mannybr2003

<quote>We have "Run application after last slide" but what if user close show by using "Esc" ? Can you add new option: "Run application when show is closed" ?</quote> I just noticed this is a request that is asking that a program execute when one presses the ESC key, something similar to one I suggested today somewhere in this thread. I don't have a say about it.

<quote>So I think it can help members who are making pte related utilities to know they have this option in case they want to run a file when show is closed.</quote> I would say, we can ask PTE Maker to let's say a user press X as a disguise to Exit the program. And yet the created PTE project will actually end. However, in PTE there is an option there where you can close the PTE project yet coninue another program to run, say whatever .exe or you can cut and paste a javascript for popping up a window and put it inside an html and save it as an html document. Your pte project is already close, but your html window created by a javascript is there popped up showing you a message with or without a hyperlink.

I guess this is my final say to solve the problems of Exiting plug-ins before or after Exiting the PTE show. All that a user have to do is press Alt-Tab then choose the plug-in or any program he wishes to close and press its close button. I think that is the most painless no brainer way to do it. That way we can play anytime with the ESC key. Just keep pressing it.

I understand Al, you mentioned earlier that you agree for the ESC dis-abled as an option. What I am after is finding a solution to this problem which Boxig is enlightening us, which I'm sure we see. Maybe a better alternative is that the PTE Maker would be programmed to cause every project to detect when someone presses the ESC key, to open up a dialogue asking are you sure? - the ff. plug-in modules are still working. Uncheck the buttons first to close them, then press OK, Exit. But this will give more work for Igor to think about: how to dis-able Boxig or anyones' running program behind the scene to cease operation after the PTE is already aborted since they are running independent of PTE.

I guess we welcome the fact that most windows programs are not easily turned off by pressing ESC key. We can't turn off the Windows itself by pressing ESC, nor our maker of PTE projects, and almost every windows program: Excel, MMB, whatever commercial program we buy - we cannot exit them by pressing ESC. I guess the PTE project we create should not differ because they are just another software. I'm not really sure if repeatitive aborting of programs affects the hard drive to cause it to be fragmented. If this is true, then dis-abling the ESC key could help prevent PTE projects from fragmenting the storage.

