This software is not free! Check the important notice at the end of this text.
To view a catalog, double-click the catalog fileΓÇÖs icon on the desktop. You can open movies, pictures, or catalog files directly, using the ΓÇ£OpenΓÇ¥ command in the ΓÇ£FileΓÇ¥ menu. To create your own catalog files, choose the ΓÇ£Edit PreferencesΓÇ¥ command and turn on the ΓÇ£Show Catalog MenuΓÇ¥ checkbox.
The catalog window displays a list of entries representing movie or picture files. To view a movie or picture, double-click its entry. If you open a movie, a full-screen window will open with the movie centered on a gray background. The movie will automatically begin to play. When the movie finishes, the window will close automatically. If you open a picture file, the picture will appear in its own window.
Single clicking on a movie image will stop playback. Double clicking will restart it. You can also start and stop by pressing the space bar or Return key. You can step through the movie one frame at a time by using the left and right arrow keys. The up and down arrow keys control the volume. Hold down the Shift while you double click on the movie and it will play backward!
A movie controller appears along the bottom edge of a movie window. Press on the speaker icon and drag to control the volume. Option-click it to toggle sound on and off. Next to that is a play/pause button you can click. Next to that is the play bar. You can click or drag to position the movie to any frame. At the right side of the controller are buttons which let you single step through the movie. Control-click in the step buttons and drag to play a movie at varying speeds.
You can change the movie or picture image size by using the commands in the ΓÇ£WindowΓÇ¥ menu. You can change the way movies play, and the way the movie window looks, by using the ΓÇ£PreferencesΓÇ¥ command in the ΓÇ£EditΓÇ¥ menu. You can also copy whole movies, movie segments, or single frames to the clipboard. You can also make your own catalogs and fill them with entries for all your movies. Pictures can be resized and copied to the clipboard. You can also print movie frames, pictures, or catalogs. These activities are described below.
If you are using System 7.0 or higher, the Balloon Help menu appears at the right side of the menu bar. Choose the ΓÇ£Show BalloonsΓÇ¥ command and then point to things to see descriptions of what they do.
EasyPlay can run on any Macintosh with System 6.0.4 or above, but it is very restricted in that minimum environment. Color QuickDraw, QuickTime, and System 7 are all suggested. You canΓÇÖt open movies without QuickTime, and you canΓÇÖt do anything except view and print catalog files without the alias manager present in either QuickTime or System 7. If you do something the capabilities of your system wonΓÇÖt allow, an alert will appear. To get full capabilities, you need at least System 7 or above and QuickTime 1.0 or above.
If this text appears jagged to you, install the ΓÇ£Geneva 10ΓÇ¥ font into your system.
The File menu has commands to open catalogs and images, to close windows, and to quit the application.
The Open command shows a dialog box that can open catalog and image files. The ΓÇ£Show PreviewΓÇ¥ checkbox in the dialog opens up a preview area which shows a preview of files you select, as a browsing aid.
The Close command will close the active (frontmost) window.
The Page Setup command will allow you to set up printer characteristics.
The Print command will print the active window.
The Quit command will exit the application and return to the desktop.
The Edit menu has the usual commands to deal with the clipboard, plus a command to adapt the application to your preferences.
The Undo, Cut and Paste commands are only active when desk accessories are used.
The Copy command can be used when a movie or picture window is active. It will copy the selected part of the movie, or the entire picture, to the clipboard.
To select a segment of a movie for copying, use the ΓÇ£Select AllΓÇ¥ command, or the movie controller in the movie window. Drag the controllerΓÇÖs play bar to the first part of your selection. Next, hold down Shift while you drag to the last part of the selection. The highlighted portion of the bar indicates the part of the movie that is selected. Another way to make a selection is to move to the start of the section, hold down Shift and type a Return. The movie plays until you release Shift, and the played portion of the movie will be selected. Unless you make a selection, only the current frame will be copied. Both the selected movie segment and a picture of the first frame is copied, so if you paste into an application which doesnΓÇÖt handle movies, you will still get a picture.
The Clear command can be used when a catalog window is active. It will delete the selected entry from the catalog. This action canΓÇÖt be undone, and the change is saved automatically. Pressing the keyboardΓÇÖs Delete key will also delete the selected entry.
The Preferences command opens a window which lets you control some aspects of the applicationΓÇÖs operation:
The Always use the menu bar screen checkbox is only significant if your computer has more than one monitor. Normally, EasyPlay will play movies and show some dialog boxes on the most colorful monitor - the one which is set to the greatest color depth. If you turn this preference on, the main monitor will always be used, even if it isnΓÇÖt the most colorful.
The DonΓÇÖt automatically play movies checkbox, if turned on, will not play movies when you open them. The movie will open, stopped at the first frame, and you have to double click on it (or use the space bar, return key or movie controller play button) to start it.
The Initially hide the movie controller checkbox, if turned on, will cause movie windows to be opened without the movie controller. You can make the controller appear yourself by using the ΓÇ£Show ControllerΓÇ¥ command in the ΓÇ£MovieΓÇ¥ menu.
