User Guide

About cross-platform projectors 463
• Shockwave projectors can use the Xtra extensions that have been already installed with
Shockwave instead of requiring their own copy.
• Because of the way the Xtra extensions list for the movie is maintained, it is possible to get Xtra
extensions included in a projector that you don't need. For example, let’s say that you can use
an animated GIF member in a movie. In this case, the AnimGif Xtra is added to the Xtra list
and marked for downloading. Later you delete the animated GIF member. The AnimGif Xtra
is not removed from the Xtra list even though the movie is no longer using it. The reason the
Xtra is not removed from the list is because the movie has no way of knowing whether an
animated GIF member is loaded using Lingo or JavaScript syntax (either directly, or by
branching to another movie that uses it). So developers have to remember to check the movie’s
Xtra extensions list to find out exactly what is included in a projector. Having the Xtra
extensions always external eliminates this issue.
About cross-platform projectors
Cross-platform projectors are projectors created on one platform or operating system which can
run on another: in Director’s case, you can create projectors that will play on the Macintosh OS X
system, but are created or authored on a Windows system and vice versa.
Note: You cannot create Macintosh Classic projectors on a Windows system.
To create a cross-platform projector:
1 Select File > Publish Settings.
2 From the Formats tab, select Macintosh Projector if you are working on a Windows system, or
select Windows Projector if you are working on a Macintosh.
3 Make any other selections you want from the Publish Settings dialog box.
Note: You cannot create custom application icons for a cross platform projector
4 Click Publish.
Custom Xtra extensions and cross-platform projectors
To support custom Xtra extensions in cross-platform projectors, consider the following issues:
• Ensure that there is an entry for your Xtra extension in the xtrainfo.txt file that gives the proper
filename for the Xtra extension on each platform. If this information is not provided, the code
assumes your Xtra extension only exists for the current platform.
• To use your custom Windows Xtra extension in a Macintosh-created projector, put the Xtra
extension in the /Cross Platform Resources/Windows/Xtras/ folder of the Macintosh Director
installation.
• Macintosh Xtras must have both a data fork and a resource fork. These two fork files aren't
supported on Windows. For each Macintosh Xtra extension, two files are created: one for the
data fork and one for the resource fork. The names for these files must be the same as the
original Xtra extension name with a suffix: “.data” for the data fork and ".rsrc" for the resource
fork. Both of these files are placed in the /Cross Platform Resources/Macintosh/Xtras/ folder of
the Windows Director installation.
For example, the Macintosh Xtra called “MyXtra” would have two files on Windows,
“MyXtra.data” and “MyXtra.rsrc.”