For Authorware 5 (Attain) users

Use the Afterburner application to turn a packaged Authorware 4 piece into a shocked Authorware piece. Afterburner compresses and segments pieces--including libraries--so they can be delivered over an intranet as efficiently as possible, without requiring long waits for downloading. A shocked Authorware piece looks and works exactly the same as it did before you converted it.

On the Macintosh, Afterburner also has a second function. It "flattens" external files such as movies, reorganizing certain information in the files so they can download properly over intranets.

If you created your program in Authorware 3.0 or earlier first convert the program to 3.0 then to 4. If you are going cross platform from Mac to PC move across in the same version. Version 3.5 on the PC will not convert a Mac 3.0 file.

Afterburner produces two types of files from an Authorware piece:

One or more segment files (extension .AAS), each segment containing a compressed section of the piece One map file (extension .AAM), which contains information the Authorware Plug-In needs to retrieve each segment and to retrieve external files used with your piece, such as movies and UCDs.

To turn a standard Authorware piece into a shocked Authorware piece, first package the piece:

1.If the Authorware piece you're about to shock uses a library, make sure the Authorware file and the library file have different names.

Afterburner creates separate map files for an Authorware file and its associated library file, but it gives both map files the extension .AAM. If you name the Authorware file intro.a4w (or intro.a4m) and its associated map file intro.a4l, Afterburner will name both map files intro.aam--and will be able to save one map file only by overwriting the other. So name your files something such as intro.a4w and l_intro.a4l.

2.Choose Package from Authorware's File menu.

3.Select Without Runtime in the Package dialog box. (The Authorware Plug-In will serve as the runtime application for users.)

4.Select the other options you want, then click Save File(s) & Package.

Next, compress the packaged piece in Afterburner:

1.Start Afterburner for Authorware.

2.In the Select Package Source File dialog box, select the file you want to process, then click OK.

3.In the Select Destination Map File dialog box, indicate where you want the map file to be placed. The segment files will also be placed in this location. Click OK.

Tip: Use an empty folder for the destination, and it will be easy later to upload the map and segment files as a group to the HTTP server.

4.In the Segment Settings dialog box, enter up to four characters as a prefix for the segments that Afterburner will produce.

Each segment will be named with the prefix followed by four digits that Afterburner assigns, starting with 0000. These digits are hexadecimal, so they may contain both letters and numbers.

5.Enter a value for segment size, then click OK.

This value tells Afterburner the average file size to use for segments. The default is 16,000 bytes, which is a good choice for many pieces. After experimenting with the default, you may choose different values--from 4,000 to 500,000--depending on the size of the piece and the transmission speed of your intranet.

Afterburner compresses and segments your Authorware piece, producing one map file and one or more segment files.
Afterburner also automatically adds entries for external content (such as Director movies) and external linked libraries, referenced by the Authorware file, to the map file.

6.Copy the map and segment files to an HTTP server configured for shocked Authorware pieces. If you use FTP to do this, be sure to transfer the files as binary files, not ASCII files. For information on configuring the server visit http://www.macromedia.com/support/authorware/attain/how/expert/awconfig/

For proper downloading of segments, the file names in the map file must match the file names on the HTTP server. For UNIX servers--which are case sensitive in handling file names--this means the capitalization of the file names on the server and map file must be identical. Afterburner creates the file names in all lowercase characters. Unfortunately, however, certain kinds of FTP client software can alter the case of file names during the upload process.

If you have a UNIX server, make sure you're using FTP client software that doesn't alter the capitalization of file names. If you find that the file names between the map file and the server have different capitalization--and you can't change your FTP client software--you'll need to either rename the files on the server or change the file names in the map file to match what's on the server.

If your piece was created in an earlier version of Authorware, when you try to open it in Attain you will be prompted to convert and save it as an Attain file. It is necessary to do this conversion in order to proceed.

Packaging a piece for the web

A web-packaged Authorware piece looks and works exactly the same as it did before you converted it.

In Authorware 

1 . Make sure the Authorware piece and its library files have different names.
Authorware Web Packager creates separate map files for an Authorware file and its associated library files, but it gives both map files the extension AAM. If you name the Authorware file Intro.a5p and its associated map file Intro.a5l, Authorware Web Packager will name both map files Intro.aam and will be able to save one map file only by overwriting the other. So name your
files something like Intro.a5p and L_intro.a5l.

2 .Choose File > Package, and in the Package dialog box, select Without Runtime. Authorware Web Player serves as the runtime application for users. 

3 .Choose Package External Media Internally. Embedded content is more efficient, especially if you're using Authorware Advanced Streamer.

4 .Select the other options you want, then click Save File(s) & Package.

Authorware Web Packager does two things:

1. It divides the piece into segments that Authorware Web Player can download. (You can set the size of the segments to get the best performance.)

2. It creates a map file, which tells the player what to download, when to download it, and where to put the downloaded segments.

Procedure

1 .Start Authorware Web Packager.

2 .In the dialog box, select the packaged file and click OK.

3 .In the Select Destination Map File dialog box, indicate where you want the map file to be placed. Authorware will place the segment files in the same location. Click OK. 

Use an empty folder for the destination, and it will be easy later to upload the map and segment files as a group to the HTTP server.

