Button and properties

[Michel]

When we make a menu to start several diaporamas:

if we insert a sound in the launching menu, one cannot stop the sound before his end.

Example : if the sound duration is "20s", when we use faster the second button to start the show, the sound play to "20s" in background.

It would be very usefull to add "stop the music" in the properties of the button.

I writed to Igor. Answer : probably it can be added

Are you OK with that ?

What do you think of this function ?

[JRR]

Michel:

Not sure how often I would use that feature, but it sounds as though it might be useful.

I would concur it should go on the list of updates, but not at the top.

[Michel]

Undoubtedly not priority but quite useful.

It would be also interesting to be able to add a banner or a small image to each image.

Customize banner = set banner for all slides

No priority also, but it is what does one more...very useful, I repeat !

[Ernst]

I don´t know if it is the same, but in the old forum there was a discussion on menu pages. I had made a show with a starting page and 18 buttons on it. Once you selected the submenu (another exe) you started that particular show, BUT the menu page stayed open, looping. As such, there is no possibility to put music on it, because it would collide with the sound of all your submenus. I decided not to put sound on the menu page, and it worked fine. So, when the submenu (one of my 18 files) ended, it closed and the menu page appeared. The only thing I should take care about is not to click a submenu button twice, because it started the same show again, and then there was a show echoing all the time.

Regards

Ernst

[Ian]

One of Igor's future upgrades is to enable action buttons on the last page of a synchronised show. That way, the music would finish properly before the buttons would be actionable for use anyway.

Ernst - now you don't have to keep a "menu" show looping. The "Keep last slide on screen" will hold the last page indefinately so that the buttons (on a non-synch show currently) are always available.

Ian

[JRR]

The only thing I should take care about is not to click a submenu button twice, because it started the same show again, and then there was a show echoing all the time.

Been there done that

Took me a while to figure what the heck was going on !!!!

Even though I put large instructions on my shows and tell people click once

Someone always clicks twice....

I think someone (Boxig ??) has a utility that prevents this

[Ernst]

Ian:

I was wondering if that may be the solution to the menu page.

1. Could a PTE slideshow be set up with only one slide? In that case, that could be the menu page, with buttons on it. This would be the first and the last slide at the same timne, staying on the screen.

Without this one-slide show closing, it would be possible to click on buttons and open other exe shows on top of that one.

2. When each of these shows ends, it should then end with a slide that is a copy of the last slide (and only-one) of the menuslideshow.

This would be great. Will try it this afternoon. I hope I understood well your comment, and am not asking for the impossible

Regards

Ernst

[JRR]

1. Could a PTE slideshow be set up with only one slide? In that case, that could be the menu page, with buttons on it. This would be the first and the last slide at the same timne, staying on the screen.

Ernst:

PTE does that well.

It works for me.

The one image show is "told" to stay on the screen, the other shows are "told" to close and they come back to the one image show.

I really like this feature of PTE (took me a while to figure it out, but with Alrobin's help...

[Ernst]

Thanks, Jim. Great! Iwill continue with my experiments

Regards

Ernst

[Michel]

It would be also interesting to be able to add a banner or a small image to each image.

Customize banner = set banner for all slides

Have you seen this suggestion ?

[jimlarkey]

Hello Michel,

Regarding your post on the menu page with sound, I've used the "run application and exit" button properties, and the looping technique that Ernst mention to affect what your seeking. I've randomized the music selection on the opening menu page, since with the looping process, I felt the show was better with different music each time the user was brought back to the main menu page.

The only annoying feature was that during the transition from the menu page to the submenu(s), the desktop is visible while the submenu loads. I would rather see a black screen with the loading message, than the desktop. But that is only a aesthetic consideration, not functional.

