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MacEdition Pro News : August 19, 2002: Filemaker TrapEases, random audiovisuals and a dash of Flash

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Flying through the errors with the greatest of TrapEase

Our friends at Ascending Technologies wanted to tell everyone that TrapEase, the unique tool for trapping and displaying errors in FileMaker Pro databases, has a new home.

“We’re very excited about this acquisition,” said Steve Abrahamson, Ascending Technologies’ founder and author of the popular Monster family of products. “TrapEase fits in well with our product strategy looking forward, and we’re delighted to be the new home for this innovative product.”

TrapEase simplifies error trapping by automatically evaluating errors and displaying the appropriate error message. It provides the developer with an easy-to-use interface that assists in presenting customized error messages based on each error type. Developers can control alert icons, system beeps, message text and course of action for any error a user encounters.

TrapEase is $89 and is available immediately at Ascending Technologies’ Web site

Not enough random images in your life?

Trinfinity has released Collage 1.0, a visual plug-in for iTunes. Sure, there are other plug-ins, but can any of them say, “Some of the images that are found may be obviously related to the song that is playing and some may seem to be completely unrelated”?

Seriously, this seems like a cool idea. Here’s what the press release has to say about just why the images might be slightly unpredictable:

Collage searches the Internet for images relating to the artist, track, and album that are playing. Collage then displays a never ending collage of these images on your screen. The images are different for every song. You may see album covers, photos of performances, photos of band members, or just about anything.

The “or just about anything” may mean that with some artists the images may be for open minds and not young eyes...

Collage 1.0 is available for download at: http://www.trinfinitysoftware.com/collage.shtml

On a similar note, Trinfinity has also updated Seagull Video Player to Version 2.1.2. Available both in Classic and Carbon flavors, Seagull is an app for for easily creating video playlists and playing them full screen on your computer.

This update fixes a bug that caused blank entries to appear in the playlist due to carriage returns in some video information and one that prevented the user from changing the name of large playlists.

Additionally, this update fixes a bug that caused Seagull Video Player to force the user to quit when an error occurred while loading the video information. Seagull Video Player no longer forces the user to quit in this situation, it just continues without the information.

This update reduces the frequency that “flash back” occurs. “Flash back” is when the first frame of the current movie is displayed at the end of the movie.

The View menu items are now accessible from the Playlist window.

[...]

Seagull Video Player 2 costs $20.00 ($19.95 if you purchase online) for a single user license. This update is free for all registered Seagull Video Player 2 for Macintosh users. Registered Seagull Video Player 1.x for Macintosh users can upgrade to Seagull Video Player 2.1.2 for $10.00. New users can download and evaluate Seagull Video Player 2.1.2 for 30 days.

Seagull Video Player 2.1.2 is available for download at: http://www.trinfinitysoftware.com/seagull.shtml

ShuttlePro gets Flashy

The folks at Contour A/V Solutions, makers of the Contour ShuttlePro have teamed up with the folks at Macromedia to release custom ShuttlePro settings for Flash MX.

Windham, NH - July 25, 2002 - Contour A/V Solutions Inc., a leader in the audio/video editing solutions industry, release ShuttlePro settings that enable Macromedia Flash MX users to create Internet rich content in the fastest and most cost effective manner. This collaboration gives users the ability to control frequently used commands with the touch of a button, and navigate with the tactile feel of a true control surface. The settings are available for free and immediate download for ShuttlePro Users from the Contour A/V Solutions Web site at www.contouravs.com.

For more info, check out the full press release at http://www.contouravs.com/cav_press_releases.html

And on the topic of Flash...

Lynda.com has released a new CD-ROM-based training course for Macromedia Flash MX. Here’s the skinny on what’s covered:

“Learning Flash MX” contains approximately 15 hours of movie tutorials, and includes exercise files so viewers can follow along. This self-paced training course uses creative examples to guide users through the basic tools and features of Flash MX, covering everything from animation basics such as shape tweening and symbols to more complex topics such as ActionScripting basics and movie clips.

Featured topics include:

  • The Interface
  • Animation Basics
  • Shape and Motion Tweening
  • Libraries, Symbols, and Instances
  • Masking
  • Buttons
  • Movie Clips
  • ActionScripting Basics
  • Sound
  • Publishing
  • Integration

Availability

“Learning Flash MX” is available as a cross-platform CD-ROM for US$149.95 or as part of lynda.com’s new Online Training Movie Library. Visit http://store.lynda.com or call 1-888-33-LYNDA (1-888-335-9632) to order.

They’ve quite an online collection, so give the virtual aisles of Lynda.com a browse.

Looking for old ProNews segments? Check out our index at http://old.macedition.com/news/. Do you have news releases or tidbits of interest to the Macintosh professional? Send them to pronewsnotes@macedition.com.

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