4 .In the Segment Settings dialog box, enter up to four characters as a prefix for the segments that Authorware Web Packager will produce.
Each segment will be named with the prefix followed by four digits that Authorware Web Packager assigns, starting with 0000. These digits are hexadecimal, so they may contain both letters and numbers.

5 .Enter a value for segment size and click OK. The segment size value tells Authorware Web Packager the average file size to use for segments.

The default segment size is 16K, which is a good choice for many pieces. After experimenting with the default, you may choose different values—from 4K to 500K -depending on the size of the piece and the transmission speed of your intranet. Segment sizes from 12K to 24K are good for modem speeds up to 56K. A segment size of 64K works wells for higher speeds.

6 .Test the web-packaged piece by opening the AAM file in a browser. In your HTML editor Use Macromedia Dreamweaver or an HTML editor to add the web-packaged piece to a web page. You have two options:

1. If most or all of your users are using Internet Explorer 3.0 or later, use the OBJECT tag to add the web-packaged piece to a web page.

2. If a user is running Internet Explorer and doesn't have the correct version of the player, the OBJECT tag automatically downloads the correct version of Authorware Web Player Control for ActiveX. See Using the Authorware Web Player Control for ActiveX.

If some of your users are running Netscape Navigator, you need to provide them with a way of getting the correct version of the player, See Providing Authorware Web Player. If most or all of your users are using Netscape Navigator, use the EMBED tag to add the web-packaged piece to a web page. See Using EMBED to add a web-packaged piece to a web page. 

Also provide your users with a way of getting the correct version of the player, See Providing Authorware Web Player.

If you suspect that some of your users may not be using compatible browsers, provide a GIF or JPEG graphic in place of the web-packaged piece. See Working with non-streaming browsers.

On your server

1. Copy the map and segment files to an HTTP server configured for web-packaged Authorware pieces.If you use FTP to copy the files, be sure to transfer the files as binary files, not ASCII files.

Using EMBED to add a web-packaged piece to a web page

Authorware Web Player can't connect with the web on its own. It works in conjunction with a web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer. The browser takes care of communicating with the web and downloading information from it. Web browsers understand HyperText Markup Language (HTML), so the way to get a browser to download a web-packaged piece for the player is to make the piece part of an HTML page. To do that, use the HTML EMBED tag. The EMBED tag for a web-packaged Authorware piece looks like this:

<EMBED SRC="tutorial.aam" WIDTH=640 HEIGHT=480 WINDOW=onTop PALETTE=Background>

The EMBED tag identifies the map file (in the example, tutorial.aam) that contains all the information the player needs to download and run the web-packaged piece. It also lets you set the width and the height of the window the piece will run in and the way you want the window to be displayed: You can embed the window in the page, have it float in front of the page, or minimize the browser window so that the web-packaged piece appears on the screen by itself.

Finally, in Windows, the EMBED tag lets you set the color palette—the one you used in Authorware or the one the browser uses. If you choose Authorware's palette, the browser may look odd (if you leave it visible); if you choose the browser's palette, your Authorware piece may look odd. The best solution is to use a web-safe palette. See Creating a web-packaged piece with a web-safe palette. 

1. Open the HTML file with a text editor and insert the EMBED tag into the HTML body text.
2 .Use the name of the map file for the web-packaged piece in the SRC argument.
3 .Use the WIDTH and HEIGHT arguments to set the size of the display area.The WIDTH and HEIGHT arguments specify the width and height of the display area in pixels. The browser crops the image to the size you specify, but it's best to use the size of your Presentation window for this setting.

4 .Use the WINDOW argument to specify how the browser displays the piece. The WINDOW setting tells how the Authorware piece is displayed in relation to the browser. You have three options:

inPlace displays the piece embedded within the HTML page in the browser window. Don't try to use a title bar on your Presentation window. (The Title Bar setting is in Authorware's File Properties dialog box.) Embedding inPlace doesn't allow the display of a title bar. Instead, the height of your Presentation window will be reduced by the height of the title bar. 

Use WIDTH and HEIGHT settings of less than 640 x 480. Otherwise, users with their resolution set to 640 x 480 will have to scroll vertically and horizontally to see the whole window. Avoid using the ResizeWindow and MoveWindow functions, which can produce unpredictable results with inPlace.

onTop displays the piece in a separate window on top of the browser window. This makes your piece look more like a separate application.

onTopMinimize displays the piece in a separate window and minimizes (or hides) the browser. This setting makes your piece look the most like a separate, stand-alone application.

5 .Use the PALETTE argument to specify which color palette the browser uses. You have two options:

Foreground loads the color palette of the Authorware piece. That can cause a noticeable color shift in other images that are displayed in the browser. (The color shift is corrected when the browser reloads its own color palette once the Authorware piece finishes.) If the PALETTE setting isn't specified, the default is PALETTE=Foreground.

Background uses the browser's color palette. Using the Background setting avoids the color shift that happens when you use the Foreground setting, but it has the disadvantage of changing the appearance of the Authorware piece. (The colors you used when you created the Authorware piece are replaced with the colors in the browser's palette.)

For a more thorough guide on using Shockwave visit the following site:
http://www.macromedia.com/support/authorware/attain/dev_index.fhtml

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