ActiveX: MediaPlayer on Dolphin

Environment: Windows 2000 - service pack 2
             Dolphin Smalltalk 5 30-day evaluation

Background:
I am still continuing to evaluate Dolphin Smalltalk during the short
30 day period.(Yikes! Less than two weeks!) GUI, database, and
programming environment works very well after I learned how to work
with the basics (including MVP).

I was a little disappointed that it didn't provide for an editable
list control (spreadsheet-like list that allows us to program the
desired navigation and behavior to user's specifications). According
to the Google search on the newsgroup, it appears that my best option
is to use an ActiveX control for the editable list. So that means I
have to learn how to build/use ActiveX controls in Dolphin.

Problem:
I was successfully able to get started with Windows Media Player in a
sample code I built. That is good since our multimedia application
also use Media Player extensively. However, during testing, I am
getting concerned about a weird result.

I click on "Play" several times (using a button that I created:
Here's a sample code: videoPresenter view filename:
'c:\test\testme.mpg').
At the beginning, there is a "white square" that flashes before the
video plays. It is annoying but maybe the users can live with it.

After pressing the button several times the "white square" did not
disappear and actually stays there. Typically, I had to move the
window or resize or click on the shell to get rid of that "white
square". This is not good. I suspect it could be a bug in Dolphin
Smalltalk since media player in VAST did not exhibit this behavior.

As a workaround, I tried looking for a command allows me to repaint
the screen or some trick to get rid of the "white square". I tried the
"hide" and "show" trick but it was not successful.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

thanks,
Larry Trutter

Larry,

> Does anyone have any suggestions?

SessionManager current inputState queueDeferredAction: [
    videoPresenter view filename: 'c:\test\testme.mpg']

[videoPresenter view filename: 'c:\test\testme.mpg'] fork

[videoPresenter view filename: 'c:\test\testme.mpg']
    forkAt: Processor activePriority - 1

You could try each of the above, which are the sort of thing I use with
initial redraw problems in Smalltalk code. I'm not sure if it will help when
running WMP but they are worth a try.

You might still have redraw problems when dragging the open WMP though?

Regards
    Ian

Ian,

Thanks for the suggestions! Unfortunately, they do not seem to work.
However, the third code seems to make the problem worse. I also tried
increasing the priority but it didn't have much improvement.

After trying out all 3 of your suggestions, I looked into the View
class and used the following:

 self view update

This code forced a redraw of the screen. This made a difference in
making the video playing consistently. Now I can breath a sigh of
relief. :-)

I will continue on hammering Dolphin Smalltalk with other tests such
as Telephony. I'm becoming optimistic that Dolphin Smalltalk will
handle whatever we can throw at it.

thanks,
Larry Trutter


"Ian Bartholomew" <[hidden email]> wrote in message news:<ajsspe$1di875$[hidden email]>...