The DonΓÇÖt close movies when finished checkbox, if turned on, will leave the movie window open when it is finished playing. You can close the movie window yourself with the ΓÇ£CloseΓÇ¥ command in the ΓÇ£FileΓÇ¥ menu, or the windowΓÇÖs close box.
The Show the Catalog menu checkbox, when turned on, will make a ΓÇ£CatalogΓÇ¥ menu appear in the menu bar. It contains commands that let you create your own catalog files for use with EasyPlay. If you just want to display images, this menu isnΓÇÖt needed.
The Background popup menu lets you control the color, and presence, of the background in movie windows. If you choose a background, movies will open in a window which covers the entire screen.
The Black, Gray, and White background choices control the background color. The Other… choice will let you pick any color you like for the background. Clicking on the color swatch next to the menu will also let you pick a color.
The None background choice says to use no background. The movie will open in a window that is the same size as the movie image, instead of in a full-screen window.
The Default size popup menu controls the size at which an image is originally opened. You can change the size later using commands in the ΓÇ£WindowΓÇ¥ menu. The ΓÇ£NormalΓÇ¥ size is the most efficient for playing movies, and is the size at which the movie was recorded. The ΓÇ£DoubleΓÇ¥ size is second most efficient.
The Oversize size popup menu controls the size at which the an image bigger than the screen is originally opened. ΓÇ£Largest That FitsΓÇ¥ is the default. If your selection will still cause the image to be oversize, the image will be scaled to the largest size that fits.
The Movie menu is active when a movie window is active. It contains commands to control some aspects of movie playback.
The Loop command will cause the movie to play in a loop, over and over until you stop it. Some movies are meant to loop, especially if they are very short.
The Loop Back and Forth command will cause the movie to play forward at first, but when it reaches the end, it will play backward to the beginning. It will keep reversing directions until you stop it.
The Play Selection Only command will restrict playback (or looping) to the selected part of the movie. See description of the Copy command for instructions on selecting part of a movie.
The Show/Hide Controller command will alternately show and hide the controller bar in a movie window. When the controller is hidden and the movie is stopped, a ΓÇ£badgeΓÇ¥ icon will appear in the movie image. Clicking on the badge will cause the controller to appear.
The Go to Poster Frame command will position a movie to its ΓÇ£posterΓÇ¥. When a movie is created, its creator chooses a representitive frame from the movie to be the poster which is shown in catalogs and previews.
The Window menu controls the size of images, and lets you make a particular window active.
The Normal Size command will set the image to its natural size, which gives a movie the best playback. Half and Double sizes are relative to the normal size. Large size makes the image the largest size that fits the window while maintaining the proper aspect ratio, and Full Screen will stretch the image as needed to fit the screen. These last two sizes usually play movies very inefficiently. If the Half, Normal or Double size would cause the image to be larger than the screen, it is instead displayed at the largest size that fits.
At the end of the Window menu, the names of all the open windows appear. Selecting a name will cause that window to come to the front.
The Catalog menu only appears if the ΓÇ£Show the Catalog menuΓÇ¥ checkbox in the ΓÇ£PreferencesΓÇ¥ command is turned on. It lets you create catalog files, and add entries to them.
A catalog file holds a list of entries. Each entry includes a title, description, and a thumnail image which shows the picture or movie ΓÇ£posterΓÇ¥ frame. The catalog does not include the actual movie or picture, it merely has an internal pointer, or ΓÇ£aliasΓÇ¥ to the real file. When you double click on an entry in the catalog window, EasyPlay looks for the file and opens it. If it canΓÇÖt find the file, a dialog box will appear letting you locate it, and the catalog will remember the new location. A catalog file can hold a maximum of 4000 entries.
A catalog file need not have access to its image files to be useful. For example, a catalog could be made of all the movies and pictures on a bulletin board system. The descriptions could include the library and filename on the bulletin board, and the catalog could serve as a guide for downloading from the board. Or, you could make a catalog of images on various diskettes and CD-ROMs that you own. When you double click an entry, EasyPlay will ask you to insert the proper item.
When you make changes to the catalog file, they are immediately written - thus, there is no ΓÇ£SaveΓÇ¥ command in EasyPlay. If you delete an entry with the ΓÇ£ClearΓÇ¥ command, the space it took up in the catalog file is not recovered, but deleted entries do not count in the 4000 entry limit.
If EasyPlay and the catalog file you are using are on a CD-ROM, you can get EasyPlay to draw the catalog faster and find movies more quickly if you move both the EasyPlay application and the catalog file from the CD-ROM to your hard disk. Of course, if the catalog file is on CD-ROM or a locked disk, it can not be modified. Copying it to the hard disk will let you make changes, if you like.
The New Catalog command will create a new, empty catalog file. A dialog box will appear where you name the file and choose its location. To open an existing catalog file, use the ΓÇ£OpenΓÇ¥ command in the ΓÇ£FileΓÇ¥ menu.
