Mastering Macromedia Director 5 for Windows and Mac, with CD-ROM (Mastering), 5th edition
Authors: Chuck Henderson
Venue:  (1996)

From the Book:This book will provide you with a thorough understanding of Director. It also focuses on the dramatic new flood of Xtras and XObjects that, thanks to Macromedia's Open Architecture (MOA), may well elevate Director to the lofty status of a true application development environment that goes far beyond C++. The long heralded 5GL (fifth generation language) that was hype ten years ago is today's Director. Where will it go? How high will it fly? You'll never know unless you've been there!Mastering Macromedia Director 5 and the accompanying Directions CD-ROM will guide you on your first steps down a path toward becoming a player in the media revolution. You can use this book and CD-ROM to start preparing for the big changes that will undoubtedly rock our culture and challenge our perceptions about media before we ring out the millennium.Why This Book?This book is intended for the quick learner. Someone who can seize Director as the opportunity of a lifetime and run with it. As difficult as Director and Lingo (Director's companion scripting language) can be at times, Director is nevertheless the quickest route to professional quality and highly creative multimedia authoring. I have endeavored to write a companion text to Macromedia's own documentation. A book that would provide an additional perspective to concepts and procedures that might otherwise be unnecessarily complicated. I have also attempted to write a book that, once basic concepts were thoroughly understood, could metamorphose into a quick-reference tool. In short, I have tried to write a book for myself. A book that you can pick up, thumb through to a specific section, andquickly get that, "Oh yeah, I remember how you do that!" feeling. The fast changing nature of software in general, and Internet and multimedia applications specifically, doom any printed work on the subject to almost instant obsolescence. For this reason, I have attempted to include those subjects and concepts- Director, Lingo, and Shockwave (Director for the Internet) that will have enduring value. Nevertheless, I implore you to use this book only as a starting point. Learn to prowl the Internet for the latest and most compelling new techniques and extensions that allow you to get the most out of Director, for therein lies the future of the multimedia industry and, if you so choose, a career in multimedia application development. Places to constantly browse include:www.macromedia.com - with thousands of pages of technical notes, tips and techniques, this web site is the Holy Grail of Director devotees - Macromedia's own web site.www.macromedia.com/AYS/Tech.support/Technotes/Director/index.html - more specifically, check out the tech notes available concerning Director at the Macromedia site.hakatai.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/director/index.html - this Arizona community college has the most potent following of Lingo hackers and splicers in the world.hakatai.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/director/digest/today.txt - check out daily Lingo expository, DirectL, the Director listserv of the airwaves.www.blarge.net/~cagles/lingo/ - Kirt Cagle always waxing poetic on the vagaries of Lists and such.www..shocker.com/shocker/cool.html - want shocked? Try the best of the best Shockwave sites from Shocker!Www.gmatter.com - the most comprehensive source for new Xtras is g/matter, Inc. Check out XtraNet, a networking Xtra with unknown potential for integrating Director movies and Internet/Intranet works.www.hyperstand.com - New Media's own home page with tracks to the MacroMedia User Jourinal's web pages.How This Book Is OrganizedThis book has 22 chapters divided into four parts. An appendix is also included. The book begins with a discourse on what we may well back on as the greatest media revolution in all of history, what I have called the multimedia/Internet revolution. This epic change in the way we communicate, entertain, educate, and play might well compete with reality itself, and lead to unimagined worlds that are limited, not by technology, but by our imaginations."Part 1: The Essentials of Director" (Chapters 1-10) continues by presenting an all encompassing overview of the premiere multimedia author tool, Director. Tutorials, demonstrations, and straightforward discussions lead you through the first ten chapters."Part 2: The Linguistics of Lingo" (Chapters 11-16) transports readers to the world of Director's embedded scripting language, Lingo. Once you have mastered Lingo-from controlling objects to becoming intimate with the elements of Lingo style-you have mastered Director."Part 3: Putting It All Together" (Chapters 17-20) combines every aspect of Director you have learned throughout the first 16 chapters and demonstrates how you can use all these elements to create multimedia products. You will also explore Director's Internet version called Shockwave."Part 4: Xtras" (Chapters 21-22) is over 200 pages dedicated entirely to revealing dozens of new third-party extensions to Director called Xtras and their still valid predecessors, XObjects.Finally, Appendix A is an extensive listing of Lingo Command References.Mastering Macromedia Director 5uses various conventions to help you find the information you need quickly and effortlessly. Tips, Notes, and Warnings are placed strategically throughout the book to help you focus in on important information quickly. Long but important or interesting digressions are set aside as boxed text, called sidebars. Because building any multimedia product-whether it is for CD-ROM distribution or for Internet/Intranet distribution - must be capable ( running on both Microsoft's Windows 95 and NT (Windows), an Apple's Macintosh Operating System (MacOS), I have tailored the book to cross-platforrn developers. In situations where significant differences in the two systems can be found, there will be notes and side bars that draw the distinction.Throughout the book I have used the following generalized conventions to distinguish between Macintosh, Power Mac, Power Mac Clones, Windows 95, and Windows NT:MacOS refers to any machine running under the Apple Macintosh Operating System. Except where noted, there is no difference between the Power PC compatible versions and 680x0 versions of the MacOSWindows refers to any machine running under the Microsoft Windows 95 and NT operating systems. Except where noted, there is no difference ( (from the standpoint of the Director author) between Windows 95 and Windows NT. References to Windows 3.1 have, for the most part, not been included.About the CD-ROMInside the back cover of this book you will find the Directions CD-ROM. This disc contains cross-platform versions of all the tutorials and examples of techniques and Lingo code used throughout the book You will also find a save-disabled version of Director 5.0 (for both the MacOS and Windows) and save-disabled versions of many other Macromedia multimedia tools for both the MacOS and Windows. The save-disabled version of Director will allow you to open and experiment with all the tutorials and demonstration Director movies on the CD-ROM. The only drawback is you won't be able to save any of your changes. Finally, we have endeavored to include as many demonstrations of Xtras and XObjects as possible. Open these demonstrations using the save-disabled version of Director and test drive these Xtras before you purchase them.Good luck! And remember to experiment, and then experiment some more. It's only through actually trying the processes and techniques described herein that you will discover the multimedia modalities that work for you. Ultimately, you must become your own teacher.