zLaunch for Macintosh FUQPlease consult the following list for answers to the most common pre-sales questions regarding zLaunch specifically for Macintosh, as well as additional technical information not covered on the zLaunch Summary Page. Refer to our Needs Analysis FAQ to determine if zLaunch or some other tool is right for you.
zLaunch for Macintosh has been shipping since
June 1996 and zLaunch for Windows since April
1996, but they are sold separately. Both are mature and robust products
with a number of user-controllable options for maximum flexibility.
The Macintosh version includes a FAT executable that works with both 680x0 Macs and PowerMacs
zLaunch for Macintosh is $299 US. For $499
US you can get the cross-platform bundle which includes both zLaunch
for Windows and zLaunch for Macintosh. Consult the zLaunch
Summary Page for details.
A demo version of zLaunch for Macintosh can
be found in our Download Center.
Due to frequent updates, it is impractical to create demo versions as quickly
as we would like. Sometimes the demo version is one or two revisions behind
the release version. If for some reason the demo version does not perform
the desired task, contact Zeus Productions
to find out if the release version offers any improvements. Remember, there
is a Money-Back Satisfaction Guarantee,
so you can try any of our products, including zLaunch,
risk-free.
zLaunch supports Director 6.0, as well as
earlier versions including 5.0.1 and 4.0.4
zLaunch works with all the possible permutations
for 68K Macs and PowerMacs with
Director 6 (and earlier versions including 5.0.1 and 4.0.4) . Refer to the
General Questions about zLaunch FAQ for more
info.
zLaunch will launch the vast majority of
all Macintosh applications. Refer to the General
Questions about zLaunch FAQ for more info.
Applications which cause a reboot, such as
some installers, or kill other running processes may not work with zLaunch.
Refer to the General Questions about zLaunch FAQ
for more info.
Generally you do not need to modify your Macintosh
application(s).
For certain Macintosh applications, you may need to copy menu resources
into the application's resource
fork to prevent the menu bar from flashing while switching applications.
(This is not an issue under Windows). These "mctb"
resources are provided in zLaunch's resource fork. They can be easily copied
using ResEdit.
Nothing needs to be installed to run zLaunch.
Simply include zLaunch in the same folder as your projector. You can run
it from either a hard drive or a CD. There is no need to
copy it into the System Folder, or similar requirement.
On the Macintosh, unlike Windows, a CD has
a fixed name, so you can simply refer to its name in your path specification,
such as:
MyDemoDisk:MyFolder:MyDemo
zLaunch for Macintosh can launch an application
based on its Creator Code.
Refer to the Details on zLaunch's Capabilities FAQ
for more info.
To launch an application by its Creator Code, specify lie 3 of the configuration
file as follows:
OPSG/Creator Code/Document
where Creator Code is the four character signature, such
as MOSS for Netscape Navigator. Refer to the TechNote,
"File Types and Creator Codes"
for more details.
No, zLaunch for Macintosh does not return
the path to an application, but you can launch an application without knowing
its complete path (see above). Refer to the Details
on zLaunch's Capabilities FAQ for more info.
zLaunch is not really designed to control
other applications, but refer to the Details on
zLaunch's Capabilities FAQ for more info. zScript
for Macintosh adds some AppleScript support to Director.
The color of the cover window is determined
by a window resource in zLaunch's
resource fork. This resource
can be edited with ResEdit to change
the window cover. BTW, zLaunch will
cover multiple monitors as well.
zLaunch can pass a document name to an application
when it is launched. If you want to pass documents to an existing application
while keeping Director open, instruct zLaunch not to quit Director. It will
then pass the document name onto an already open application, or you can
use zScript for Macintosh instead.
zLaunch is an external application itself,
so it is actually initiated with using Lingo's "open...with"
command.. This starts zLaunch and gives you the opportunity to pass it the
parameters that control its execution.
On the Macintosh, zLaunch reads the parameters from a small configuration
text file, which you can create in SimpleText.
The general format is:
open "configFileName" with the pathName
& "zLaunch"
This makes it very easy to test and modify the parameters to zLaunch without
even using Director.
If you need to specify parameters dynamically, the FileIO
Xtra can be used to create configuration files on the fly, as covered
in the TechNote, "Creating
Files Dynamically".
Refer to the documentation for details on the format of the configuration
file.
On the Mac, you can control whether to kill
the projector, and whether to wait for the projector's process to die. On
the Mac, zLaunch must be allowed to kill the projector, because if you quit
the projector via Lingo, the desktop will flash briefly. This is not an
issue under Windows, where you can use the quit or halt
command from Lingo to quit the projector.
zLaunch can not unload the Mac Finder from
memory. zLaunch is able to quit Director, because Director is not a "reserved"
Mac OS application.
Some people create a "Finder-Projector" by combining the Finder's
and Projector 's resources. Thus, the "Finder" is the only thing
running, but it is really the Projector with some other required resources.
This approach would not be practical for a commercial title.
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