TechNote (Archived)

Launching or opening an application with Lingo

Navigating between Director movies
Launching an external application
Tips and tricks
Frequently asked questions (TechNote 14085)

Navigating between Director movies

To navigate from one Director movie to another, when the movies are in the same directory, use the Lingo:

go to movie the moviePath & "myMovie"

The Lingo "go" is used in projectors. In Shockwave, use "gotoNetMovie".

For more information concerning navigating among movies, refer to Director's documentation, online Help, and TechNotes.

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Launching an external application

Use the Lingo "open" to launch (run) an externalapplication that is located in the same directory/folder as the current movie:

open the moviePath & "notepad.exe" --(Windows)
open the moviePath & "simpletext" --(Macintosh)

The Lingo "the moviePath" returns the full path (a string) of the current playing movie, and the "&" concatenates (appends) the application name to the end of the path string. The result is the full path of the application that "open" will launch.

Note: In Director 7 the Lingo "the pathname" is obsolete. Use "the moviepath" instead.

Use the following Lingo to specify the full path if the application resides in a different directory/folder than the current movie:

open "D:\myapps\textapps\notepad.exe" --(Windows)
open "mac hard drive:my programs:text editors:simpletext" --(Macintosh)

Use the following Lingo to have the application launch a specific document file in an application that are both located in the same directory/folder as the current playing movie.

open the moviePath & "myNotes.txt" with the moviePath& "notepad.exe" --(Windows)
open the moviePath & "myNotes" with the moviePath & "simpletext" --(Macintosh)

You can use the above techniques in various combinations.

Note: The Lingo "open" requires a full (not relative) path for both the application and the data file.

Additional information

Refer to the documentation for further information on the "open" command.

Tips and tricks

It is usually preferable to navigate among movies using the Lingo "go", rather than opening a projector with a projector using the Lingo "open". Navigating among movies is faster than launching multiple projectors and requires far less system resources (memory).
Running concurrent applications (such as a projector and another application, or two projectors) may not be possible on some systems, depending on the configuration (due to inadequate RAM or Virtual Memory, system resource conflicts, and so forth.)
Often, it may be simpler to accomplish all of your project's design goals entirely in Director, without needing to use an external application, or even an Xtra, to extend Director's capability. To minimize potential conflicts, first try to achieve your goal with Director alone.
Troubleshoot a movie that uses the Lingo "open" by testing with a small application (like Notepad or SimpleText) instead of the application you were originally attempting to launch. If the small application runs without incident (assuming the syntax and pathnames are adjusted appropriately for the small test application), then syntax and pathnames are probably not the issue. There may be a software conflict or inadequate resources when using the larger application. To test for file path issues, try putting a copy of the small test application at the same directory level as the original target application, or alongside the calling movie/projector.
Xtras can be used to avoid issues involving inadequate system resources when attempting to run concurrent projectors or applications. To manage the launching of multiple projectors and applications so that only one application is running at any one time, use a 3rd party Xtra like zOpen, zLaunch,MasterApp, BuddyAPI and so forth. For more information on 3rd party Xtras, refer to:
http://www.adobe.com/software/xtras/director/
http://www.updatestage.com/products.html
Xtras can be used instead of using another application in conjunction with Director. For example, instead of launching a database application to view a database file, use a custom database Xtra designed for this purpose. Using a custom Xtra will help eliminate or minimize the potential for conflicts. It will also make it easier to troubleshoot your movie. Many 3rd party Xtras are described on the following Web pages:
http://www.adobe.com/software/xtras/director/
http://www.updatestage.com/products.html

Note: For information on installing, using, distributing and licensing a 3rd party Xtra, refer to the Xtra's vendor. Adobe does not provide technical support for 3rd party products.
On Windows, instead of launching an external application to display a data file, a 3rd party ActiveX control may be available that can display the data as a sprite on the stage in Director 6.5 and 7 via the Control Xtra for ActiveX (which is included with these versions of Director.)

One advantage of using an ActiveX control is that the data will appear in the movie itself -- right on the stage -- instead of in a separate application window. However, a possible disadvantage of using ActiveX controls is that there are end user system configuration and installation requirements that must be considered.

Note: For information on installing, using, distributing and licensing a 3rd party ActiveX control, refer to the control's vendor. Adobe does not provide technical support for 3rd party products.
The "animate in background" preference can be used to keep the Director movie playing after opening another application.
On Windows, there are sound-related features in Director that can be helpful when launching other applications. These topics and solutions are discussed in "Windows sound mixing in Director 7 and Shockwave 7" (TechNote 13654).