 bytes at this offset containing the hex value 0x006A7068. This hex
value indicates that an AutoStart file name follows. After this four byte tag,
12 bytes of space remain starting at offset 110. In these 12 bytes, the name of
the AutoStart file is stored as a Pascal string giving you up to 11 characters
to identify the file. The file must reside in the root directory of the HFS
volume or partition.
You may designate either an application or a document as the AutoStart file. If you choose an application as the AutoStart file, it may be visible or invisible in the root directory of the volume, however, document files must be visible. Additionally, you may select an alias file as the AutoStart file, but it too must be visible in the root directory of the volume or partition. If the AutoStart file is a document or an alias to a document, Quicktime will ask the Finder to launch the document as if it had been double clicked from the Finder. If the creating application is not available, the Finder will issue its normal warnings or use Macintosh Easy Open if available.
Creation of the AutoStart block zero information is dependant on the CD ROM mastering software that you use. Currently, only Asarte Gmbh's Toast CD-ROM Pro software is known to write the AutoStart information. We expect, however, other CD ROM mastering software packages to adopt this ability soon. Check with the developer of your CD mastering sofware if you aren't certain of its capabilities.