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============================================================================ A R E X X / T E L L E D S E C T I O N ============================================================================ This section describes EdPlayer commands which can be issued from ARexx, or from programs like telled/cteled. I'll try to explain it so that even people who are not familiar with ARexx can use the commands. EdPlayer has a special message port. This port is more than an ARexx port, because it can accept both ARexx messages and special "EdPlayer" messages in the same port. The reason for this is that some unfortunate people using OS1.3 still don't have ARexx! What are you guys waiting for?? Anyway, included in this archive are two programs and their respective source codes, called "Telled" (Telled.asm) and "cteled" (cteled.c). The two are almost identical: Telled was written in Assembly, being as SMALL as possible, for easy use in script files. Cteled was written in Aztec C, and is somewhat larger because it actually returns error messages on the screen. Both of these programs transmit the special "EdPlayer" messages so that ARexx is not required. Their source codes are provided in case you want to write your own programs that transmit these messages. However, it is strongly recommended that you look up in your ARexx manual the proper way of sending true ARexx messages, so that you know how to send messages to other ARexx applications, not just EdPlayer. In EdPlayer 2.0, two new programs appear in the archive: "AskEd.rexx" and "wport" (wport.c). AskEd.rexx is an ARexx script that should be used to send the ARexx queries. EdPlayer cannot return a result (other than an error) to telled and cteled, so you must use "rx AskEd <query>" to get responses from EdPlayer. Wport is a little program I wrote that waits for the EDPLAYER message port to appear. This is very useful for scripts that launch EdPlayer and immediately try to send it commands; these scripts should wait (with wport) for EdPlayer to set up its message port first. See wport.c (it's commented) for info on how to use wport. For those of you making script files: If you have ARexx, you'll almost certainly want to make ARexx scripts instead of CLI scripts. For that, use an "address 'EDPLAYER'" type command. Again, see your ARexx manual for more details. NOTE: rexx:Startup.EdP (the startup script) should ** NOT ** contain an "address 'EDPLAYER'" command! It automatically addresses a special startup message port, so that programs waiting with wport or whatever don't mix their messages in before the startup script completes. ANYWAY, for you people without ARexx, you're stuck making CLI scripts! For this, use "telled" or "cteled" as described here: NOTE!: the parameters are different. Telled does NOT use quotes, while cteled DOES: CORRECT: >>>> telled PLAY mod.cream of the earth ;Note that telled NEVER needs any quotes no matter how many spaces are ;in the line. >>>> cteled "PLAY mod.cream of the earth" ;Note that cteled NEEDS quotes, and all parameters go in the SAME ;set of quotes, because EdPlayer will parse it, NOT cteled. >>>> telled play mod.cream of the earth ;NEW for EdP v1.1: Commands are no longer case-sensitive, ;EXCEPT the "MIDL" command's parameter which needs to be ;case-sensitive for looking up a midi_destination. INCORRECT: telled "PLAY mod.test module" ;telled NEVER needs quotes X X cteled "PLAY" "mod.test module" ;put ALL in one set of quotes X X Well, I hope you can get the hang of that. There should be some example scripts in the archive, for more examples of sending commands. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now it's time for a complete list of commands. Note that you may give ANY of these commands to EdPlayer by (1) using the CLI/Shell to issue "telled" or "cteled" as shown above, or (2) send the commands via ARexx to the ARexx port "EDPLAYER" (port name is all caps). I'll list the commands in the order they were created. *** New for 2.0: Some commands are no longer 4 letters. However, only the first 4 letters of ANY command are needed. Users complained that they wanted to type "pause" instead of "paus", "eject" instead of "ejec", etc. You can now do this (a) for commands that need no parameters (this was actulally an undocumented feature in previous versions), and (b) for commands that accept numbers as parameters. You may NOT do it for commands that accept text as a parameter, such as LOAD, PLAY, JUKE, and MIDL. These commands still need to be only 4 letters long, with ONE SPACE between them and their parameter. (The exception is the MESS command, which can be extended to MESSAGE). Commands are presented with the first four letters capitalized. These letters are the only ones used by EdPlayer to identify the command. Any letters after them are optional, they are there