Help with DXPlayer plug-in
Tuesday, July 24, 2001 by ghibli | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
I'm having trouble configuring the DXPlayer plug-in under DesktopX 1.0. All I've been able to do is make it launch Winamp by clicking on it. How do I then configure the different buttons to perform the different commands (play, pause, etc?) I can only left click on the whole player skin, and it seems like to make the player totally functional, I'd have to have a bunch more objects to left-click on, so I can configure one object to pause, one object to rewind, and so on. Am I supposed to add an object for every command?
If anybody could help me figure this out, I'd appreciate it. I'm using the Dev1024 theme for DesktopX 1.0. DXPlayer 0.9.0.4, by Matthjis Vermuleun. Thanks.
If anybody could help me figure this out, I'd appreciate it. I'm using the Dev1024 theme for DesktopX 1.0. DXPlayer 0.9.0.4, by Matthjis Vermuleun. Thanks.
ghibli
Reply #2 Wednesday, July 25, 2001 12:01 AM
Reply #2 Wednesday, July 25, 2001 12:01 AM
Yes, but what if none of the buttons are configurable, because they aren't objects? The player (which is one bmp) is one big object, but none of the buttons contain objects.
I know I'm not expressing this very clearly, but I'm very new at this. I guess what I want to know is if I have to create a new object for every button (since the buttons at this time are not objects.) And if I do have to do that, well, how do I turn the big blue button (the default "new" object) into a small, invisible object, so I can place it where the "Play" button on the ampbase bitmap is?
Or if anybody knows where there is a more detailed tutorial about creating and grouping and configuring new objects? Thanks.
I know I'm not expressing this very clearly, but I'm very new at this. I guess what I want to know is if I have to create a new object for every button (since the buttons at this time are not objects.) And if I do have to do that, well, how do I turn the big blue button (the default "new" object) into a small, invisible object, so I can place it where the "Play" button on the ampbase bitmap is?
Or if anybody knows where there is a more detailed tutorial about creating and grouping and configuring new objects? Thanks.
Xymantix
Reply #3 Wednesday, July 25, 2001 12:16 AM
Reply #3 Wednesday, July 25, 2001 12:16 AM
Yes, you'll end up creating a new object for each function of the plugin - one to launch the default player, one to play, one to stop, etc. It sounds like it might be a lot of work, but it goes pretty quickly if you finish off one completely, clone it, and then make a couple of modifications as a way of creating the rest.
As far as creating the controls, you can do this several ways that I can think of. One way would be to have a background image that's just a layer (I think you've already got this part). Next, use your paint program to "cut out" portions of the big image. For example, you could copy the portion of the background that contains the play button. This portion would be saved out to a new file and used as the image for the play control. If you place it in just the right spot over the background image, it will "fit" into the image perfectly.
You could also create a dummy layer like you alluded to. Simply make an image that's just large enough to cover the play button. If you make it 99% transparent, it probably doesn't even matter what the image looks like. Again, you'd create a new object that's responsible for the play function, and then assign this image to it. One downside to this method is that it's sometimes a challenge to work with "invisible" objects - they're hard to find! You'll end up using the object browser quite a bit
Of course, if you go this route, set the alpha blending high while you're working on the object (so that you can see it), then turn it down when you're done tweaking it.
I'd suggest using the first method that I described above...
As far as creating the controls, you can do this several ways that I can think of. One way would be to have a background image that's just a layer (I think you've already got this part). Next, use your paint program to "cut out" portions of the big image. For example, you could copy the portion of the background that contains the play button. This portion would be saved out to a new file and used as the image for the play control. If you place it in just the right spot over the background image, it will "fit" into the image perfectly.
You could also create a dummy layer like you alluded to. Simply make an image that's just large enough to cover the play button. If you make it 99% transparent, it probably doesn't even matter what the image looks like. Again, you'd create a new object that's responsible for the play function, and then assign this image to it. One downside to this method is that it's sometimes a challenge to work with "invisible" objects - they're hard to find! You'll end up using the object browser quite a bit
Of course, if you go this route, set the alpha blending high while you're working on the object (so that you can see it), then turn it down when you're done tweaking it.I'd suggest using the first method that I described above...
pjpowell
Reply #4 Wednesday, July 25, 2001 1:35 AM
Reply #4 Wednesday, July 25, 2001 1:35 AM
Also look in the plugins folder in your DesktopX folder for the file dxplayer.txt. This contains instructions on what commands are available and how to configure objects to use them.
ghibli
Reply #5 Wednesday, July 25, 2001 5:39 PM
Reply #5 Wednesday, July 25, 2001 5:39 PM
"For example, you could copy the portion of the background that contains the play button. If you place it in just the right spot over the background image, it will "fit" into the image perfectly."
Xymantix, that's exactly what I did, though I probably went the long way around--I took a screenshot of my desktop, then cropped it to the appropriate button, saved it to the current theme file, made a new object with that tiny bmp as the image, then placed it over the "dead" button. Once I configured it as per the dxplayer.txt file's instructions (thanks, pjpowell!), it worked perfectly. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.
Xymantix, that's exactly what I did, though I probably went the long way around--I took a screenshot of my desktop, then cropped it to the appropriate button, saved it to the current theme file, made a new object with that tiny bmp as the image, then placed it over the "dead" button. Once I configured it as per the dxplayer.txt file's instructions (thanks, pjpowell!), it worked perfectly. Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.
Xymantix
Reply #6 Wednesday, July 25, 2001 6:38 PM
Reply #6 Wednesday, July 25, 2001 6:38 PM
Great! You'll have to upload your object when you're done .
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Reply #1 Tuesday, July 24, 2001 8:24 PM
:Slayeh