MidWavi Pro Play Lists

Please note that whilst all versions of MidWavi Pro 2.58 and on will build and save Play Lists/ Display Lists, only the Registered versions will actually play/display them.

Also note that one of the few limitations of the un-registered version is that you cannot conduct a disk search "Search Drive" option for MED (*.med), MPEG (*.mp2, *.mp3 or *.mpg) files, or graphic files of type "FIF". See "Non Registered version restrictions" in ReadMe.Txt.

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What are Play Lists/Display Lists?
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Play Lists/Display Lists enable you to preserve the contents of your file list box to a data file which, at a later stage, can be loaded back in.

In short, if it's in your file list and it's selected (ticked), it can be saved for later use.

Play Lists are for sound and video files.

Display Lists are for graphic files.

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How to build a Play List (differences for Display Lists are shown)
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This example makes use of the MidWavi Pro Search Drive and Sub Select options to build a Play List (i.e. sound and video).

Go to the Sound And Video Player module.

Use MidWavi Pro's powerful Search Drive option on (say) drive C: to find ALL files.

Assuming that you have a variety of sound and video files (.avi, .mpg, .mp3, .mp2, .mid, .mov and .wav) on drive C, your list box will now be populated with filenames.

(Un-registered versions will not of course "find" any MPEG files during the "Search Drive" option).

Take the File menu option and then select Save Play List.

Once the Save dialog box appears, pilot yourself to a suitable directory where you will store your play lists (suggest you create a directory called "MidWavi Pro Play Lists"). 

In the File Name box, enter a suitable filename (because you are about to store all the sound and video clips that are on your C: drive, suggest you call it "All Sound & Video On C"). If you wish to use a period (".") as part of the name, see Use of Filenames within MidWavi Pro below.

Do not add a file extension because MidWavi Pro will add its own for you (.MPL).

(For Display Lists, the file extension automatically added is .MDL).

Click the Save button, and you will be advised if the data was successfully saved.

You now have a Play List called "All Sound & Video On C.MPL" that contains details of all sound and video clips on your C: drive.

Now, assuming that you have some, lets say that you want to create a Play List that will only play all the AVI video files on your C: drive.

Take the Sub Select option.

Tick the 'No Files Selected' box then tick the 'AVI' box and click the 'Force New selection' button.

Again, take the File menu option and then select Save Play List.

This time in the File Name box, enter a suitable filename for all the AVI video clips that are on your C: drive, suggest you call it "All AVI Video On C").

Click the Save button, and you will be advised if the data was successfully saved.

You now have two Play Lists called:

"All Sound & Video On C.MPL" and "All AVI Video On C.MPL".

Repeat the process as necessary.

You are of course free to "roll your own" Play Lists by selecting (ticking/un-ticking) only those files that you wish to preserve in the list box and saving that selection to your chosen Play List filename.

It will be apparent that only filenames that are selected (ticked) will be saved in a Play List/Display List.

Once a Play List or Display List is created, you can over-write it by double clicking on it (a suitable warning will be issued).

You can also edit (using NotePad or WordPad etc.) the Play List/Display List files to manually add or delete file details but remember the file MUST be saved as a plain text (ASCII) file.

If you wish to create a Play List or Display List from scratch (using a text editor rather than let MidWavi Pro do it for you), the only four provisions are:

* It must be a plain text (ASCII) file

* For Play Lists, the first line must read "MidWavi Pro Play List" (without the speech marks)

* For Display Lists, the first line must read "MidWavi Pro Display List" (without the speech           marks)

* It should have a filename extension of either ".MPL" (sound and video) or ".MDL" for graphics.

* The full path and filename must be included on each line for each file you wish to play 

You can easily display a MidWavi Pro created Play List/Display List file using any standard ASCII editor (e.g. WordPad or NotePad in "text" mode) to see the desired format.

Any files created outside MidWavi Pro that do not have the file extension ".MPL" (or ".MDL") but conform to the above criteria will be "playable", but you will have to type in the full name when selecting a Play List/Display List (MidWavi Pro only "looks" for *.mpl or *.mdl type filenames).

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Use of Filenames within MidWavi Pro
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When choosing a Play List name to save from within MidWavi Pro, please observe the following:

· Any file extension other than '.MPL' will be forced to '.MPL'.

For Display Lists (graphics), the extension will be forced to '.MDL'.

· The last dot in any filename will be regarded as the start of the filename extension.

Some examples:

Filename: "Test" will be saved as "Test.MPL"

Filename: "Test.DAT" will be saved as "Test.MPL"

Filename: "Test Data Version 2.56" will be saved as "Test Data Version 2.MPL"

Filename: "Test Data Version 2.56 Latest" will be saves as "Test Data Version 2.56 Latest.MPL"

etc. etc.

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How to load a Play List
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Go to the Sound & Video Player module.

To play back your Play Lists, either go to the Tools menu option and click Play List OFF to turn Play List ON (this toggles ON/OFF each time you click it), or single right mouse click the Select Sound & Video button.

Either way, the Select Sound & Video button becomes Select Play List (again, this toggles in step with the above instruction).

Click the Select Play List button and a file load selection box will appear.

Pilot yourself to your Play List directory, and, if you have followed the above example, you should now see the two Play Lists ("All Sound & Video On C.MPL" and "All AVI Video On C.MPL").

You can only select one Play List at a time so double click either one (or single click to highlight then click the Open button).

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How to load a Display List
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Go to the Graphics Viewer module.

To play back your Display Lists, either go to the Tools menu option and click Display List OFF to turn Display List ON (this toggles ON/OFF each time you click it), or single right mouse click the Select Files For Display button.

Either way, the Select Files For Display button becomes Select Display List (again, this toggles in step with the above instruction).

Click the Select Display List button and a file load selection box will appear.

Pilot yourself to your Display List directory.
 
You can only select one Display List at a time so double click either one (or single click to highlight then click the Open button).

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How to play or display a Play List or Display List
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Your file list box will now be populated with your selected Play List/Display List and you can now use this as normal (see Playing Selected Sound & Video Files or Displaying Selected Graphic Files).

An additional feature now means that when you single right mouse click in the file list box (or on a graphic) to get file details, if a Play List or Display List is in use, its name is now also displayed along with the rest of the file detail. See File size, date and time and full path and file name details in Playing Selected Sound And Video Files etc.


Obviously, to get back to the standard Select Sound & Video or Select Files For Display options, toggle the button as per the above instructions.

Again, in a statement of the obvious, if you create a Play List or Display List based on removable media (CD ROM etc), ensure that you have the correct media installed to match the Play List.

The worst that will happen if not is that MidWavi Pro will report that it cannot play the file(s).

Please note that whilst all versions of MidWavi Pro 2.58 and on will build and save Play Lists/ Display Lists, only the Registered versions will actually play/display them.

Also note that one of the few limitations of the un-registered version is that you cannot conduct a disk search "Search Drive" option for MED (*.med), MPEG (*.mp2, *.mp3 or *.mpg) files, or graphic files of type "FIF". See "Non Registered version restrictions" in ReadMe.Txt.


See also on-line help under "MidWavi Pro Play Lists".