Cheers,

Jim

[mikej998]

I found a new use for the buttons object editor. I place a button(s) on the last slide of an un-synced show which gives the viewer choice of direction of the show. I would like to have another choice of function for a button. Right now the choices are - open another exe and leave this show running

- open another exe and close this one

I would like to add - open another exe and close this one after delay time

this would allow the first show to close so you don't have multiple shows "stacking up" but prevent the desktop showing before the new show starts. If the delay time is made adjustable then you could make it delay long enough for any size of new exe to be loaded.

Let me know what everyone thinks of this feature, and if it would be useful in a future version.

Mike

[jimlarkey]

Hi Mike,

Your suggestion would certainly be an improvement over the glimpse of the desktop, that really is not aesthetic....spoils the visuals. Problem might be that with different CPUs and OSes, the delay time you are suggesting might not have the effect your seeking.

I'm not sure I know what a good solution might be. Perhaps others that are more familiar with programming might be able to offer a suggestion for improvement. The loading message was certainly an improvement. I guess I would like the option your suggesting, b ut might also like the option of a blank or black screen (with the loading message).

Any thoughts from other PTE folks?

Cheers,

Jim

[nobeefstu]

Mike,

Jim gives quite a valuable point to consider if you want to control your suggested button action by closing the current running application by means of selecting a delay timesetting .

"Load Times" as we know vary from Pc to Pc ... and then you must also consider if its a CD run presentation ... even longer loading times are required.

The only optimal way is to have the current running exe close when the new exe actually starts playing and not at a predetermined timesetting ... as only then you are assured there will be no Desktop Screen flashbacks or music issues during the exchange of playing actions. To implement this function for any and all uses there must be a detection process to close ... then the results would be totally useful and predictable.

[Lloegyr]

Personally EVERY audience I have showed to over 25 years wants a break between individual shows, (they need to grasp what they have seen, show their appreciation- thats 1 reason why we do it-) and I too, as the presenter require a short break! Each show needs a gap else how can the audience appreciate each presentation? The very thought of running show after show without a pause is actually quite appalling............seems likes adverts!!!!!

So this idea about running the next show immediately I think is negative, yes a blank screen etc etc but let the audience dictate the space between shows not the presenter. Progamming pre determined gaps is denying any audience their feeling.

IMHO

Mike

Mersea Island

[mikej998]

I was thinking, if there were the option of selecting the delay time you could set it for as much as 30 seconds or something which should be ample time to load any new presentation on almost any computer. The old show just runs in the background after the new one starts over top and then the old one closes, I think probably without effecting the new show. Although as was pointed out in the other posts on this topic, there may be other, better ways to program this function. This was just what my simple mind came up with as a solution to suggest.

This feature I would use in making an interactive slide show. If what you had in mind was giving them a break between shows, I would not link them like this. I actually do make mostly non-linked shows, this would just provide a new technique for me to put my shows together.

I do want to say that I think P2E has almost no comparison, especially for the price and the ability to give feedback and suggestions in a forum like this, and actually have them read by the programmer! Igor's the MAN!

[Michel]

Example of menu.exe:

two images in the slide list

Image1 and Image 2

Image 1 loading with a music

In the image 1, a button with the propertie:”go to the slide nomber”, here Image2

In the image 2, many buttons with the propertie: run application or open file (here your shows)

OK.....?

[jimlarkey]

Mike is correct in suggesting that a pause in a show can be a blessing. That is why some PTE folks use modules in their shows to allow the viewer the opportunity to control what and when they see.

However the issue that the original Mike initiated is the graceful transition from a menu slide to a module....which is usally quite quick, not enough time for the viewer to be bored yet (hopefully). It would be nice if PTE cuould gracefully transition from one exe to another exe without showing the desktop.

I don't really have an good answer, but think that this might be more of a programming issue.

Cheers,

Jim

[mikej998]

Jim hit the nail on the head. Probably a little more squarely than I had in my attempts. This is just something small on my wish list for future versions that would add more flexibility to the software for me. Hopefully others would be able to make good use of the feature as well.

Thanks for all the comments!

Mike