think(box)

Good creative solution Ian! Here's another that will work flawlessly for a variety of situations: Install "AutoIt" scripting (click here for info) and have Autorun.inf or whatever opens your promotional show point to your AutoIt custom 40KB .EXE file made from the following two-line .AUT (text) file script: Runwait,show1name.exe Run,show2name.exe No additional punctuation or drive/path info is required in your case, C Kimball. The windows-universal script .EXE that you make with AutoIt's "Convert Script to EXE" feature will open your synchronized show (looks best to use sync'ed show for what you are doing) and wait however long it takes for the sync'ed show to complete. Then the separate show with buttons will open. FYI the "Runwait" script command runs app and waits until it closes. The "Run" script command runs app and continues script execution without waiting for app to close (you don't need "Runwait" on the second line of script). You can link together any number of applications creatively with AutoIt. You can even decide when an application running becomes the "active" application (current focus app window, on-top app that fields keyboard input) or not. Best of all, the tiny .EXE script application files that you make will run on any other Windows (95,98,98SE,ME,XP,NT,2K) computer without any prerequisite installation and without any VB runtime libraries, etc.

Everyone new to PTE will be quite pleased - thanks! I sure was anxious for the key when I registered PTE under the previous RegNow arrangement.

Greetings aha! Continuing on the change impact question, it sounds like affected shows were made with MP3, not WAV: First, when you double-click on an MP3 file in Windows Explorer what application opens it? And the same question for WAV files too. Does that application in each case play successfully? If not, this may be related to P2E's music difficulty. Then, are any music players on your system malfunctioning when you try to play MP3 and separately WAV files by just opening them from the application? In particular, please try the newest Windows Media Player version installed. This too may be related to P2E's music difficulty. And on the "try closing all the music programs" thread: You have restarted your system since making changes, I hope. If not, please be sure testing is on a fresh start.

That's interesting Stu, thanks! If I understand correctly this method relies on the PTE show image having name or numeric ID displayed by P2E with each picture, coupled with a screen capture by Irfanview of desired photos. The screen captures have all of the ID needed for the seller to know for sure what the customer has selected. It appears that the customer can select with ease. Is there any issue with allowing image files to become available through capture? For sure they can be low-res and can have copyright and watermarks in the picture. The show has to be unsynchronized to allow extended viewing and navigating, for any sheme. I like your scheme especially because of the reduced cataloging effort. Deia, it looks like you have more than one way to solve the problem. Is there anything else to be considered?

Deia, it looks like the forum is on the right track. I don't know if there is an API for PTE. Igor will have to answer that question. In the absence of an API, and since you clearly have the skills to create a custom production process, you could try the following (long description with lots of ideas - looks viable to me): Create a max-sized show that is a template, with e.g. 500 pictures that each have unique button(s) such as "save" and "order". These buttons can be created in just one slide and designed to look nice with transparent GIF or whatever you please. Then in PTE's GUI copy the master slide and paste it 499 times. Now you will have 500 identical slides, each with object editor action=open buttons already created and placed. You can save the .PTE file and use it as a template starting point for post-processing. I suggest doing a one-time script or macro edit to replace identical button def's and identical photo image file name with sequentially numbered .EXE targets and photo name placeholders, resp. The .EXE applets can be in a folder on your CD as this mechanism is used. You make them only once, as well. The path and target name can be filled in by the one-time edit that refers to CD folders without drive letter - this works. To use the template for a new show just process the correspondence file with a one-time custom app that replaces placeholder image names with actual table image names. Write out the unique .PTE file and create the unique show in PTE. This is modestly simple for volume production. As for how the .EXE applets create output data for your post-processing, I suggest .INI file format. You can use standard windows .INI format and have the buttons code "Save" and "Order" sections and keys added by customer click actions. AutoIt has all the .INI file support you need to make this a breeze. You simply have to post-process the [.INI or file type of your choice] file to make an order confirmation for the customer. You could also give the customer a way to see the order at any time as they are viewing the proofs by giving them an app called from PTE show. I'm sure you can fill in the full details of this process definition and make it work. Here are some items to understand before making a very large commitment: I have pushed PTE object and image counts sufficiently to know that PTE will not break with 500 photos, each having two buttons. But if you were to attempt a thousand or more pictures with object buttons I would test PTE first. I have broken PTE object editor and P2E show playback software internal structure limits by using very large numbers of clickable objects, especially with very many per picture. The PTE object editor failure happens on just one slide with 400-500 objects. The P2E show software crash happens after viewing a certain number of very high object count slides (e.g. 200-400 per slide will crash in less than 10 slides viewed). I have found that the limit is cumulative though, so the total object count that exists in "viewed" (only) slides breaks the software (if a slide is not viewed it doesn't count toward a crash). The raw image file count is not as touchy, as I have made shows with 14,000 photos that play fine on the wimpiest of systems. I offer those findings because it is wise to understand the limitations of tools used. Also you may need to do some tests for the CD-based part of the process w.r.t. drive letter and paths. I know you can make this work since I have done it many times, but there is some learning to do. And by the way, AutoIt has sufficiently powerful script commands that you can identify the CD-ROM drive letter with ease. You may not even need it though. OK - so is this within reach, or is this too much for what you're trying to do? I hope you find the ideas helpful. Good luck!