<quote> One thing to consider in assessing this request is that there are thousands of PTE shows already created where "Esc" is used to exit. It would be very time-consuming, if not impossible, to change all these shows so they wouldn't interfere with underlying programs due to improper use of the "Esc" key. Also, if we change the escape mechanism now, IMO, it would be confusing to users who have been relying on "Esc" to exit. </quote> Al, PTE projects that had already been completed will not be affected with implementation of a new way to escape a program. What I am after is the present and future usefulness and reliability of PTE. IMHO PTE have more uses that its original purposes in its present state. Just as Boxig is asking that something may be done inside PTE so that his utility programs will be closed also when someone suddenly aborts a running PTE program when someone presses the ESC in panic. He is asking it not for his own self, but for us who are using his and other makers' utilities to work along with a PTE project. To site an example, I made a PTE project. Then in the middle of its operation, someone who I submitted my project (say a customer) noticed the pc has trouble displaying instantly, the customer might resort into suddenly pressing the ESC. What the customer doesn't know is that there's a couple of utilities such as Boxig's that are also running underneath. When the customer presses the ESC, all these utilities running underneath, which I or someone applied on the PTE project will remain in operation although the PTE project is already aborted. The result is a big 'embarrassment' to me who made or presented this PTE project because it appears I have no control over my project, that the show is over but its other gears are still running. Since to create a routine to control Boxig's utilities to stop is a difficult task to do, then the only course to prevent users from creating this embarrassment is to disable the Escape key. Everyone of us who use the computer see the X letter in the right corner of window screens everyday, and so is used to clicking on it in the right top corner. Since that is a regular windows screen we see the X. But when we create a PTE project, it is up to us where we put the X and assign Exit to it. But many users who panic don't press the X, thinking the program is not functioning, when in most cases it is only busy trying to retrieve every other part of the program before it could work, specially when we assign to PTE that the music or pictures display in 'random order'. Now, if the Escape key is dis-abled, the user cannot create the embarrassment to his self. Among the options he could do first is to dis-able to programs that are running behind the scene by pressing ALT-TAB, and choosing those programs he needs to exit first. Once this is done, then there is nothing to worry of pressing the X to exit the main program. <quote> There are already other methods for exiting ("close" buttons, navigation bar), so perhaps these could be used by makers who are worried about the effect of pressing "Esc". </quote> I understand we all provide these buttons to press for convenience and as normal way of controlling the programs we provide. But when the user panics, they don't click on them but instantly presses the ESC button, thus revealing more troubles about the program to the audience concerning his presentation tool, in this case our PTE project. So if the project maker would only remind the user to press, say Alt-X as a LAST RESORT, then the embarrassment could still be minimized. But aside from using say Alt-X as a default, we could still program the letter x (simply letter x) to have 'total' control over the operation of Exit. I say 'total' to mean that maybe we could first have access to the plug-ins of Boxig to have them turned off with buttons he would provide in his utilities before we completely shut down our PTE project. It's just an idea. The thing might not concern most of us but to me it's my long time wish a copy I would have: one with the ESC key permanently dis-abled in PTE projects, and instead an Alt-X be used as default, and yet the letter X could still be programmed within the PTE Maker. In several cases, I use PTE Maker for main menu and for sub-menus for my clients because it is very easy to use in creating menus. You can put a menu just in every slide in PTE. The buttons I use when pressed, serves as launching pads for different windows programs such as movies, karaoke, games, other utilities. My clients doesn't want to exit my programs with these programs still running when my PTE project is already closed. They want to see it the way they exit Windows. So I have to find a way to keep them from exiting thru ESC. I have to provide the buttons within my PTE project to exit the proper way.

Thank you Sir for your input. I guess my system was affected by something. It's Notepad that's running my files ending in scr. I used to be able to view my scr files just by pressing its icon twice with my mouse. I still have to figure out again how to put my scr files into my Windows XP Home.

May I just air my thoughts about the importance of not using the ESC to abort a program? I know this has been a common way used in most executables to terminate program operation, but no one seems to balk about it though it has often affected many other programs to suddenly exit thus preventing the program using it from finishing its intended function or purpose. What if someone use PTE not just for photographic purposes, but say for some highly useful military or scientific switching? Then when someone presses the ESC it affects not only the PTE project, but maybe some other underlying programs that are made using other programs or maybe another PTE project. Earlier this year I suggested maybe the early way of terminating a PTE program may be controlled another way other than the ESC. Maybe by pressing the X as default, which is to be assigned by the makers of PTE. It was just my suggestion. This way, not only those other programs made by other programs will be protected from being suddenly crashed, but also utilities provided us by Granot, which plays a great role in program controls and effects. It's just a suggestion. I guess everyone will benefit from it. And that way, there will be no more need of creating a routine to trigger the start of a program to begin when someone presses the ESC button, just to turn off the underlying utility programs. Would it be more correct to say, let me request that the ESC key be disabled from being used for escape operations for PTE projects, and in its place use X as a default escape key. This way not many of our other windows programs running together will not be affected by pressing the ESC key ones or twice, when our only purpose is to Escape the operation of our project?

Could someone please post a comment on this screensaver Boxig just uploaded? It didn't work on my XP Home. I tried twice. I unzip it but when I click to run it, it only opened my Notepad and showed garbled characters. Thanks.

You must be eating peanuts a lot! And in between the bites you're almost complete generating these ideas, and you just have to type them. And if you have that Voice synthesizer software (Dragon brand) you could be producing the most utilities in this whole world Boxig. Good for you, and us! By the way I'm excited to test this. I just browsed how it works, but not finished yet. By the way thanks. It looks really exciting to use. I'll let you know later when I'm done, how it works on my xp.

