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Text File | 1995-08-30 | 16.9 KB | 357 lines

WM WAView Distance lends enhancement to the view. - Thomas Campbell ───────── WM WAView displays WAV files graphically. Roughly speaking, it does for WAVs what WM Read does for TXTs. The graphics mode employed is EGA high resolution (VGA medium resolution), i.e. 640x350 pixels, 16 colors. You need at least an EGA card to run WM WAView. This Help file can be called up from within WM WAView by pressing Alt-H or by choosing the Help command from the bottom bar {WAView 83}. Contents: ■ Startup {WAView 33} ───────── ■ Aborting Startup {WAView 44} ■ Toggling units {WAView 72} ■ The bottom bar {WAView 83} ■ PRGed.INI (Write & Play commands) {WAView 90} ■ WM WAView display {WAView 107} ■ Scrolling {WAView 131} ■ Jumping {WAView 147} ■ Vertical zoom {WAView 162} ■ Marking a range {WAView 169} ■ Horizontal zoom {WAView 198} ■ Write command {WAView 212} ■ Play command {WAView 231} ■ Function key operations {WAView 241} ■ Inheritance {WAView 249} ■ Viewing assignments {WAView 292} ■ Assigning values {WAView 328} ■ Assignment export {WAView 345} ─── Startup ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Like WM Read, WM WAView expects to be called with a filename argument. The file must conform to the WAV format, subject to the usual restrictions common to all WAVmaker applications supporting WAVs {WMWAV}. The file extension may be anything you like; if none is specified, the default WAV is assumed. When viewing large sample files, it may be a good idea to limit the initial display range, since displaying large files in their entirety takes time and results in poor resolution. Tip: If you launch WAView with a large file, only to find yourself waiting for ──── an initial display at a scale too large to be of any use, hit Esc or the Right mouse button. This will abort execution immediately and return you to the caller. You can set the initial display range either in samples or in milliseconds, using the following options: ■ /ss <sample number> (set Start Sample) ■ /es <sample number> (set End Sample) ■ /st <milliseconds> (set Start Time) ■ /et <milliseconds> (set End Time) The first sample is numbered 0; the time origin is 0 milliseconds. The default start sample/time is 0. Thus, "WAView Piano1 /et 100" will cause the first 100 milliseconds of the file Piano1.WAV (residing in the Temp\ subdirectory) to be displayed. "WAView Piano1 /es 100" will display the first 100 samples. If the file is shorter than the value given with /es or /et, it will be displayed in its entirety. Note: Throughout WAVmaker, the term "samples" refers to the quantity normally meant when talking about "sampling rate". "100 samples" stands for "100 words of whichever length you are using - 8 or 16 bits - for each sound channel (of which there may be one or two, for mono or stereo, respectively)". The relationship between sample number and time is therefore not dependent upon word length or number of sound channels. ─── Toggling units (Alt-U) ───────────────────────────────────────────────────── If the last view window option on the command line is /ss or /es, WM WAView will use sample numbers to display positions; if not, it will use milliseconds. You can change this choice by means of the Unit command; press Alt-U or select Unit from the bottom bar. IMPORTANT: The time unit used at startup affects the way Function key values ────────── are inherited from the calling prgram! See {WAView 249}. ─── The bottom bar ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Use the mouse to pull down the crosshair all the way to the bottom bar: an arrow-shaped cursor will become visible. Point the cursor at the command you wish to execute and hit Enter or press the Left mouse button; et voilà! ─── PRGed.INI ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── WAView uses WM PRGed's initialization file PRGed.INI (residing in WAVmaker's Temp\ subdirectory) to determine which name to use for the temporary file created with the Write command (see {WAView 212}). This file can be played back using the Play command {WAView 231}, which calls the external player also specified in PRGed.INI. The use of PRGed.INI ensures consistency when calling WM View from within WM PRGed (unless you change PRGed's temporary file and/or external player and do not use the Keep command to update PRGed.INI before calling WM View) {PRGed}. If PRGed.INI is not found, WM WAView will use the same defaults as WM PRGed: it will use Temp\Temp.WAV as its temporary file and call WAVplay.BAT to play it back. ─── WM WAView display ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── While the display should be fairly self-explanatory, especially if you already know how to use WM Read and WM Help, a couple of explanatory remarks may be in place. The kind of file being displayed can be read off the cyan (left) portion of the bottom bar. First comes the name of the file, then a character which may be either "M" (for