just to make script files more readable. For example, the command presented as "MESSage" may be sent to EdPlayer as "mess", as "message", or even as "messInTheHall". EdPlayer only looks at the first 4 letters. Parameters in [<brackets>] are optional. Parameters in <these things> are required! LOAD <filename> This command is used to load a module into EdPlayer. EdPlayer automatically figures out what module type it is, but does not yet start to play it. This command can NOT be used with programs! It erases the current program. If you want to use programs, see JUKE below. Anyway, LOAD will wait until the module finishes loading before it returns, so it can report if there was an error or not. Note: ALWAYS use a FULL PATH with LOAD, because the current directory of EdPlayer may not match the current directory of the program sending the command. NEW for EdP v1.1: If you want to load a PP encrypted module, you can do this: LOAD volume:path/modulename|password (Please note the LACK of spaces around the "|"). If you don't give a password when needed, a password requester opens. query: see ANAM. PLAY [<filename>] This command can be used with or without the parameter. If it is given with no parameter, it will attempt to play the current song. If there is a parameter, it will call LOAD first, and then PLAY. This command will wait for the module to load, so it can report errors like LOAD does, but it will return once the song begins to play. Note: This is NOT the same as the PLAY button on the CD, because there is no PAUSE feature here. *** NEW for EdP v2.0: If there is no current song, and no parameter, but there IS a current program, PLAY will grab a name from the program and use it. To launch a program, I recommend PJUM, not PLAY. see PAUS, CONT, PJUM, and NEXT. query: see ANAM. STOP Stops the music immediately, just like the STOP button. EJECt Ejects the current song, un-loading it from your CHIP mem. (Just like the EJECT button!) Does nothing to your program. see ERAS VOLUme <volume> Sets the music's volume, and affects the volume slide on the CD player panel. <volume> can be an integer from 0 to 64. The default is 64, the loudest. see FADE. query: see AVOL. PAUSe [<rate>] This will pause the music. If there is no parameter, the music will pause immediately. If there is a <rate>, then the music will fade to a pause. Common <rate>s are: 1 = Very slow, 2 = slow, 4 = initial default fade rate from CD panel, 8 = medium fast, 16 = fast. Integers from 1 to 32 usually work OK. NOTE: Entering a new PAUSE rate may not affect the end-of-song fade-out rate, BUT, it WILL set a new default for the panel's rate for everything. So next time someone uses the panel to fade something, it will happen in the last-used <rate>. This side-effect on the panel goes for ALL EdPlayer commands that use <rate>, such as CONT, AUTO, FADE, etc. see CONT. CONTinue [<rate>] This will make the music continue, if it has been PAUSed. If no <rate> is given, the rate from the last PAUS will be used. For a description of <rate>s, see PAUS. FADEout [<rate>] This is for fading the song to a STOP. You cannot continue after this!! The <rate> works like in PAUS, except that if it is not specified, it defaults to 4, taking the panel's rate to 4 along with it, probably. (Yet another feature that needs testing!) NOTE: In program mode, at the end of a FADE, the next song is loaded and played. I often send this command when I'm bored with one song and want to move to the next in a non-abrupt way. AUTOfadeout [<rate>] This command is for automatically getting a song (or program) to stop at the end (this is the default when EdPlayer starts). If no <rate> is specified, the song will stop immediately when it reaches the end, otherwise, the song will loop and start to fade to a stop at the specified <rate>. During programs, it will set the fade-out rate at the end of each song, as well as telling the program not to loop. If you set this rate but still want your program to loop, just issue a LOOP command afterwards. For a descripton of <rate>s, see PAUS. query: see AFAD. LOOP The current song or program will loop and keep playing, instead of stopping, when it reaches the end. This is the opposite of AUTO. query: see ALOP. KILL This has the same effect as pressing the "Power" button: The current song STOPs, gets EJECted, the program is erased, and then EdPlayer exits the system, all very quickly. It's a good idea to ask the user if he/she wants this before you send a KILL command. JUMP <position> This is an interesting command. It tells EdPlayer that on the next position change (a position currently shows up as "POS" on the CD panel), the music should jump to the specified position rather than just proceeding to the next one. My brother created a perfect example of what this can be used for: He wrote a module (in MED) that had several sections, each section