UPDATE - New comparison between PTE and the competition. Click above all to view it: New: How does PTE stack up against the competition? Check out this product comparison ................................................................. ........................................................... ..................................................... ...............................................

Harry, Sam --- Ulead's PS2, Photodex's PSG and Wnsoft's PTE are all in some ways niche solutions. PTE is artistically and technically superior to all for show design features, and is lacking in only the native SVCD/VCD/DVD authoring feature. I can understand your enthusiasm Sam, since PS2 can make video discs and this is clearly a need in the slideshow marketplace. But then I can also understand Harry's anxiousness for PTE to support SVCD/VCD/DVD. For the benefit of everyone looking to choose what best suits their needs, I offer a product feature analysis and comparison. PS2 offers VCD and DVD playback without universal computer playback. Some of the drawbacks to PS2 are: PS2 makes shows for VCD/DVD playback only, on either PC or separate player, but not both - see note (*) PS2 does not make .EXE based universal computer shows PS2 show files are large and are not emailable - best distributed on VCD or DVD discs VCD or DVD playback software and DVD drive are required for computer playback (limiting to many) Show design features are very limited - a small subset of those in PTE Navigation is through a player's remote control, and is somewhat limited and cumbersome * Why not best quality on both computer and external disc player? Ulead's answer: "Q: Why do my photos look blurry when I view slideshows on a computer monitor? A: The anti-flickering filter, while improving picture quality for TV slideshows, will cause photos to look blurry on a computer monitor. The anti-flickering filter is the default setting for DVD PictureShow. Should you wish to make a slideshow that will primarily be viewed on a PC screen, disable the anti-flickering filter by going to Menu>Preferences (or pressing F6). " Photodex's PSG is better than Ulead's PS2 in that it can make .EXE file shows in addition to VCD/DVD shows. Like PS2, PSG is quite inferior to PTE in show design features. PTE has a world of difference in support for creativity and utility when compared to the competition. Yet for just showing the pictures with fancy fades, the competitive products certainly do have a place in the market. Recently I posted an answer to the "Why PTE?" topic (Click here to view that topic reply if you wish). With my apologies to those who have weak color vision, here is an update with comparison to PS2 and PSG: GREEN = Exists, Well done, etc. BLUE = Exists, but has some issues or is inferior RED = Does not exist or is poor GRAY = Not applicable PTE PS2 PSG Universal .EXE shows for computers PTE PS2 PSG Quality of image display (PC vs. TV issue exists in PS2; unknown PSG status) PTE PS2 PSG Ease of use overall PTE PS2 PSG Ease of use for templated show classes PTE PS2 PSG Show artistic design features in addition to fancy fades PTE PS2 PSG Show technical design features, especially the object editor for slide customization PTE PS2 PSG Image to music synchronization features (PSG has real-time slide timing feature) PTE PS2 PSG Design programmability features for viewing and navigation control during show PTE PS2 PSG Monitor display options including full screen and fixed size display PTE PS2 PSG Per-slide titling flexibility and support PTE PS2 PSG Transparent graphics support PTE PS2 PSG Mouse cursor display control options PTE PS2 PSG Show startup screen feature PTE PS2 PSG Customizable "Help" screen available during show PTE PS2 PSG Compatibility: From new to old computers and any Win O/S software PTE PS2 PSG Can create SVCD/VCD/DVD shows directly from show software PTE PS2 PSG Text based show production file format that facilitates script or spreadsheet processing PTE PS2 PSG The PTE Forum and its members' expertise, experience and kindness PTE PS2 PSG Wnsoft's great customer service response PTE PS2 PSG Wnsoft's ongoing PTE feature development, especially in response to forum members' input PTE is the winner overall, lacking only native VCD/DVD support. Hats off to Igor Kokarev and the Wnsoft team!

