EnigmA Amiga Run 1996 February

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/ EnigmA Amiga Run 1996 February / EnigmA AMIGA RUN 04 (1996)(G.R. Edizioni)(IT)[!][issue 1996-02][Skylink CD III].iso / earcd / midi / hip222.lha / HippoPlayer / Support / HippoPlay.filer.doc < prev next >

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Text File | 1994-05-27 | 7KB | 174 lines

HippoPlay.filer =============== HippoPlay.filer is an ARexx script for Filer, the file management program. Simply, it plays all selected files with HiP, but it also has a couple of nice features which make it more fun to use. It should be possible to make this script work with DirOpus etc. instead of Filer. If you wish to do so and have problems (the code IS a mess:), contact me (see address at the end of this file). This script is freeware, you can do anything you please with it. However, don't blame me if it mutates into a deadly hardcore virus and remixes all your modules as if they were abused by a gang of brainless techno freeks using an IBM 286 without a soundcard, that's YOUR problem, dude... Requirements ------------ Filer, HippoPlayer, ARexx and _rexxsupport.library_ should be enough. A couple of modules won't hurt, though... Installation ------------ First edit the script a little (sorry, but you really have to!). Change the first line of code after the comments, the one that says HippoPath = 'dh2:Hippoplayer/HiP' Yes, you guessed it, just replace the path with the one you use. After that, copy the script to the place you keep your Filer-scripts, usually REXX:. Then add a new button into Filer, and type "RX Hippoplay.filer" as the command. Save prefs, and you're ready to go! You might also want to change HiP's prefs so that it opens on FilerScreen instead of Workbench, though the script forces HiP on FilerScreen anyway. And while you're at it, zip HiP with your right mouse button and position the titlebar to the upper left hand corner of FilerScreen, then save HiP's prefs. This way HiP will show up nicely zipped next time, as if it was always meant to be part of Filer :) Usage ----- Just use Filer to select all the mods you want to play and hit the play button. That causes the following actions to take place: 1) If HiP is not loaded, it will be loaded 2) The playlist is cleared (if files were selected) 3) All selected files are added into the playlist 4) HiP starts randomplaying the modules Note that you can also select directories! They will be scanned recursively and all files in them will be added to playlist. So if you want HiP to randomplay ALL your modules, just select your module directory and press play... If no files were selected then we ask HiP the name of the currently playing module and display it on Filer's statusbar (unless you enable RandomPlay, see Bonus Stuff) unless there is only one module in the list, in which case we eject it (emulating a stop button). Bonus Stuff ----------- 1) Making Filer tell you the composer of the module I have the habit of putting the composer's name in the filenote, so of course I made use of it in this script. Example: module "mod.IWantYou" is done by "Superted of Grostesticle and Suspiria" (the filenote). So when I select that module and hit play, the mod starts playing AND the status line of Filer says: 'HiP: Playing "mod.IWantYou" by Superted of Grostesticle and Suspiria' This way I don't have to remember the composer myself... If you don't like that idea, don't panic, because if the script sees that the comment is empty, it just says what kind of a module it is, and how big it is. If you don't like that either, just edit the CONFIGURATION part of the script (it is at the beginning), change "Verbose" to "0". This way you'll only get to know the name of the module, nothing more. 2) Checking filenames for unwanted filetypes If you have icons lying around in your module directory you naturally don't want HiP to try to play them. And if you have readme's for your mods, they shouldn't be played either. If that's the case, here's what you do: - check the CONFIGURATION part of the script, it's at the beginning. - change "CheckFileNames" to "1" instead of "0", this activates filename checking. - below that you see a list of unwanted suffixes and prefixes, edit them to suit your taste. - save the modified script and try it! Now if you select icons or readmes, the script simply ignores them, as it should. Note, however, that checking makes the script considerably slower, so if you're in a hurry, keep this feature disabled (default), or at least keep the number of prefixes/suffixes as low as possible. 3) Controlling what the script does when nothing is selected Normally when you just push the Play button on Filer without selecting anything first this script prints out info about currently playing module, which is useful when you for example have hidden HiP's window. An alternative to this behaviour is making the button act like a random play button, thus forcing HiP to jump to next random module. If you prefer this feature, then just activate it in the CONFIGURATION part of the script. As always, if there's only one mod in playlist we won't random play it, but instead we eject it. 4) Activating this scipt by double clicking a module Unfortunately this script has no way of knowing which file you double clicked, but with a little trick you can do this. Add something like this to Filer.RC: CLASS "(mod|MED|S3M).#?","","Run >NIL: RX HippoPlay.filer" After this, when you double click a file that starts with mod/MED/S3M all SELECTED files get played. So what you have to do is first you select all files/dirs you want to play, then double click any mod you DON'T want to play (because it gets UNSELECTED!). Sounds stupid, and is stupid, but works anyway... Suggestions very welcome! Known bugs ---------- I use this script all the time and it seems to work with my plain vanilla A1200 HD. Don't know how the rexxsupport.lib function ShowDir() works in exotic filesystems though. - Filer doesn't seem to react to control-c, so you can't break the script from Filer! :( It might take a little patience to wait if you accidentally began loading a diskful of chip-tunes, so don't... Contact address --------------- If you find any bugs or have suggestions or anything, don't hesitate to contact me: Janne Simonen - jsimonen@cc.joensuu.fi Merimiehenkatu 44 A 8 FIN-80100 JOENSUU FINLAND Especially if you put a mod or two in your letter I promise to seriously consider impementing any features you have in mind... Thanks to K-P for making me do the DirRecurser-part of the script, and for making HiP, of course! Anyways, I hope this piece of code will help you get even more fun out of HippoPlayer, the heavyweight mod player champ! :) History ------- pre-1.0 versions were not released because of my perfectionism... v 1.0 - the first released version, added filename checking and configuration part to the script. Can't think of anything more to add, maybe it's perfect? Yeah, right! :) Suggestions, anyone?