ending in a $B command for looping. Then he turned EdPlayer's LOOP on, and in a DeluxeVideoIII presentation, had EdPlayer start playing this song. Of course, it got caught in the first looping section. But then, as the presentation continued (it was more like a game actually), he sent JUMP commands to EdPlayer to play the different sections. As the user moved from one part to the next, the music changed to match the current place in the game. It was a really neat effect. Anyway, if this DVideo game ever becomes playable, I'm sure he'll distribute it.... *2.0*> ...NOT!! My brother lost interest in DVideo after a few months and moved on... see SJUM. query: see APOS, ATOT. SELFdestruct [<rate>] This command works exactly like AUTO, except that at the end of the song's fade-out, EdPlayer KILLs itself (exits the system). I don't think I ever updated this command for use with programs, because quite frankly I never found a use for it myself. If you use it, and want it updated, tell me! (Updating would mean having it wait for the end of a program, rather than the end of a song, before the self-destruct.) query: see ASEL. NORMalmode This command is kind of left over from previous versions. If you have an NTSC machine, this runs the NTSC command, and if you have a PAL machine, this runs the PALM command. see NTSC, PALM. query: see ATEM. NTSCmode This command is here for those old NoiseTracker mods that sound better when played at the NTSC tempo (sped up a bit). Most mods use PAL timing, and ALL ProTracker mods use PAL. MED mods are not affected by PALM and NTSC. see NORM, PALM. query: see ATEM. PALMode This command sets the tempo to PAL timing, which is now the default for EdPlayer. see NORM, NTSC. query: see ATEM. MENU This command will bring up EdPlayer's CD-like control panel if it's not visible, and redraw it if it is. The EdPlayer version information will be re-displayed. Whether or not EdSynth appears at the same time depends on the most recent SYNTh command. see ICON, HIDE, SYNT. query: see AMOD, ASYN. *2.1*> For EdPlayer Junior, this command returns error #3. There is no panel in EdPlayerJr. ICONify This command will close the CD display and create the iconified WB window that also appears when someone presses the "ICONIFY" button or starts EdPlayer with the -i option. Selecting this WB window and pressing the right mouse button will bring back the CD panel. see MENU, HIDE. query: see AMOD. HIDE This command will remove EdPlayer's user interface altogether, as if you had started EdPlayer with the -h option. This allows WB to be closed if necessary, but is not really recommended because the user has no way to undo this using the mouse alone. It can only be undone with the MENU or ICON commands, above. see MENU, ICON. query: see AMOD. MIDI This is for direct MIDI on MED modules. If any midi.library resources have been allocated, they are deallocated and the library is closed. Then, EdPlayer tries to allocate the serial port for direct MIDI output, using the default MED MIDI routines. This is the mode that the MIDI button on the panel uses. Safe to call even when a module is playing, because a playing MED module will be paused VERY briefly during the allocation & init of the MIDI stuff. see NOMI, MIDL. query: see AMID. NOMIdi NO MIdi. Deallocates any and all MIDI-related resources, such as the midi.library or serial port. Safe to call even when a module is playing. see MIDI, MIDL. query: see AMID. MIDL [<midi_destination>] (Don't put extra characters on the end of the MIDL command). MIDi.Library. If you own the midi.library by Bill Barton, you can use this command to take over MED's MIDI output: Instead of allocating and directly controlling the serial port, EdPlayer will attempt to open the midi.library and create a "midi source" called EDPLAYER. Then, if there is a parameter, EdPlayer will try to make a "Midi Route" from its source to a destination of the name specified in the parameter. This means that if you do NOT give a parameter, you must create your own route with a Patch Bay before anything can happen. The "standard" use of this command would be "MIDL MidiOut" because MidiOut is the standard midi.library output to the serial port. However, there are more useful options if you are multitasking with other applications that use midi.library, and want to recieve MIDI data from EdPlayer. For instance, if you had a MIDI monitor called "MidiMon", you could send Edplayer a "MIDL MidiMon" to monitor EdPlayer's MIDI output. Like the other MIDI commands, it is safe to call MIDL even when a module is playing, and MIDL works differently based on what resources are already allocated. For instance, if the serial port is allocated when you call MIDL, it will be dumped so that midi.library can open. Also, if midi.library was ALREADY open, MIDL won't close or re-open it or the EDPLAYER midi_source. It