Using Director > Packaging Movies for Distribution > About Xtras |  |

About Xtras

All Xtras a movie requires must be installed on your user's system when the movie runs. When you distribute a movie, you must either include these Xtras or provide the user with the means to download them. Using the Movie Xtras dialog box, you can specify the Xtras to include in a projector and whether Xtras should download for use with Shockwave movies. The Movie Xtras dialog box contains a list of the most commonly used Xtras. Including all these Xtras ensures that your movie will work in most cases but makes the projector much larger. You may want to remove Xtras you know you aren't using.

Each time you create a sprite that requires an Xtra, Director adds the Xtra to the list of required Xtras in the Movie Xtras dialog box. If you remove the sprite, Director does not remove the Xtra from the list, in case you later re-create the sprite. Director cannot detect Xtras required in Lingo code. You must manually add any Xtras required by your Lingo code to the list in the Movie Xtras dialog box. See Managing Xtras for distributed movies.

Managing Xtras controls the size and capabilities of the movie you distribute. Many important features in Director, such as text and vector shapes, are controlled by Xtras, as is the ability to import all types of linked media. If you don't use a feature or import a media type that is controlled by an Xtra, you should not distribute the related Xtra with your movie. This is especially true for movies distributed on the Internet.

The Shockwave player includes the Xtras that support the most common features and media types. These include text; vector shapes; Flash; BMP, PICT, JPEG, and GIF file importing; sound management; and Shockwave Audio.

Xtras not included with the Shockwave player must be installed in a user's system before the movie plays. Use the Download If Needed option in the Movie Xtras dialog box to make the movie prompt the user to download the Xtra. Director downloads Xtras from the URL specified in the Xtrainfo.txt file in the Director application folder.

Xtras downloading from projectors requires use of Lingo. See `gotoNetMovie`.

Xtrainfo.txt includes URLs for all Macromedia Xtras included with Director, but you may need to manually edit Xtrainfo.txt to add the URL for third-party Xtras or Macromedia Xtras not included with Director. Xtrainfo.txt includes a description of how to enter this information. Xtra developers may also provide installation programs or other means of modifying Xtrainfo.txt automatically.

If a user chooses to download an Xtra, Director retrieves the Xtra from the URL specified in Xtrainfo.txt using the Verisign download security system. Verisign is a standard means of downloading software from secure sources. For more information on making Xtras secure for download, see Using the Xtra Packaging Kit in the Xtras Support Center of the Macromedia Web site.

You can also include Xtras in projector files. Select the Include in Projector option in the Movie Xtras dialog box for any Xtra you want to include.

Xtras usually required for the movie to play back correctly include the following:

| Xtras that create cast members (text, Flash, vector shapes, QuickTime, and so on)
| Shockwave Audio Xtras (if the movie uses files in the SWA format)
| Transition Xtras (if the movie uses third-party transitions)
| Import Xtras, if the movie uses nonstandard types of linked external cast members
| Network Xtras required for a movie to access the Internet
| Lingo Xtras (if the movie uses any special Lingo that requires Xtras)