Welcome John! I had the same problem last week and then remembered that if I use the option "Synchronize slideshow to music duration" then there can be no navigation and no navigation bar. The checkbox is ignored. This makes sense in that music and image must have the defined relationship. And FYI there is no pause for synchronized show mode, since music would have to stop with the pause. Are you synchronizing the show to your music? You have to choose between unsync with navigation and sync without navigation. You can still use music in an unsynchronized show, just without precise, predefined timing to your photos. I.e. if the person viewing pauses the show, timing is changed. Sorry that you had the difficulty. FYI forum members have made many requests to Igor, the Wnsoft co-founder, to add a music+sound pause for synchronized shows. It should be optional for unsynchronized shows. Please tell us more about your show if this does not solve the problem.

Hmmm - I see the Invision forum software is sensitive to the character sequence "backslash-backslash"! It wiped out the second, consecutive backslash character in my sample script. The script example I gave should have two backslash characters, not one. I will put spaces between the backslash characters to see if it displays correctly in this forum reply retried: ; Script - Increase volume Run,C: \ \ setvol.exe +5

Hi Ken - I think deia is looking for something that customers can do with a click while watching show. I have found something that many may find useful, but it doesn't solve deia's need (unless she likes making tons of custom .EXEs, one per pic!): To all who may want to pass parameters through P2E "Run or open" actions - I have found an alternative! It is not by having a special syntax in PTE. Instead it is by additional custom .EXE files created by a fantastic freeware application called AutoIt (that's the word Auto and the word It, no spaces). This opens the door to utility calls and even coding utilities themselves. For anyone not afraid of scripts, even if you don't already know any scripting language, go to this link: Click for freeware "AutoIt" web page Here is a sample (.AUT) input file that is converted into a .EXE by AutoIt to do an application call with parameter passed. This is something I wanted to try when Granot and I were working on his volume control utility: ; Script - Increase volume Run,C:\setvol.exe +5 AutoIt turns this into a custom standalone .EXE file, essentially a small application that I just wrote. What it does is to run the application "setvol.exe" from drive C:\, with parameter "+5" to increase sound volume by +5%. Unfortunately this doesn't solve deia's need, but it is very useful and worth sharing

Your question raises another one, deia. One thing that has given me problems with this sort of task is that I can't figure out any valid parameter passing syntax to put in an object editor action for "Run application or open file". Does anyone at Wnsoft or the forum know of a valid syntax for parameters after the application name in clickable object "open" actions? If you could pass parameters in "open" actions you could use an external utility to build your photo list, where there is a button in each picture that has a unique parameter, the picture name: Run app or open file action defined as "Buildlist.exe photo1234" In the example, "buildlist.exe" is a utility that you place in the same folder as the show. It creates and appends to a listing file somewhere. This idea may lead to a solution if parameters can be passed. Igor - is there a way? Thanks!

Thanks cc! I missed the "Browse" xnview feature because I thought it was an "Open files" command by its name.... Given the thumbnail browser it looks like xnview and Irfanview are more alike than ever. Have you or anyone else used both enough to believe that one is a better choice? If not, then quoting cc: Since I have both freewares installed now I'll use them and figure this out in time. I checked out Gimp. Looks interesting, but I didn't try it out because they warn that it crashes systems with ATI Rage Pro. Bingo on my system. Thanks for the tip though.