will, however, erase the old midi route and make a new one, because routes can become useless if their destination disappears. NOTE that MIDL's parameter is CASE-SENSITIVE! Use MidiOut, not MIDIout etc. This is because midi.library itself uses case-sensitive midi_destinations. see MIDI, NOMI. query: see AMID. PREVious EJECts current song, moves to previous song in program, and tries to load AND PLAY it. PREV waits for the load to complete before returning, so it can result in all the usual load errors (file not found, out of mem, etc.) as well as the "no program" error. Note that the PREV "|<" button on the panel does not work exactly like this, because it does not automatically try to load and play. see NEXT, JUKE, PJUM. query: see APRG. NEXT Like PREV, but moves to NEXT program selection instead of previous one. NOTE: If RANDOM mode is ON, then this command will send you to a random song! NOTE: This command used to be used for starting programs. I now recommend using PJUM with no parameters to start programs. See PJUM for the reasons. see PREV, JUKE, PJUM, RAND. query: see APRG. JUKE <filename> (Don't put extra characters on the end of the JUKE command. For instance, "Jukebox" is NOT a command). This is the way to make EdPlayer programs from an ARexx or CLI (telled) script. Each call to JUKE adds the one <filename> parameter to the end of the current program. It's a good idea to include the full path in this filename, because EdPlayer's current directory may not be the same one that the script file with the JUKEs is executing from. Once a program is created (by a series of "JUKE"s), the program can be started by a call to "PJUM". NEW for EdP v1.1: If you want to load a PP encrypted module, you can do this: JUKE volume:path/modulename|password (Please note the LACK of spaces around the "|"). If you don't give a password for a mod that needs it, a password requester opens each time the mod is loaded. If you give a wrong password, you will get error #5, and no requester opens. see PREV, NEXT * NEW COMMANDS in EdP v1.1: * DCOLor <decrunch color> If you have powerpacked modules, and if you're *NOT* using PowerPatch or some such stuff, then you can control the effect displayed by powerpacker.library when decrunching your files. Possible <decrunch color>s are the same as PP.lib uses: 0 = flash palette 0 on all screens 1 = flash palette 1 on all screens (EdPlayer's default) 2 = flash the mouse pointer 3 = do WEIRD FUNNY THINGS with the screen (I don't like this one) 4 = NO decrunch effect. It just sits there, quietly decrunching. query: see ACOL. ERASe Nobody asked for this command, but I thought it would be more than useful... It erases the current program. POOF. Gone. It does nothing to the current song however, so I suggest calling both ERAS and EJEC if you want a clean sweep! query: see APTO. *** NEW COMMANDS in EdP v2.0: *** * The PLAY command changed a bit. Now, if PLAY is issued with no parameters, and there is no current song, PLAY will look in the current program before giving up. However, to start program scripts, I recommend PJUM over play. FREQuester <frq number> File Requester preference. If you have more than one recognised file requester in your LIBS: directory, this command lets you pick which one you want to use. To get <frq number>, pick a LIBRARY NUMBER from below, and add to that number any LIBRARY FLAGS you want. LIBRARY NUMBERS: (choose one of these numbers) 0 = kd_freq.library 16 = req.library 32 = asl.library [others may appear in future versions] LIBRARY FLAGS: (add none/some/all of these to above chosen #). 1 = No shadows under text. (affects: kd_freq.library) 2 = Use default size, not big size (affects: kd_freq, asl) [more flags may appear in future versions] For example, to use kd_freq.library with no shadowtext and a big window, use (library #0) + (flags #1) = 'FREQ 1'. To use a small asl requester, use (library #32) + (flags #2) = 'FREQ 34'. query: see AFRQ. SAVC <filename> Save current program as a CLI script. Don't put extra characters on the end of the SAVC command. This takes the current EdPlayer program, and saves it to disk as <filename>. WARNING: There are no requesters or such if saving the program with this name would overwrite an existing file. Please be careful. To load a program saved with SAVC, make sure that the program "telled" is in your path, and from CLI type: execute <filename of program to load> Note that these programs do not load as fast as programs saved with SAVA. Also note that the status of the LOOP and RANDOM LEDs are saved with the program. see SAVA. SAVA <filename> Save current program as an ARexx script. Don't put extra characters on the end of the SAVA command. This does almost the same thing that SAVC does (and hence the same WARNING applies), but to load the saved program requires ARexx, and is done like this: rx <filename of program to load> Also, if