Snail: Dejal Userware, 12 Scorpio Place, Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Internet & AOL: dejal@deepthnk.kiwi.gen.nz
CompuServe: >INTERNET: dejal@deepthnk.kiwi.gen.nz
or 100033,2435
I read the Internet mail every day, and will reply immediately (allow a couple of days for net.delay), but only call CI$ once a fortnight.
Shareware, only US$15 or $20 to also receive the next version. Three AutoUpgrade Options are also available for $50 each: see the “Registration & Support” document for more information. I can accept cash, checks, international money orders, VISA, MasterCard, Bankcard, Diners Club and American Express, (credit cards even via e-mail), so registering or subscribing to one of the AutoUpgrade Options is really easy!
Note: you should have received SndPlayer as an archive file, containing the application, balloon help file (which should be kept in the same folder as the application) and 8 documentation files. Any other form of distribution is illegal. Please inform Dejal Userware if you did not receive all of the files.
——— USAGE ———
SndPlayer™ is an application which lets you listen to sounds stored in several different formats, and it also helps you find them. It is System 7-friendly, and has balloon help, Apple events (for file, folder and disk dropping), normal / reverse / random play order, repeat options, info about the sounds, etc. The formats currently supported are:
• SoundEdit™ data files (Hint: you can also play PC sounds, thanks to this format)
• System 7 sounds
• System 7 suitcases
• Sound Mover™ suitcases — this category includes applications containing sounds and HyperCard™ stacks: basically, you can play ‘snd ’ resources hidden in any file.
To play the sounds in a file or several files, you have a few options. You can use the Open… command from the File menu. This will present you with a standard file dialog, with three extra items: “Current Folder” and “Hilited Folder” buttons, which open all of the sounds in the current or hilighted folder, and a “Show only files containing sounds” checkbox which does just that. If you check this box, only files which contain sounds that SndPlayer can read will be listed. This makes finding sounds very easy — but you don’t need to use this checkbox to find sounds: simply press “Current Folder” or “Hilited Folder” and SndPlayer will find and play all available sounds in that folder, and ignore any other files.
Another option is to open the files to be played from the Finder™. If under System 7, simply select the files to be played and drag them to the SndPlayer icon (i.e. “drop the icons on the application”). I find that leaving the application on the desktop makes instant access a breeze — or you could put an alias to it there. You can even drop a folder of sounds on SndPlayer, and it will play every sound within, no matter how many folders deep they are. The same goes for disks: plop a floppy into the drive, drop it on the application, and all its sounds will be played (not recommended with hard disks though! <grin>) If under System 6, make sure all of the files to be played are in the same folder as SndPlayer (putting them all on the desktop is the easiest way) and select them all including the application, and double-click on one of the icons.
Once you have opened the file(s), the sounds will quickly be played, and you will be kept informed of the progress with a progress dialog. During this process, you can quit at any time, cancel the whole batch, switch to the Finder or another application and play in the background, or navigate between sounds via the “Go” menu or using the cursor keys. You can also cause the current sound to be played over-and-over-again by choosing “Repeat” from the “Go” menu or pressing the Spacebar — pressing it again (or via the menu) will continue. You can even add more files to be played (once the current batch is finished) while in the background. Hope you like the animated icons!
A Volume menu is also available. This allows you to adjust the speaker volume while playing the sounds (or beforehand) to whatever volume is appropriate. Note that the volume you choose is remembered in the preferences file for next time, but it doesn’t change the system volume (the system volume is restored when you quit). If you want to use whatever volume level is used by the system, choose the last item on the menu, System Volume — this is the default. You can still change the volume using the Sound control panel (or my Volume control panel) if you prefer: just leave the Volume menu set at System Volume.
——— PREFERENCES ———
The preferences dialog lets you customise SndPlayer to your individual tastes. I believe that the user should always be in control, hence the “Userware” in the name Dejal Userware — short for “user-friendly software”. The prefs dialog is divided into two “pages”. You change pages by clicking the “Next” button (which then changes to “Prev”). Below is a brief description of each of the preference options (each item also has balloon help for your convenience):
— Page 1 —
• “Auto-Open if Nothing from the Finder™”: if this box is checked, you will be automatically asked for a file via the standard file dialog if you launch the application by double-clicking on the application (instead of dropping files on it or whatever). This feature defaults to off.
• “Auto-Quit When Done”: if this is checked, SndPlayer will automatically quit when there is nothing left to do, provided you have done something. E.g. if you double-click on the application, it will wait for you to open a file or files, then once that is finished it will automatically quit. If you drop some files on the application from the Finder with this option on, it will play them then return you to the Finder once finished. This is off by default.
• “Play Sounds First-to-Last (normal order)”: If this radio button is selected, the sounds will be played in the order they were loaded. This is usually in alphabetic order within each folder / suitcase, with each folder or suitcase in alphabetic order also. This is the default selection of this radio button group.