Mono) or "S" (for Stereo). Next comes the word size (8 or 16 bits) and last the sampling rate: "11k" for 11025 Hz, "22k" for 22050 Hz, "44k" for 44100 Hz. Unlike other programs, WM WAView displays both sound channels in stereo files on the same time axis, making it easier to see relationships between the two. The Left channel is written first, in red; the Right channel is written over it, in blue. If you can see only one (blue) pixel at a given horizontal coordinate, it's because the corresponding red pixel has been overwritten, meaning that the contents of the two channels are equal (to the current resolution limits) at that point. You may memorize the color coding for Left and Right by noting that it is politically correct. :-) ─── Scrolling ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── In order to move around in the WAV file beying displayed, you can use the following keys: ■ Left arrow (scroll back half a screen) ■ Right arrow (scroll forward half a screen) ■ PgUp key (scroll back a full screen) ■ PgDn key (scroll forward a full screen) ■ Home key (show first screen) ■ End key (show last screen) Left/Right arrow and PgUp/PgDn are also available from the red portion of the bottom bar {WAView 83}. ─── Jumping (Alt-G) ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── For large moves, you may want to use the Goto command. It can be executed either from the bottom bar {WAView 83} or by hitting Alt-G. You will then be prompted for the new position. Type it in using standard line editing commands (Left/Right arrow, Ins, Backspace and Del). You can abort by hitting Esc or by pressing the Right mouse button. If you terminate by hitting Enter or by pressing the Left mouse button, WAView will try to center the view window on the specified location, maintaining the current resolution. Note that the crosshair is NOT moved to the new position. Hitting a Function key (F1 through F10) while entering the new position will cause the value of the Function key to be written to the edit line. ─── Vertical zoom ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Pressing Shift-Up arrow will incrase vertical resolution by a factor 2. You can do this up to 7 times (for a total factor of 128). Step back a factor 2 by pressing Shift-Down arrow. ─── Marking a range ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This is useful for horizontal zooming {WAView 198} and for writing to the temporary file {WAView 212}. It works just like in WM Read. Use the following procedure: (0) Hit the - (Minus) key a couple of times (a preparatory action to remove any previously set markers). (1) Position the crosshair at the beginning of the block you wish to mark. (2) Hit the + (Plus) key. This sets the start marker (you won't see anything happening on the screen at this time). (3) Position the crosshair at the end (last character) of the block you wish to mark. (4) Hit the + (Plus) key again. This sets the end marker. The (visible portion of the) selected range should now be highlighted (cyan background). You won't get a selected range if you set the end marker to a position preceding that of the start marker! If you want to change your marker assignments, use the - (Minus) key. This key removes the end mark first (if it's set), so you can hit it just once to remove the end marker but not the start marker, or twice to remove both markers and start all over again. ─── Horizontal zoom ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── There are two ways to change the horizontal (time) resolution. When there is no marked range {WAView 169}, hitting the Up arrow key will reduce the displayed range to half (until a further reduction would put less than two samples in the view window); hitting the Down arrow key will double it (until the whole file is in the view window). When there is a marked range (not necessarily on screen), hitting the Up arrow key will make it fill up the view window exactly. The range is unselected (start and end markers are removed) automatically. ─── Write command (Alt-W) ────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Issuing the Write command (press Alt-W or select it from the bottom bar {WAView 83}) can have one of two effects: If there is no marked range {WAView 169}, WM WAView will notify you of this and ask whether you wish to write the current view window range to the temporary file. If there is a marked range, WM WAView will write its contents to the temporary file. If the temporary file already exists, you will be asked for permission to overwrite it. The name of the temporary file is determined at startup by reading PRGed.INI {WAView 90}. ─── Play command (Alt-P) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Issuing the Play command (press Alt-P or select it from the bottom bar {WAView 83}) causes WM WAView to launch the external player, with the temporary file used by Write {WAVwrite 212} as its argument. The names of external player and temporary file are determined at startup by reading