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About using Xtras to extend Director functionality

Xtras are software components that extend Director functionality; some Xtras are installed with Director and others are available through third-party developers. Xtras provide capabilities such as importing filters and connecting to the Internet. You can use preexisting Xtras and, if you know the C programming language, you can create your own Xtras.

For information on creating Xtras, download the Xtras Developer's Kit from the Director Support Center.

You must distribute any Xtra that a movie requires along with the movie itself. Xtras can be packaged with projectors, or your user can download your required Xtras from the Internet. See Managing Xtras for distributed movies.

If your user is missing an Xtra that Director requires, an alert appears when the movie opens. For missing Xtra transition cast members, the movie performs a simple cut transition instead. For other missing Xtra cast members, Director displays a red X as a placeholder.

Types of Xtras

Five types of Xtras are supplied with Director: cast member Xtras, importing Xtras, scripting Xtras, transition Xtras, and tool Xtras.

| Cast member Xtras provide new media types to Director. They create or control a wide range of objects for use as cast members.
| Some of the cast member types built into Director, such as Shockwave Flash, Vector Shape, and Animated GIF, are provided as Xtras. Xtras provided by third-party developers can include databases, 3D graphics processors, special types of graphics, and so on. Cast member Xtras built into Director appear on the Insert > Media Element menu. Other cast member Xtras may not appear on this menu and may require Lingo implementation.
| When setting properties for an Xtra cast member, use the Property Inspector, which provides settings standard to all types of Xtra cast members. If there are settings that are unique to the current Xtra, you must click Option to open a second Properties dialog box that lets you change those settings.
| Some cast member Xtras have separate authoring and playback components. You should include only the playback components when distributing movies.
| Importing Xtras provide the code required to import various types of media into Director. When you link a movie to an external file, Director uses the importing Xtra to import the media every time the movie runs. To distribute a movie with external linked media, you must also include the Xtra required to import that type of media.
| Scripting Xtras add Lingo elements to predefined Lingo scripts. The NetLingo Xtra, for example, provides special Lingo elements for controlling Internet functions.
| Transition Xtras supply transitions in addition to the predefined transitions available in the Frame Properties: Transition dialog box.
| Tool Xtras provide useful functions in the authoring environment, but they don't do anything while a movie runs. They do not have to be distributed with movies.

Installing Xtras

To make custom Xtras available to Director, place them in the Xtras folder located in the same folder as the Director application. You must do this before you launch Director.

An Xtra can be in a folder within the Xtras folder up to five layers deep.

When you launch Director, you can use the `openXlib` command to open Scripting Xtras located in any folder. If you open an Xtra this way, you must use the `closeXlib` command to close it when Director has finished with it.

Copies of the same Xtra can have different file names or have the same file name but reside in different folders. If duplicate Xtras are available when Director launches, Director displays an alert. Delete any duplicate Xtras.

Director automatically closes Xtras when the application quits.

To make any Director movie appear on the Xtras menu and open as a movie in a window during authoring, place it in the Xtras folder.