QUOTE]But this issue is actually a PTE problem

In Win XP Home, the fonts are located in C:\Windows\Fonts for regular users, unless they preferred to install their Windows in another directory or drive.

Hi Paul, If you want to create commercial grade shows using PTE, you can approach Boxig and "purchase" his utilities so that it will not show to your customers that you are providing them shareware products from Boxig. You can still avail of Boxig's utilities for testing, but being FREE, it will only allow you to see how useful his utilities are in your shows. So to avoid showing the Shareware word, they are also available in registered versions. I'm testing most of his home made tools on my pc, and I am satisfied. One of his utilities allows you to start and stop your music anytime in your show. You can have a volume control in your slideshow. I think they are of great value if you want to add more flexibility in your show, aside from the many offered within PTE. You can run any of your show from a menu on a Cd, and have them autostart. Just so many wonderful utilities he made, makes. Fortune is waiting for you.

Please don't degrade yourself. We're just ahead of you in the parade that we're in a position you've never been before. I don't know how far you've looked into the problem. Among the advice given before here are the ff.(maybe I've miss many more): 1. You may check your Windows volume control for the WAV: The procedure is - press the Windows START Button, press Program Files (that's for Win98) or All Programs (for WinXP), then goto Accessories, Entertainment, and choose Volume Control. If you want a copy of your volume control on the Desktop, you can right click and choose Create a shortcut on Desktop. 2. Now you have to calibrate the slider upward for the WAV, and the main Volume control slider. The most obvious is to turn the external speaker volume control to high, by turning it clockwise. Or in some other more advance speakers, you have to pull up the volume control slider also. I have no word about downloading MP3s. Sorry.

Hi everyone, I think the issue is not the double click or single click. And I think Igor does not need to re-engineer PTE. I think it is not too late for anyone of us to re-engineer our projects. We can, I believe create and use 2 or 3 PTE EXE projects. The 1st will have to be called by autorun.inf and data.txt. The first PTE we may call, say: start.exe. And autorun will have to address this file, as well as data.txt. This exe must start and end quickly, say 5 to 10 seconds, just to display the message "Please wait while the message is loading." In the Screen Options, we may want to use a full screen with a check on the Without Border and you can create a full screen black image jpg containing the message "Please wait while the show is loading." It is necessary that in the Advance, the action for left mouse should be None. It is very important that inside this Start.Exe under Project Options, Advance that A CHECK ON RUN APPLICATION AFTER LAST SLIDE be applied. Then you choose the SHOW (exe) YOU MADE you want this Start.Exe to load/run. By the way this works only for a single show. But if you want to have a Wait message for a muti-show, you can have the last show you played to run/load a 3rd show that contains a PTE single screen containing a MENU. Each choices in this menu will have to use the same principles used in the example I gave above, only you will have to change the name of the show to load/run. And each time each show ends, it should come back to loading/running this 3rd PTE single screen MENU. The problem is when the user decides to abort the show, it does not go back to the menu. However, one can run this 3rd PTE Menu (.exe) screen anytime to display this interactive menu. Please let me know if you succeed. I only tested it working on my pc. I didn't test it on a CD yet. Let me ask you to verify and confirm if this solves the problem of double/single clicking on your pc.

I've been using PCtoTV since 1995, (and it is still available in its newer version from CompUSA. It's an external device that you can connect to your pc video output (where you usually connect your monitor). It has two outputs. One for your svga monitor. Then the other output you can connect to an rca cable that you can connect to your AV grabber that connects to another pc that has a program for grabbing AV's. You need to have a DVD burner to be able to create your DVD. Mannybr2003

It seems to me that this Audio Converter you mentioned is different than the one that I just downloaded: Super Audio Converter. As I looked for the Audio Converter, the one that showed first is Super Audio converter and I installed it and tested to create an OGG for the first time. It worked but up to 60% of the song only because it is not registered. But I think it doesn't have a days of usefulness limit of say 30 days, not like the other Audio Converter which is suggested here. This Super Audio Converter can still be useful for making unfinished samples of music for demonstration purposes only. But it's very quick in doing its work, so sometime later I might decide to register it as it is capable of converting many formats of music files. I just didn't check if it can also rip and burn like what the simple Audio Converter is capable to do.