you want to load a program and start playing from song number 16 (for example), you can say: rx <filename> 16 Generally, these programs should be saved to the REXX: directory with names ending in .rexx, like this: "SAVA REXX:myprogram.rexx" For programs with 40 songs or more, the speed increase of loading SAVA programs over loading SAVC programs becomes quite noticable. Also note that the status of the LOOP and RANDOM LEDs are saved with the program. see SAVC. PJUMp [<song number>] This command has two functions. One is jumping to arbitrary songs in a program. When the <song number> is provided, the current song stops immediately, and EdPlayer goes to the specified song in the program and plays from there. Note that if the <song number> is 0, EdPlayer will stop the program and set the current song to "--", where it waits for more input. The other function this command does, is when no <song number> is provided, EdPlayer just tries to get some music from a program up and playing. I'm sorry this is such an obvious kludge to make a nice command to put at the end of program scripts, but it was needed. The main difference between this and the new PLAY command, is that this command is satisfied as soon as music is playing. So, if a song is already playing when you issue PJUM, then PJUM has no effect, whereas PLAY would reset the song to the beginning. Also, if a song played and stoped, and THEN a program was loaded, a PJUM at the end of the program script would eject the stopped song and move into the program, whereas a PLAY in that place would have played the current song a second time. As you can see, it is much better to have a PJUM at the end of your program scripts than a PLAY. PJUM is used by SAVC and SAVA in saved program files. see PLAY, SAVC, SAVA. query: see APRG, APTO. SJUMp <position> SuperJUMP. This command is like JUMP, but its effect is immedeate, rather than delayed until the next position change. With this command, you can instantly jump to any position in the song. (Actually, its effect is delayed until the next line change, but lines usually go by so fast no one should notice this). This command also has the ability to jump right into the middle of a song. For example, suppose you LOAD a song and then want to start from position 8 rather than from the beginning. A quick 'SJUM 8' will get you there. see JUMP. query: see APOS, ATOT. FILTer <filter> This controls the audio filter and whether or not EdPlayer will override the song's control of it. For <filter>, use one of these: 0 = Override turned ON, filter turned OFF. 1 = Override turned ON, filter turned ON. 2 = Override turned OFF, filter turned OFF. 3 = Override turned OFF, filter turned ON. 4 = Override turned OFF. (no effect on filter). query: see AFIL. DISPlaymode <displaymode> This controls the display mode. Select a number from each: TABLE 1: 0 = Prg#, Pos, Total display 1 = Line, Pos, Patt display 2 = Time (with AM/PM) display 3 = Date (month/day/year) display TABLE 2: 0 = VU meters 0,1,2,3 (Left, Right, Right, Left) 4 = VU meters 0,3,2,1 (Left, Left, Right, Right) 8 = Spectrum Analyzer Pick one choice from Table 1, and one choice from Table 2. Then, ADD their numbers together! That gives you the number to put next to the DISP command. For example, if you wanted a Spectrum Analyzer with Line/Pos/Patt display, you would add 8 and 1 to get 'DISP 9'. query: see ADIS. MCOLor <0 or 1> This tells EdPlayer whether or not to try to extract RGB color info from MED mods and apply it to the CD panel. This will not work on mods older then MED 3.20. 0 = normal colors, 1 = extract MED mod colors. NOTE: Obviously, some remapping of the colors is done, so that colors that look good in MED will usually look ok on EdPlayer as well. This command has no effect on NT/PT mods or MED mods without RGB. query: see MCOL. RANDom <0 or 1> This turns random mode on (1) and off (0) for the current program. This setting is saved with a program when you use SAVC or SAVA. When random mode is on, songs play in random order, and the NEXT command goes random places, as does the ">|" gadget on the panel. If the current program is larger than 5 songs, EdPlayer keeps track of the last 4 songs selected by the random fuction, and makes sure it does not play the same song twice in a row. see NEXT. query: see ARND. MESSage [<message>] This is a very simple command, that I added mostly because it only took about 20 bytes to program it :-). It takes whatever <message> you give it, and displays it in the scroll bar under the CD panel. If the panel is not open, this command does nothing. If no <message> is provided, it displays the song name & author info. NOTE that you can add colors and things to your message with the "special effects" characters listed in the BUTTONS section under Info Bar. query: see ANAM. LPRIority <pri> This controls what EdPlayer's task priority