| Active Screen Saver DevKit FAQ This page contains answers to common questions handled by our support
staff, along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful.
Note: In these answers we will follow a few shorthand conventions for
describing user-interface procedures. Key combinations will be presented like this: Ctrl+Alt+Delete,
which means that you should press and hold down the Control key, the Alt key, and the
Delete key at the same time. Menu selections will be presented like this: File->Open,
which means that you should open the File menu, and then make the Open selection.
- How do I transition from one web page to another?
- How can I display a web page as a screen saver that requires
authentication?
- Can I distribute my screen saver on CD-ROM?
- Is it possible to distribute my screen saver as one single file?
- Once I purchase Active Screen Saver DevKit and build a screen saver, do I also have to purchase additional licenses for each machine I install the screen saver on?
- How do I distribute a PowerPoint presentation as a
screen saver?
- How can I add Print capabilities to my web page?
- How do I register Active Screen Saver DevKit?
- Is there a way to start the current screen saver without waiting for the screen saver timeout?
The simplest way to transition from one web
page to another, within your screen saver, is by creating a Screen Saver
Presentation File (SSP) by selecting the Tools->Screen Saver
Presentation->New menu from the Active
Screen Saver DevKit wizard. In addition, the HTML standard provides a means by which to transition from one HTML page to another
in the form of a META tag. The REFRESH meta tag allows you to transition from one web page
to another after a specified number of seconds. After the specified number of seconds has
elapsed, the HTML file specified in the URL property will occupy the same space as the
previous HTML page. This works just as well when using FRAMES allowing you to have more
than one page transition at one time. By daisy-chaining several HTML pages together, and
pointing the last HTML page back to the first, you can easily create a slide show effect.
No programming required.
Syntax:
<META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT="<SECONDS>;
URL=<NEW FILE LOCATION>">
Example:
<html>
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT="5;
URL=http://domainname/dir/newfile.htm">
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
OR
<html>
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" CONTENT="10; URL=newfile.htm">
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
You can easily supply user name and password credentials to a web site by prefixing the
URL with your user name and password. For example, if I where accessing a web site called
"http://www.mydomain.com/", and my user name was "john", and my
password was "pass", then the complete URL would be formatted as follows.:
http://john:pass@www.mydomain.com/
CD-ROM is an excellent deployment mechanism for screen savers created
with Active Screen Saver DevKit. To distribute your screen saver on
CD-ROM; using the software provided with your CD Writer, copy your screen
saver setup file (scrsetup.exe by default) to your CD. You may also want to
include an
"autorun.inf" file and a custom CD-ROM icon.
The root directory of your CD-ROM should look similar to the following
when complete:
autorun.inf
If you would
like the screen saver setup program to start automatically when the user inserts
your CD, you will need to create an "autorun.inf"
file and include it on your CD-ROM. The "open" file specified within
"autorun.inf" will run
automatically when the user inserts your CD in their CD-ROM drive, assuming the
user has this feature of Windows enabled (it is enabled by default). The
"autorun.inf"
file may also contain the file name of the icon that you would like to use to represent your
screen saver's CD within Windows.
Note:
- The
"scrsetup.exe" file that will
start the screen saver installation is automatically created by Active Screen
Saver DevKit.
-
The
setup program and icon you distribute does not need to be named
"scrsetup.exe" and “scrsaver.ico”, but the names of these
files must match the values within the "autorun.inf" file.
- The
"open" and "icon" values within the
"autorun.inf" file are mutually exclusive and neither is
required to redistribute your screen saver on CD.
The following
is an example of a minimal autorun.inf file. Download
Sample
[autorun]
open=scrsetup.exe
icon=scrsaver.ico
If
you distribute an icon with your CD, it must be in the ".ico"
format. You can create icon files using various graphics
packages. The following icons are examples of valid icon files and
may be freely distributed with your screen saver.
Download
the desired icon by right-clicking on it and selecting "Save Target
As...". You should ensure that your browser downloads this file
in the icon/.ico format in order for the file to work properly. The
following icons are not named scrsaver.ico by default, you should rename
the appropriate file on your local machine to scrsaver.ico if you are
using "scrsaver.ico" as the "icon" entry within
autorun.inf.