It says in their website in dbPower that you have to download a WMA coder before it can convert WMA to other formats. And for Windows 95 & 98 users check out this System Update Page WMA and Ogg Vorbis support are added by downloading a Codec from [Codec Central]. Still, I downloaded the dbPower but didn't install . Among you who have installed it, what will happen after 30 days if you don't register it? Will it stop working? Does it show nagging reminders?

I redownloaded the Wedding slideshow of Chuck Chesterman, and again the proper sound doesn't play on my pc. It's only a hizzing sound, and again, the ESC doesn't easily respond to abort running the application. Does anyone of you experience this trouble? Could anyone find an explanation to this? While writing this I paused to replay the previous downloads I made and also played my works, and they all worked fine. Could it be that I don't have the driver to run the type of music used in that presentation (is it an OGG?). How can the Esc not responding quickly be explained?

Thanks for your fast response Ken and Cici. I'd like to try these programs. I wonder how you guys are always ahead finding these miniature wonders. You must be ahead of me on a centipede's body. Still can't find that MP3PRO installed program. It installed in a minute and just gone.

Could someone please guide me. I installed the mp3pro twice, but my xp home pc won't show me where it is installed. Thanks. May I also inquire if there is a free downloadable encoder for this ogg format? Is the site still available? Thanks. I feel so behind when I read your discussions about sound production and improvements. Thanks. Manny

It would prove a better version if it could keep my hair from turning grey, and enhance my looks 2000 times.

My comments does not in any way address any among us here, so please don't be offended. I just want to air why these laws are only applied to the showbusiness mostly? Why couldn't they PREVENT other car, airplane, ships, microwave ovens, stereos, cd payers, tv MANUFACTURERS from making and selling their own? Why are they targeting the SMALL TIME USER'S WHO are small time duplicators and not even selling their copies? Why don't they apply the laws to the big time, REAL COMPETITORS who openly manufactures BRAND NEW, UNDER NEW LABELS, and SELLS for really good profit? They are openly competing and advertising on the TV's everyday, yet they are not facing each other in the courtrooms.

In my opinion, if someone bought a Cd containing music, he/she is buying it for his own "listening" satisfaction and personal use. When he bought the Cd he did not sign any legal document agreeing that he will not copy it. He only agreed to pay the store to have the Cd so he can play it whenever he wants and keep it as long as he wants. There was no direct agreement between the buyer and the manufacturer. The seller doesn't even care to know, remind buyers about it. He gave his money in exchange for the whole Cd for his "own "listening satisfaction". Now if he ask the PTE maker to include some songs from the CD for his "own "listening satisfaction", and just listen to the music for his "own "listening satisfaction" while watching the PTE, I think the person is still being true to his purpose why he bought and is listening to that music. After all, whoever originally created the CD will not be bothered to send anyone another copy to the PTE maker if told you want to use it in the PTE show. If the buyer duplicates it for "some other ear's satisfaction" then he is bound. But suppose you just pick the Cd while walking on a street then make a copy on your pc. In that case his purpose is to make sure the "free song copies" contained on the Cd you picked up is to treasure the songs. Why would anyone litigate that you who have no ill purpose on the music? And would they litigate me if in front of them I crush the Cd if the songs contained there are so precious to them? If I buy a hammer, then copy the shape and sturdiness of their hammer so that it will be as good as theirs 'for my own use', will they litigate me?

I think the Scrolling About utility could work better instead of that ticket tape style. I'll experiment with it.