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Home > Extras > Aggregator

Aggregator

With Aggregator you can link together multiple swf, flv, or mp4 files. The resulting file will include a table of contents, on the left side of the window, playing your movies one after another, just as you'd like. The Aggregator can export the resulting file in either Flash or EXE file formats.

To launch the Aggregator tool, select from the Demo Builder main menu 'Extras', and then the 'Aggregator' menu item.The user interface contains two tabs : 'Playlist' and 'Customize'.

Playlist Tab

To add items click the 'plus shaped' button. You can give a caption and file name to each item. Click the 'Browse' bottom to select a file, or simply enter the file's name in the corresponding field. Click the 'Submenu' item in order to create your Table of Contents (seen as a 'tree'). To remove an item, click the 'minus shaped' button or press the 'Delete' key.To change the order of the items, drag and drop as needed.

Drag & drop files - the easiest way to add items !
You can easily add items from your desktop directly to your Aggregator project.

Customize Tab

The file generated by the Aggregator is composed of several elements : Menu-- level 1, level 2 ,level 3 | and | Item-- title, spacer , and video area. By selecting one of these elements, you may customize its properties using the top panel. When none of these elements are selected, you can then change the general settings of the Aggregator: dimensions, page color, border color, drop shadow, and auto-play(the next movie will be played in descending order, one after another). Clicking on the 'Dimensions' label will bring up a window where the Aggregator's size and video's position can be further edited. The dimensions in which the movie will be displayed is calculated automatically, and displayed in red in the top right hand side (of the video area). Movies which do not fit in the given dimensions will have their original dimensions reduced, maintaining the same aspect ratio, to fit the needed dimensions.

Should you like, you can add a default set of 'customizations' by right-clicking on an empty space and selecting "Set as default". From the same popup menu, clicking 'Reset' will rollback to the default settings.

Please note that the dimensions in design time do not correspond to those used in the generated file (e.g. the menu's width never changes). These dimensions are only used for operative purposes. 



Exporting your Aggregator project

The file generated by the Aggregator may be exported in one of two formats: Flash or EXE format. The file(s) exported by the Aggregator will be placed in the same folder as your '.aggregator' file. That being said, you must save the project (the '.aggregator' file) before you can export this. To export, click 'File' on the menu bar, 'Export', and then choose the format desired. You may also use the hotkeys F9 (Flash format) or F10 (EXE format). When exporting in Flash, three files will be generated:  HTML,SWF, and JS file. When exporting in EXE format, only a single EXE file will be created.

Important: The resource files which the Aggregator uses (calls upon) must be located alongside in the same folder as the files exported by the Aggregator tool. For example, in the above screenshot, the files 'intro.mp4', 'takescreenshots.swf', and 'fullmotion.swf' must all be located in the same folder as the files exported by the Aggregator tool.

Should this condition not be met, the Aggregator will display the following message "URL not found!".

Start playing a particular item, as specified

By default, the Aggregator will start playing the first item should the 'Auto-Play' option be selected. However, there may also be cases where you need the Aggregator to begin by playing an item other than the first one listed (in the corresponding 'tree' view). In this case, you have two options:

  1. URL Parameter
    http://domain.com/myaggregatorfile.html?startindex=xxx
  2. Using FlashVars
    FlashVars="startindex=xxx"
    To read more about FlashVars, click here.

Where 'xxx' represents the tree item's number (in descending order, beginning at the top). The first item in the 'tree' view has a '1' startindex value. For example, in the screenshots above, the 'Take screen shots' item has a '3' startindex value, 'Full motion' a '4', and so forth.



See also