• “Play Sounds Last-to-First (reverse order)”: If selected, the sounds will be played in the opposite order to which they were loaded.
• “Play Sounds in Random Order (without duplication)”: If this radio button is selected, the sounds will be played in a random order, without any duplication of the sounds. If the “Repeat All” option is on, a fresh random order will be generated each time around. (Note that this feature is limited to 255 randomised sounds for efficiency reasons, though all sounds after the first 255 will be still be played, but in the order they were loaded).
• “Repeat All Sounds Until Cancel”: if this is checked, SndPlayer will play all of the sounds in each batch and then start over again, continuing until you click the “Cancel” button or choose “Cancel” or “Quit” from the File menu. This option defaults to off.
• “Repeat One Until Skip or Cancel”: If this box is checked, each sound will be played over-and-over-again until you “Go” to another sound or “Cancel”. Note: this function is similar to, but independent of, the “Repeat” command in the “Go” menu: it does the same thing, and determines if that command is selected when you first start the batch, but turning on or off the “Repeat” command in the “Go” menu does not alter this preference. This is also off by default.
— Page 2 —
• “Animate Icons” / “Show Reading Format Icons”: if Animate Icons is chosen, an animated sequence of icons is shown in the progress dialog, representing a crane lifting sounds out of a document. If Show Reading Format Icons is chosen, the icon shown reflects the format being read or played. This defaults to Animate Icons.
• “Display Sound Number”: If this box is checked, a sequential number will be displayed before each sound name in the progress window, starting from 1 and counting up to the number of sounds (indicated in the top portion of the window). This is useful to see how many sounds have been done or are remaining. This option is on by default.
• “Display Size”: If checked, the size of each sound — expressed in kilobytes (K) — is displayed in the progress window. This is off by default.
• “Display Sampling Rate”: If checked, the sampling rate of each sound is displayed in the progress window while playing the sound (it can’t be displayed while reading, since it needs to be read from the sound information). The sampling rate is expressed in kHz, e.g. 22kHz, which means thousands of cycles per second. This means, for example, that sound sampled at 22kHz will take 22k of disk space per second of sound. This is off by default.
• “Display Playing Time”: If this option is checked, the time that the sound is likely to take to play is displayed while playing (like “Display Sampling Rate”, above, this cannot be determined until the sound has been read). This option defaults to on.
• “Progress Bar Pattern”: if this box is clicked on, the pattern used for the progress bar can be changed. This is most useful for B&W users, but is of some use to colour users. You can simply cycle through the available patterns (white, light grey, grey, dark grey, and black) when clicking on the pattern box or prompt. The default pattern is black (though B&W users might want to try light grey).
I suggest you leave the defaults as they are initially, and try out the various options, then customise things to your personal tastes.
——— COMPATIBILITY ———
SndPlayer will work under System 6.0 and above, though it works best under System 7.0 and above. It should work on every machine from the Macintosh 512KE upwards, and has been tested on almost all the Macs presently available. It is 32-bit compatible. Please let me know if you have any problems.
The usual disclaimers apply: David Lambert and Dejal Userware accept no responsibility for any incidental or consequential damage of any sort as a direct or indirect result of using this software. The software is provided “as-is”, and no warranties are made as to its fitness for a particular purpose or whatever. I would be very interested to hear of any problems, though. <grin>
——— FUTURE FEATURES ———
Unlike some software authors, I have a list of features that I intend to add to SndPlayer but didn’t have time to for this release. I WILL add these features in future versions. If you have any ideas for more features to add, please let me know. If I do something a way you don’t like, tell me. All suggestions, no matter how trivial they might seem, will be carefully considered. These are some of the features from my list:
• AIFF and AIFF-C format support.
• Finish implementing compressed SoundCap file support (I’ve done most of this, but lacked time to complete it for this release).
• 3:1 and 6:1 compressed snd resource support. [Much requested by Julian Harris.]
• Finish implementing an Extend Technology: plug-in modules for each playable format.
• Reading partial resources and files.
• Open Several… command (though this isn’t really necessary).
• Open Any… command (to open non-snd resources as sounds).
——— CREDITS ———
I would like to thank all those people who have made this product what it is today. Thanks especially to Michael Dunlop, Simon Aspden, Steve Moseley, Nick Warburton, Richard Knuckey, Julian Harris, Allan Marshall, David Lilienthal, Francis Martin and Craig O’Donnell for their invaluable assistance during the Beta testing stage of development, and all the other users of the Deep Thought and JAB BBSs for their comments. Thanks also to Riccardo Ettore for his wonderful Sound Manager Package and helpful comments over the years; to Apple for System sHeaven; and Symantec for THINK Pascal. Most of all, a big “thank you” to the huge number of people who have sent in their registrations, and offered kind words of encouragement.
