[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]
The Stream Compiler language supports user-defined variables. These can be useful when you find that you must use the same value frequently.
For example, at the beginning of the stream list, you might create a constant called "interval", to represent how often files should be rebroadcast:
Interval = 30.0 ;
User-defined variables may be used anywhere in the stream list in place of literal expressions, as in:
00:06:00:00 "Segment7.htm" repeat Interval until ShowLength;
User-defined variables may also be used to establish fixed points within the show, so that subsequent events can be specified relative to these points. For example, the starting times of the major acts of a program episode could be defined as:
ActI = 00:01:10.0
ActII = 00:09:45.0
ActIII = 00:18:30.0
Given these user-defined variables, it becomes possible to specify times relative to the beginning of each act, rather than the beginning of each show. For example, the following expression specifies 1:25 into the third act, which is actually 19:55 into the show:
ActIII + 1:25:00