will be while loading or decrunching a song. It only accepts 0 or negative numbers as input. The default is 0, but you could change this to -5 or such if you wanted EdPlayer not to strangle the CPU during a mod decrunch. BEWARE, if you multitask EdPlayer with a Ray Tracer, Fractal Generator, or some other CPU-intensive task while this priority is negative, EdPlayer may not be able to get any CPU time to load the next module with!! EdPlayer would then freeze until the ray trace was done. So, new users are advised to keep their hands off this one. If you already know about Amiga task priorities, then you can change this, but please be careful. query: see APRI. SWAIt [<pos>] Song wait. This is a VERY cpu-friendly way to wait for a song to finish or reach a certain point. Any script that sends an SWAI will then wait until EdPlayer returns the SWAI (careful, there is no Ctrl-C or anything to get out of this, but pressing STOP on EdPlayer will do the trick). EdPlayer returns an SWAI when EdPlayer's position in the current song reaches or passes the <pos> given by the SWAI. If the <pos> is higher than the highest position in the song, or if no <pos> was given, EdPlayer hangs on to the SWAI until the song ends. If the current song ends, for _ANY_ reason, _ALL_ remaining SWAI messages are returned. You may have any number of SWAI and PWAI messages queued up in EdPlayer at the same time; normal ARexx/telled message processing will continue for other scripts. see: PWAI. query: see APOS, ATOT. PWAIt [<song>] Program Wait. This is a VERY cpu-friendly way to wait for a program to finish or reach a certain song. Any script that sends a PWAI will have to wait until EdPlayer returns the PWAI (careful, there is no Ctrl-C or anything to get out of this, but erasing the program on EdPlayer will do the trick). EdPlayer returns a PWAI when the current program reaches or passes the given <song> number. (NOTE: For random programs, PWAI is almost useless). If the <song> number is higher than the highest song in the program, or if no <song> was given, EdPlayer hangs on to the PWAI until the program ends. If the current program ends or gets erased, _ALL_ remaining PWAI messages are returned. You may have any number of SWAI and PWAI messages queued up in EdPlayer at the same time; normal ARexx/telled message processing will continue for other scripts. see: SWAI. query: see APRG, APTO. SYNTh <0 or 1> Controls the appearence of EdSynth. 0 = hidden, 1 = displayed in lo-res, 2 = displayed in HIRES/Interlace This command takes effect instantly if EdPlayer's CD panel is already open. However, if the panel is NOT open, this command merely records what display mode EdSynth will be in the next time the panel is opened. A description of EdSynth is in the BUTTONS section. see: MENU query: see ASYN. *** NEW commands for EdP 2.1: DMAWait <value> This command allows you to adjust the audio timing used in the ProTracker replay routines. The PT replay routines in EdPlayer don't use a CPU busy-loop, instead, they call the _wait1line subroutine from the MED replay routines. In EdPlayer 2.0, they would always call this routine with a value of 120. However, for some systems, this value was not high enough and EdP would skip notes in ST/NT/PT mods. So, this command lets you change the value. If EdPlayer seems to be skipping notes, you might want to call DMAWait with a higher <value> like 160 or 180. The higher value you use, the less chance there is of note loss. BUT, if you go too high, the system will suffer: the decrease in CPU time may start to become noticable, and modem usage may get errors or cause EdPlayer to drag the tempo down. Any <value> 10 or higher will be accepted by this command, so if you're really trying to crash your computer, you can enter something in the millions. NOTE: This command only affects playback of ST/NT/PT mods. It has no effect on MED mods. query: see ADMAwait. ============================= ARexx queries: =============================== This is the ARexx query part of the AREXX/TELLED section. To use queries, you MUST have ARexx running, because all queries return RexxArg strings. To send a query from an ARexx script, use OPTIONS RESULTS and read the variable RESULT after the query returns. To send a query from the CLI while ARexx is running, use the provided AskEd.rexx script. Ex: rx AskEd <query> That will print the result in your CLI window. AskEd.rexx is also a good example of how to put queries in your own scripts. NOTE: ARexx queries do NOT work through telled or cteled, because those programs do not make use of ARexx. ANAMe Ask Name. This returns the name and author info of the current song. NOTE: This is NOT to be used as a filename! It may have author info in it. AVOLume Ask Volume. Returns the current volume. see VOLU. AFADe Ask Faderate. Returns the current fade rate, or 0 for no fade. the result