Re: rSounds -- How to play them?

[dlyons@Apple.COM (David A Lyons)]

In article <C10Co9.13p@CAM.ORG> vandry@CAM.ORG (Phillip Vandry) writes:
>[...]
>Finder extensions are a BIG problem. I don't use the Finder at all since I
>dislike it very much. So Finder Extensions are not available to me. If new
>software is developed only as Finder Extensions, there will soon be no
>utilities I can use.

I respect your right not to like the Finder (although I hope you'll try it
out once more once 6.0.1 comes out, where you'll have keyboard navigation
in the Finder).

Since people run apps other than the Finder (and do not generally have a
switcher or MultiFinder type utility), there is obviously still a need for
utility software that runs outside the Finder.

>                     It is a bad thing to treat the Finder specially just
>because it's .... the Finder.

Who is treating the Finder specially?  The Finder allows utilities to have
a human interfaces that are tightly integrated with the Finder--you can
select a group of icons and choose something from the Extras menu to operate
on those icons.  Before "tellFinderGetSelectedIcons" there was no way to
do that.

Developers are perfectly free to write utilities that have a traditional
desk accessory interface (use Standard File to ask what file(s) to operate
on), *and* also have an Extras menu item that works on the selected icons
in the Finder.  No problem.

We specifically *allow* the finderSaysBeforeOpen message (meaning "somebody,
please act like the user double-clicked on this file") to be sent by things
other than the Finder, so that it is useful anywhere.  There are NDAs that
take advantage of that, letting you use EasyMount documents from any desktop
app, play sounds, view pictures, or whatever you have a utility for.


>Neither of the Finder Extensions solve my problem anyway! They require the
>sound CDev to be active which is exactly what I want to avoid (otherwise
>there's no point, really).

You don't have to assign any sounds to any events if you don't want to.
The Sound control panel takes 5K of RAM and can't be adding very much
time to your boot.


>As a last resort, what is the format of an rSound so that I can write such a
>converter?

Relevant documentation is Programmer's Reference For System 6.0 (Chapter 35,
the Sound control panel), HyperCard IIgs Technical Note #3, Pitching Sampled
Sounds, and Apple IIgs Technical Note #76, Miscellaneous Resource Formats
(page 1, Sampled Sound Resource).
-- 
David A. Lyons, Apple Computer, Inc.      |   DAL Systems
Apple II System Software Engineer         |   P.O. Box 875
Internet:dlyons@apple.com                 |   Cupertino, CA 95015-0875

My opinions are my own, not Apple's.