The Add an Entry command lets you add one catalog entry to the file which represents a movie or picture. A dialog box appears which lets you choose the file. The new entry appears at the end of the catalog. For a movie, the poster frame will appear as the entryΓÇÖs picture. If no poster frame is defined in the movie, the first frame will be used. If there is no video in the movie (for example the movie contains audio only), a default picture will appear. The file name will be used as the title, and the file location, size, length and characteristics will be used as the description. You can modify the title and description with the ΓÇ£Modify an EntryΓÇ¥ command.
The Scan a Folder command is used to add a number of entries to the catalog at once. As with the ΓÇ£Add an EntryΓÇ¥ command, a dialog box appears which lets you choose a file. Choose any file in the desired folder, and EasyPlay will add entries for all the movie files in that folder, and in any nested folders. It is possible to add a whole disk worth of movies to the catalog at once with this command. To do that, select the disk and open a file at the root level, such as the desktop file.
Make sure that EasyPlay has enough memory to open each file it will add. If EasyPlay ΓÇ£crashesΓÇ¥ in the middle of adding an entry to the catalog, try again after adding more memory to EasyPlay by using the Get Info command in the Finder.
The Modify an Entry command lets you make changes to the title and description of a catalog entry. First click on an entry in the catalog so it is highlighted with a thick border, then choose the ΓÇ£Modify an EntryΓÇ¥ command. A short cut is to hold down the Option key while you double-click on an entry. A dialog box will appear letting you make changes. The maximum length of a title or description string is 255 characters. Although the default for the title is the file name, and the default description includes the file location, the texts can be anything you wish - EasyPlay keeps track of the file name and location independently and internally.
The modify command also lets you override some of the playback characteristics for the particular movie associated with an entry:
The Size popup menu allows you set the initial size of the image when it is opened. The ΓÇ£Use PreferencesΓÇ¥ setting causes the image to open normally, using whatever preference the user has set in the ΓÇ£PreferencesΓÇ¥ command. The other settings cause the image to open at half, normal, double, large or full size accordingly. The user can subsequently adjust the image size with the commands in the ΓÇ£WindowΓÇ¥ menu.
The Depth popup menu allows you to cause the color depth of the screen to change when the image opens, as though the user had used the Monitors control panel. Since changing the color depth of a screen is an unusual action which should always remain under user control, this command should be used sparingly. However, if a movie requires a particular depth, the command can be used. The ΓÇ£No ChangeΓÇ¥ setting is normal - the depth wonΓÇÖt change when the image is opened. The other settings will cause the depth to change. If the monitor does not support the desired depth, the ΓÇ£deepestΓÇ¥ depth that it supports will be set.
The Play movie in a loop checkbox, if turned on, will cause a movie to initially open in a looping mode. The user can subsequently turn the looping off and back on by using the ΓÇ£LoopΓÇ¥ command in the ΓÇ£MovieΓÇ¥ menu.
The Sort by Order Added command will sort the entries in the catalog according to the order which they were added to the file. The catalog will retain whatever sort order you set.
The Sort by Title command will sort by whatever text is in the title (upper) string of each entry.
The Sort by Description command will sort by whatever text is in the description (lower) string of each entry.
The EasyPlay application can be controlled by sending it Apple events. An ΓÇÿaeteΓÇÖ internal resource describes the supported events. Some applications may be able to read this data to determine the event specifications. The specifications for the events are described in a separate document.
EasyPlayΓäó software is copyrighted. It is not public domain, and it is not free. If you got a copy from a friend, a CD-ROM, a diskette, a bulletin board or other online service, or any other source, even if you paid for the media or software collection it was in:
If you find yourself using EasyPlay regularly, send the author $20.00 in U.S. funds.
You may give unchanged, unmodified copies to all your friends, post it on bulletin boards, or distribute copies of it in any other way. However, if any of the people who obtain such copies find themselves using EasyPlay regularly, they must send $20.00.
Others may place this software in a collection of publicly distributable software and sell it. This is encouraged, but unfortunately, the author gets none of this money! IIf you obtained EasyPlay in that way and find yourself using it regularly, you should still send $20.00.
This application is not copy protected, doesnΓÇÖt bother you with frequent reminders, and you have had a chance to try it first. You are trusted to do the right thing. If you use EasyPlay regularly, send the $20.00. Support the the hard work of the author! This notice is purposely low key. DonΓÇÖt make me add something more annoying asking for payment in future versions of the software.
Send a check drawn on a U.S. bank, or a money order in U.S. funds, to ΓÇ£Leptonic Systems Design Co.ΓÇ¥ at the address below. You may or may not receive a response, but please include your return address. The latest version of EasyPlay is posted by the author, Michael C. OΓÇÖConnor, on the CompuServe Information Service.
Leptonic Systems Design Co.
717 E. Jericho Turnpike #321
Huntington Station NY 11746
CompuServe: 76004,1447
AppleLink: LEPTON
Another way to pay, if you are a member of CompuServe Information Service(sm), is to use the online shareware registration service. At any “!” prompt, enter the command GO SWREG and follow the menus to register item number 152. The payment will be billed to your CompuServe account, and CompuServe will pass it to me.
For a limited time, while supplies last, I will send you by return mail, a free CD-ROM disc containing ten full length QuickTime Betty Boop Public Domain cartoons! This offer may end at any time without notice.