from this may be used in a later AUTO command. see AUTO. Other queries: see ALOP. ALOP Ask LOOP. Returns 1 if LOOP is on, or 0 if LOOP is off. see LOOP, AUTO. Other queries: see AFAD. ASELfdestruct Ask Self-Destruct. Returns 1 if EdPlayer plans to kill itself after the current song finishes, or 0 otherwise. see SELF. ATEMpo Ask Tempo. Returns a string: NTSC or PALM. This string may later be passed as a command to restore the tempo to what it was when ATEM was issued. see NTSC, PALM, NORM. AMODe Ask Mode. Returns a string: MENU, ICON, or HIDE. This string may later be passed as a command to restore the user interface to what it was when AMOD was issued. see MENU, ICON, HIDE. Other queries: see ASYN. AMIDi Ask MIDI. Returns 0, 1, or 2. 0 = No MIDI is active, 1 = MIDI is going direct to the serial port, and 2 = MIDI is going into the midi.library (via MIDL). see NOMI, MIDI, MIDL. ACOLor Ask color. Returns the decrunch color to be used by powerpacker. This number may later be used in DCOL to restore the color. see DCOL (for meanings of color numbers). AFRQ Ask file requester. Returns the last number sent to FREQ (0 is the default). see FREQ. AFILter Ask filter. Returns a number from 0 to 3, showing the status of the filter and the filter override. This number may later be used in FILT to restore the filter and its override. see FILT (for the meanings of the numbers 0 to 3 here). ADISplay Ask Displaymode. Returns a number showing the status of the LED display (both digits and bars). This number may later be used in DISP to restore the display mode. see DISP. AMCOlors Ask MED colors. Returns 1 if EdPlayer is trying to use RGB color tables found in MED mods, or 0 if EdPlayer is just keeping a normal palette. NOTE: This always returns 1 if the last MCOL command was a 1, regardless of whether or not EdPlayer has actually found any nonstandard colors to use. see MCOL. ARND Ask Random mode. Returns 1 if EdPlayer is playing songs in random order, or 0 if EdPlayer is playing songs sequentially. see RAND. APRIority Ask Load priority. Returns the task priority that EdPlayer uses when loading and decrunching modules. see LPRI. APOSition Ask POS. Returns the position in the song, like the "POS" display on the panel. NOTE: DO NOT wait for a position in a song by calling APOS until it returns a given number. This will EAT UP ALL OF YOUR CPU TIME! To wait for a position, use SWAI! see SWAI, JUMP, SJUM. Other queries: see ATOT. ATOTalpositions Ask total positions. Actually, this returns the number of the highest position in the song, which technically is one less than the total positions in the song. However, it IS the same number that appears above "TOTAL" on the panel during a song. It is also the greatest number you can legally send to JUMP or SJUM. see JUMP, SJUM. Other queries: see APOS. APRGnum Ask program number. Returns the number of the current song in the program. NOTE: DO NOT wait for a song in a program by calling APRG until your song is playing. This will EAT UP ALL OF YOUR CPU TIME!! To wait for a given song, use PWAI. see PWAI, PJUM. Other queries: see APTO. APTOtal Ask program total. Returns the total number of songs in the current program. This also happens to be the number of the highest song you can PJUM to. see PJUM. Other queries: see APRG. *** NEW Queries for EdPlayer 2.1: *** AVERsion Ask current version of EdPlayer. This query was mostly added for the benefit of EdPlayer Junior, which doesn't have a main panel to display the version number on. It returns a string like this: EdPlayer version x.x by Ed Mackey or EdPlayerJunior version x.x by Ed Mackey Note that for any given release, EdPlayer and EdPlayer Junior will have the same version number. This is so you can keep them together. Note also that there is no space in EdPlayerJunior, so you can use the ARexx function WORD(version,3) to get just the bare version number if you like. AERRor <number> Ask for a short description of a certain error <number>. This returns the same string that would be printed to the panel if this error had occoured. The DOCs have much better descriptions, but I thought this would be useful for something. APLAying This is a feature I forgot to put in EdPlayer 2.0. It returns a number like this: 0 = no song loaded 4 = PT-MOD loaded but STOPped. 5 = PT-MOD loaded and playing. 6 = PT-MOD loaded and paused. 8 = MED mod loaded but STOPped. 9 = MED mod loaded and playing. 10 = MED mod loaded and paused. The numbers were chosen for easy parsing of bitfilds, for you binary-heads. Note that if EdPlayer recieves a PAUSe command, and is in the process of fading the music to a pause, this query may still report "playing" (5 or 9) and won't report "paused" (6 or 10) until after the music has faded all the way out and is truly paused. ADMAwait Returns the most recent value sent to DMAWait. see DMAW. *End of ARexx commands and queries.