I've been wondering whether Igor might respond to this topic, but then I realized that I have something helpful to add: Lin, I agree that a "silence extension" feature would be handy. The problem that you described could be anything from MIDI synthesis timing complexity, to bad timing info in music files, to a minor PTE timing miscalculation. It seems by far most likely that MIDI synthesis timing complexity is the cause. I have found that although MIDI is fantastic for its extremely small file size, it is totally unpredictable as to how it will play on someone else's computer. The synthesizers and patch maps vary widely, causing variations in playback. Notably, MIDI music that sounds just great on your machine may sound just awful on someone else's machine. If that is a customer, you don't need that surprise. I've been there, done that, on this problem - it really does happen. So this leads me to a suggestion: Convert your MIDI files to MP3 for identical music when played on any machine. You can convert by playing it and simultaneously "recording" it if your soundcard supports this. And even better, there is software out there that will convert MIDI to WAV or MP3 totally in software: Click for link to try-before-you-buy "WAVmaker" by Polyhedric, Inc. The trial version of WAVmaker has a very limited set of MIDI patches so that you can evaluate the overall quality of conversion, but for P2E show music creation you would need the paid version to have fully instrumented sound.

OK chaiken, dilemmania and ccmanz I have tested Easy Thumbnails and xnview and have compared both to Irfanview. I suggest to anyone making P2E shows that you strongly consider Easy Thumbnails as best choice for resizing photos prior to use in shows. Here is their link: Click for freeware "Easy Thumbnails" site by Fookes Software, Inc. I can say that for ease of use, Easy Thumbnails is the best I've ever seen. I would suggest Easy Thumbnails to others as the best tool for resizing one or many pictures. I should mention that Fookes Software, Inc., the manufacturer, gives away Easy Thumbnails and would like to have you buy Easy Imager once you've found out about their software quality. From my testing they do make top-notch software. Here are some highlights of Easy Thumbnails: Windows Explorer-like navigation to desired photos ("Files" tab) Click to see pic (only Easy Imager and Irfanview show ALL pic's as thumbs in a window) Very easy to use - click "Make" (one) or "Make all" and you're done Only two "folder tabs" involved - "Files" where you select photo(s) and "Settings" for how to process Settings tab has "Max Width" and "Max Height" with "Best fit" option - this is what we all need most JPEG compression quality/file size tradeoff is close to Photoshop quality, yet xnview is slightly closer Resized photos can be "thumbnail" size, but as we want for P2E they can be 800x600, or 1024x768 (e.g.) Renaming support is provided for resized pic's - very limited options - Photoshop is best on this Easy Imager ($29.95) is a nice step up in that it not only does what Easy Thumbnails does, but it will also create clickable thumbnail web style albums in various formats, web-style (only) basic slideshows, thumbnail view windows and for the pros, "Contact Sheets" with EXIF image data. Irfanview (free) and xnview (free) are both very similar to each other, although I prefer Irfanview for its thumbnail view window. Although not hard to use, both can't compare to Easy Thumbnails for photo resizing ease. I should note that although Easy Thumbnails makes thumbnails (if you want), it does not show you a thumbnail window view with all thumbs created. My thanks go out to all who have contributed suggestions in this topic. I have lots of friends and family who need photo tools, and through the PTE forum I am finding the world's best freeware, shareware and payware to use with the world's best slideware, PTE

Chaiken, also take a look at Irfanview! It's top-quality and it is freeware unless used for profit: Click here for Irfan's website, then click on "Download" Irfanview gives you a very handy thumbnail view of collections, double-click to open and resizing options. Best of all, Irfanview also handles batch processing of any number of pictures without "Windozy" clickety-clicking on each and every picture and operation. This is how: In File menu click "Batch Conversion/Rename" Click the checkbox "Use advanced options" in lower right of Batch conversion screen "Set advanced options" button will light up; now click it Check the box "Resize", and leave the units button set to "Pixels" Click in "Width" box and type in 800 Click in "Height" box and enter 600 That size, 800x600, is usually best for shows; use other sizes as required, like 1024x768 OK that screen and in Batch conversion screen select files to process, where to output them, rename etc. Finally click "Start" Please try both dilemmania's EasyThumbnails suggestion and Irfanview if you have the time and interest, and share your findings in the forum. EasyThumbnails may be the best choice. If so many would like to know

Greetings Yada. It may be easiest from ZIP, once you learn Windows basics. WinXP has movie-like "how-to tours" to teach you how to use Windows. Look in "Help". If you have any problem doing that, this is the procedure: Put ZIP disk in ZIP drive Your WinXP system *may* start playing music or start Windows Explorer etc due to how XP autoplay is set Find ZIP drive in Windows Explorer (start by holding down the flying Windows key and pressing "E" key ONCE) Use "Folders" view in Win Explorer if you know where the file is on ZIP, click or double-click folders to open Use "Search" view in Win Explorer if you do not know what folder has music on your ZIP disk Drag and drop each file to your "My documents" folder to copy them (hold down mouse button to drag) In PTE Project Options Music tab navigate to "My Documents" folder and select midi files to include For web saving, when you can see the link to needed music, pictures or other files just Right-mouse click on it and select "Save target as" and then select "My documents" for saving the file you want.