 
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Yes. Active Screen Saver DevKit generates both a self-extracting
executable and/or a ZIP file for screen saver installation.
Note: Prior to Active Screen Saver DevKit 3.0 a 3rd-party installation
program was required to redistribute screen savers as a single file.
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No. Additional licenses are not
required for distributing screen savers created with Active Screen Saver
DevKit. You may freely distribute an unlimited number of screen
savers created with either the trial or registered versions of Active
Screen Saver DevKit.
Note: Screen savers created with the Trial
version of Active Screen Saver DevKit will contain an advertisement for
Active Screen Saver DevKit at periodic intervals. This advertisement
is compiled into the screen saver and the screen saver must be regenerated
using a registered copy of the Active Screen Saver DevKit wizard to remove
this advertisement.
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Redistributing a PowerPoint presentation as a screen saver is easy
using Active Screen Saver DevKit. The following steps outline the
slight differences in creating PowerPoint screen savers vs. other types of
screen savers.
Step 1.
If you have not done so in the past, download the free Microsoft PowerPoint viewer
from the following address:
http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/2000/downloadDetails/Ppview97.htm
This file should be saved under the "dependencies" directory in the
installation path of Active
Screen Saver DevKit. For example:
"C:/Program Files/Active Screen Saver DevKit/dependencies/PPView97.exe"
Step 2.
When you are ready to create your screen saver, refer to the directory
containing your PowerPoint presentation on the "Content Source
Directory" screen" and click Next.
Step 3.
Select the "File/URL" option on the "Screen Saver
File/URL" screen and type in or Browse to the PowerPoint presentation
you want to use as your screen saver.
Note: The PowerPoint Presentation must be in the same
directory as specified in Step 2.
If you use the Browse button, you will need to change the "Files
of type" drop-down list to read "All Files (*.*) in order for
your presentation to be displayed.
Step 4.
If the "PowerPoint Presentation Viewer" is not listed on the
"Adding Screen Saver Dependencies" screen, you will need to
perform the following additional step:
Add the following line
to the "dependencies.txt" file:
"PowerPoint Presentation Viewer,1,PowerPointViewer.Application,PPView97.exe"
Note: Only the text between the double quotes should be included.
The PowerPoint Presentation viewer will now be an available option in the
Dependencies section of the Active Screen Saver DevKit - Setup
Wizard. This option should be checked.
By default the "dependencies.txt" file can be found in the
following location:
"C:/Program Files/Active Screen Saver DevKit/dependencies/dependencies.txt"
If installed correctly, the PowerPoint Presentation Viewer will be
listed as an option on the "Adding Screen Saver Dependencies" as
shown below.
Adding Print capabilities
to you web page is a very simple process view this example to find out
more...
Registering Active Screen Saver DevKit is simple. Start by registering
Active Screen Saver DevKit on-line. When you receive your conformation email, follow
the steps below to install the registration information on your computer.:
Example Email:
Subject: Active Screen Saver
DevKit
Registration Code
Body:
Thank you for registering
Active Screen Saver DevKit.
Your registration code is:
Licensed To: Joe User
Company Name: My Company
Serial Number: 0123456789012
Keep this registration
information in a safe place.
Note: The email you receive may vary slightly.
Use the following steps to install the registration information on your
machine.:
1. Start by opening the Active Screen Saver DevKit 3.0 - Setup Wizard.
2. Select the "I've registered
online - Continue..." option from the Registration
menu.
3. On the "Registration" screen, enter the information in the
corresponding input fields exactly as it is stated in the email you
received and click the "Register" button. You should see a
"Registration Successful" message as shown below.
4. If the registration was successful, the Registration menu will
disappear and will not reappear as shown below.
Important: Screen savers created with the unregistered version of
Active Screen Saver DevKit will need to be recompiled after Active Screen
Saver DevKit has been registered to remove the Automated Office Systems
banner.
If the Automated Office Systems banner continues to be displayed even
after the screen saver has been recompiled, verify that all versions of
the original screen saver have been uninstalled using the Add/Remove
Programs applet within the Windows Control Panel. Then recompile the
screen saver using the Active Screen Saver DevKit 3.0 - Setup Wizard.