PRGed.INI {WAView 90}. ─── Function key operations ──────────────────────────────────────────────────── While in WM WAView, you have ten programmable Function keys (F1 to F10) at your disposal. Each one is assigned a title and a value. Titles and values can be up to 15 characters long (reflecting the size of the default DOS keyboard buffer). Inheritance ─────────── At startup, WM WAView scans WAVmaker's public Function key file for Function key titles matching those in its internal table. All matching titles cause the associated values to be inherited {FnKeys}. There is an interesting quirk to this process. The Function key titles used by WM WAView depend on the current time unit (samples or milliseconds), according to the following tables: ┌─────┬──────────────┐ ┌─────┬──────────────┐ │ Key │ Title │ │ Key │ Title │ ├─────┼──────────────┤ ├─────┼──────────────┤ │ F 1 │ Auxiliary #1 │ │ F 1 │ Sample #1 │ │ F 2 │ Auxiliary #2 │ │ F 2 │ Sample #2 │ │ F 3 │ Start time │ │ F 3 │ Sample #3 │ │ F 4 │ End time │ │ F 4 │ Sample #4 │ │ F 5 │ Parameter #1 │ │ F 5 │ Sample #5 │ │ F 6 │ Parameter #2 │ │ F 6 │ Sample #6 │ │ F 7 │ Parameter #3 │ │ F 7 │ Auxiliary #1 │ │ F 8 │ Parameter #4 │ │ F 8 │ Auxiliary #2 │ │ F 9 │ Parameter #5 │ │ F 9 │ Auxiliary #3 │ │ F10 │ Parameter #6 │ │ F10 │ Auxiliary #4 │ ├─────┴──────────────┤ ├─────┴──────────────┤ │ Unit: milliseconds │ │ Unit: samples │ └────────────────────┘ └────────────────────┘ These choices reflect the Function key assignments used in WAVmaker's DSP menus and in WM PRGed, respectively (all of WAVmaker's DSP operations are performed using milliseconds, as is customary; WM PRGed on the other hand uses sample numbers for maximal control over envelope and loop points). IMPORTANT: Since the time unit used at startup is determined by the last view ────────── window command line option {WAView 72}, it is important to let the command line end the right way! WM PRGed makes sure that WM WAView starts up in sample mode (rather than in the default millisecond mode) by calling it with a command line ending with the /es option. If F3 and F4 are not assigned to by the public Function key file, they are initially given the /st/et & ss/es values specified or implied at startup. Viewing assignments ─────────────────── To bring up the Function key window showing all current assignments, press Alt and a Function key between F1 and F10. Do not be surprised if some titles appear within parentheses! Since you can toggle time unit at any time, WM WAView does not know which title to associate with a value until the actual assignment is made. Titles within parentheses are what would be used with the current time unit. Once an assignment is made, the title is frozen (till the next assignment to the same key) and can be shown without any ambiguity. To make the Function key window go away, either ■ press Alt and F1-F10 again, or ■ hit the Esc key, or ■ click the Right mouse button, or ■ scroll or jump to a new location. You can also view the contents of a single Function key by hitting it at any time (almost - see exceptions below). If the key has been assigned a value, title and value will be written to the screen's upper right corner; if not, you will get an "unassigned" message in the same position. The text will disappear the next time you execute a jump or a scroll command, toggle time unit, or hit another Function key. Now for the two exceptions: ■ Hitting a Function key when entering a new position with the Goto command causes the current value of the Function key to be written to the edit line. ■ Hitting a Function key while a position is selected assigns the selected position to the Function key value and causes the NEW value to be displayed in the screen's upper right corner (see below). Assigning values ──────────────── The only values you can assign to keys in WM WAView are positions, either in milliseconds or in samples. A position is selected by placing the crosshair and clicking the Left mouse button or hitting Enter. This causes the position string in the screen's upper left corner to be highlighted (light cyan on blue background), and the crosshair to be locked at its current position. Clicking the Left mouse button or hitting Enter again undoes the selection. Hitting a key between F1 and F10 while a selection is active will assign that position to the Function key, and display the title and value assignment in the screen's upper right corner (and in the Function key window if open). Assignment export ───────────────── All Function key assignments are exported to WAVmaker's public Function key file {FnKeys} upon termination. The filename is exported with title "File #1", stripped of the directory path. Note: The main purpose of Function keys in WM WAView is to allow you to ───── export position values to the caller. When doing so, keep in mind that the Function keys entitled "Auxiliary" have no match in the DSP menus or in WM PRGed. Also, remember to store positions in the unit expected by the caller!