For me, the PTE strong points are (many are exclusive): Quality of image display Ease of use overall Ease of use for templated show classes Show artistic design features Show technical design features, especially the object editor for slide customization Image to music synchronization features Design programmability features for viewing and navigation control during show Monitor display options including full screen and fixed size display Per-slide titling flexibility and support Transparent graphics support Mouse cursor display control options Show startup screen feature Customizable "Help" screen available during show Compatibility: From new to old machines and any Win O/S software Text based show production file format that facilitates script processing The PTE Forum and its members' expertise, experience and kindness Wnsoft's great customer service response Wnsoft's ongoing PTE feature development, especially in response to forum members' input I have tested ProShow and PTE wins hands down. Many have the need for video CD or DVD output, and presently PTE does not have native support for this. In time I expect that Wnsoft will introduce such support. There are many ways to output PTE shows to video formats in the interim. Specifically addressing your point about ease of use: I thought Adobe Photoshop's user interface was very poorly designed because it took a lot of trouble to learn and it was not intuitive. By comparison, it has been very easy to learn the very large set of PTE features. The user experience is very pleasing. The only user training that a PTE show developer should consider is that if they are a novice to digital photographic images they should go through the free help and/or shareware tutorials mentioned in this forum before using [any] slideshow software. And regarding thumbnails, I agree it should be a show feature and it is in the works. There has been much forum input as to how users want thumbnail features to work. And the forum members have plenty of options that serve very well in the Interim. Look up Al Robinson's "Adjustor" and Granot's utilities, for example

Pushu, usually you can send the primary monitor output where PTE is displayed to your TV output for VCR recording or viewing. Here is a modified procedure that has worked for many from another forum post. Have you found this procedure to be unsuccessful?: If your difficulty is not solved by this simple technique, please reply with more.

I'll second that on Wnsoft, Frank! And wouldn't it be great if computers never crashed and never lost hard drive data? On the first point we depend upon Microsoft and their house of cards software. Oh well. But on the second point the technology is ready today, for an added cost of about $100 for a new computer with redundant data storage, or maybe a little more for do it yourself.

Greetings, Len. Autorun is easy and there are free and shareware utilities to help at Granot's website. His member name is Boxig - look for his forum entries by member name. Here is a link to his site: Click for Granot's web site You can find plenty of additional tips in the forum and members' tutorials. Start by going to the top of this web page and click on Search. Then enter autorun where it says "Search by keywords". Also try searching for the word tutorial.

I love this forum! Oleg Lobachev has graced us with a presentation showing how the background was made for "Russian Summer", in his new show, "Create Background". I'm quite impressed... that is one very well done tutorial! It was a pleasure to watch - and to listen. The twist and burn effects and other demos were nice little extras. KPT effects software was used to make the shows and it looks very interesting. I found it at Corel and offer this link for others to explore and learn more: Click here to learn more about KPT Effects, now part of "Corel KPT Collection" My most sincere thanks to Oleg for the show and to Bill for hosting!

Alba is asking "Is there a bulletin in Spanish?" Gaphe responded "We are going to provide this information shortly. They agreed to write about points of interest and then we will translate them from English or French. Greetings" Please tell me if I understood correctly. ¡Si no, era el intentar de la diversión!

No Beechbrook download trouble in eastern U.S. through ISP Verizon DSL Best of luck!

Gino, the only way so far has been to use multiple image files (GIF preferable for compactness) set to sequence as rapidly as possible. If you scroll over less than full screen with a separate background image and trim the image files to the reduced vertical spread, the scrolling can happen more rapidly or more smoothly as you prefer. A "checkbox" for scrolled credits would be a lot easier. Put it on the features wishlist for Igor, Gino

I would give you my key Len, but it would be a license violation.... Igor is putting a very high priority on responses while Regsoft is not delivering valid keys, and I wouldn't be surprised if Wnsoft responds off-hours on this one. Wait, this is the middle of the day Monday at Wnsoft's time zone. Good news! Good luck!