If for any reason you have difficulty uninstalling a screen saver, you
can manually uninstall it by deleting the installation path of the screen
saver and then deleting the (.scr), (.dat), and (.ini) files with the same
name as the screen saver. For example: If my screen saver were named
"Paradise Images", I would do the following to delete it
manually:
1. Delete the directory "C:\Program Files\Paradise Images"
(Assuming this is the installation path).
2. Delete the file "Paradise Images.scr" from the Windows
System Directory (C:\Windows\System for Windows 95, 98, and ME) or (C:\Winnt\System32
for Windows NT and Windows 2000).
3. Delete the file "Paradise Images.dat" from the Windows
System Directory (C:\Windows\System for Windows 95, 98, and ME) or (C:\Winnt\System32
for Windows NT and Windows 2000).
4. Delete the file "Paradise Images.ini" from the Windows
System Directory (C:\Windows\System for Windows 95, 98, and ME) or (C:\Winnt\System32
for Windows NT and Windows 2000).
Fundamentally, a screen saver is very similar to any other executable program. A screen saver can be started by double-clicking on it or by executing it from the command line.
This is the way the current screen saver is started when you click the Preview button on the Screen Saver tab of the Display Properties dialog.
However, when Windows starts a screen saver via the screen saver timeout, the following additional attributes will also apply:
-
Windows 95/98/ME – The screen saver is started within the same desktop as were the user is currently working. If password protection is on, the user will need to supply a password before the screen saver will close.
-
Windows NT – The screen saver is always start in a secure desktop. If password protection is on, the user will need to supply a password before the screen saver will close.
-
Windows 2000 – If password protection is on, the screen saver will be started in a secure desktop, otherwise it will be started within the same desktop as were the user is currently working. . If password protection is on, the user will need to supply a password before the screen saver will close.
Normally, a user cannot start a screen saver in the same way as the Windows operating system. However, the following downloadable program will allow starting of the currently specified screen saver just as if it were
being started by the Windows operating system:
| Date
Posted: |
March
27, 2001 |
| File: |
startscr.exe,
Standalone Self-Extracting Compressed File |
| Size: |
8.5
KB - 8704 bytes |
| Minimum
Download Times: |
| T1/DSL/Broadband |
>
1 Second |
| 128K
(ISDN) |
>
1 Seconds |
| 56K
Dial-up |
>
2 Seconds |
| 28.8
Dial-up |
>
4 Seconds |
|
| Instructions: |
This
file is a standalone executable. You should already
have Active Screen Saver Personal or Active Screen Saver
DevKit installed before attempting to execute this
program. In order to use the startscr.reg file, you
must download this program to C:\startscr\startscr.exe |
|
When the dialog
box appears, we recommend that you choose Save
this program to disk.
If you selected Save
this file to disk: find the file where you
saved it on your hard drive, and double-click it to start
the currently selected Windows screen saver.
|
|
In addition to allowing you to start the current screen saver immediately,
startscr.exe can also be used to automatically start the current screen saver
upon Windows bootup without waiting for the screen saver timeout. The simplest way to accomplish this is by placing
startscr.exe in the Startup Program Group. This will start the current screen saver when the user first logs
on (or immediately if no logon is required), but other Startup programs and/or operating system component that are starting at the same time will delay the starting of the screen saver.
If you want the screen saver to start as quickly as possible after a user first logs
on (or immediately if no logon is required), you will need to add the following registry setting:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
On this key add a new string value named StartScr and include the full path and filename to startscr.exe on your local machine
as the value of the key.
Assuming startscr.exe is downloaded and saved to C:\startscr\startscr.exe, you can download and execute the following registry file to make the modifications for
you:
download - startscr.reg
Please note: At startup, the speed at which the
screen saver actually starts is directly related to the performance of the
computer you are running on and the number of operating system programs
and other boot-time programs that are installed. If the screen saver will
be used as a public Kiosk or other high-security application, and the
amount of time between boot-up and the screen saver stating is
unacceptable, you may want to consider locking down your computer through
Policies. You can find out more information on User and Group
Policies on the Microsoft
Web Site.
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