Using SuperCard® 3.0 Player
as a Helper Application

Fourth World Technical Note #005
Richard Gaskin, December 1995, Updated January 1997

Overview

Introducing the SuperCard 3.0 Player

Historically, SuperCard developers have usually delivered their multimedia works in the form of standalone applications, which contain an embedded form of the SuperCard engine. As with most standalones or projectors, this adds to the overall file size, often significantly. Worse, the embedded engine is the same from standalone to standalone, a situation of diminishing returns for developers publishing multiple applications electronically.

For disk-based delivery this increase is often acceptable, but with the exploding interest in the online world and the Internet in particular, authors have been looking for ways to keep their file size to a minimum. The SuperCard Player makes this possible.

Allegiant's SuperCard Player is a freely-distributable application for viewing SuperCard-based media. By making this application widely available, Allegiant Technologies benefits both the developer and the end-user by slashing the overhead involved in online distribution of interactive media. Now developers have the option of delivering their works in the form "applets" (or "projects" in SuperCard parlance), using a common engine, the SuperCard Player, which the user downloads only once.

Helper Applications

Most Web browsers make use of additional applications to view media types other than those inherently supported within the browser itself. For example, Netscape comes with JPEGView pres-installed as the default helper application for viewing JPEG files.

Whenever a file is transferred from within the browser, the browser looks in its settings file for a Helper application assigned to handle that file type. If a match is found, the browser can launch the application and open the incoming file with it.

This provides a simple mechanism for integrating other applications within the Web browser, making a more fluid, integrated environment. By taking a few moments to set up your browser with the SuperCard Player, you can have this level of integration with SuperCard-based media and applets.

Instructions For the User: Three Simple Steps

1. Download the SuperCard Player Application

SuperCard 2.5 comes in three difference configurations, depending on the type of computer you have. Click below to download the SuperCard Player configuration of your choice:

Download the SuperCard Player

 

2. Open your Browser's Helper Applications Preferences

Note: At this time, this section provides descriptions and illustrations for the Netscape browser only. This may differ for Mosaic and other browsers; refer to the documentation for those browser to determine if they support Helper applications and how to edit those settings.

In Netscape, you'll select "General Preferences" from the Options menu. This opens a dialog window which looks like the one below after you've click the "Helpers" button:

3. Create a New Entry

First, click "New". A smaller dialog will appear - just click "OK" when it does.

Then, fill in the dialog fields as show above.

Last, click the "Browse" button and locate your copy of the SuperCard 3.0 Player application. This will set the "File Type" popup to read "MDO3", the default file type for SuperCard.

That's about it - just click "OK" to save your changes. Now anytime you download SuperCard ".scm" files, Netscape will automatically launch that project using the SuperCard 3.0 Player.

Instructions For the Developer: Use ".scm" in File Names

Netscape is able to determine which helper application it uses based on the file type as shown in the trailing poriton of the file name, such as ".gif" or "jpeg", for example. In order to ensure that Netscape can properly identify your SuperCard projects as SuperCard Player documents, you will need to use the proper file name extension.

Allegiant Technologies uses the ".scm" to denote any SuperCard for Macintosh project file. Adding this to your file name will allow any user with a properly-configured browser to have your project run automatically once the transfer has completed.

The Future: Marionet, Jetstream, and Beyond

Allegiant Technologies' Marionet provides a scriptable interface for comon Internet protocols such as HTTP, FTP, IRC and others. Designed to be accessed from any scriptable system which uses XCMDs, Marionet will have an even closer relationship with SuperCard, being directly addressible from within SuperTalk scripts.

Marionet makes it possible for SuperCard projects to run asynchronous multiple sessions across the Internet, for everything from FTP front-ends to games and entertainment environments. Using a Web browser as a launching pad, developers can integrate their media-rich applications with Internet transactions for a new level of interactivity.

By adopting the practice of publishing files with the ".scm" naming convention, developers take the first step toward the integration of their SuperCard media with the Internet today.