Media Sync Bug workaround?

Question

There seems to be a bug with using Media Sync with a Sound
Icon. If the events synced with the sound last longer than the
audio, the flow of Authorware freezes. The navigation buttons still
function, but you can not proceed beyond the audio. (This was
discovered when slower computers were running the application.) It
has been confirmed that this is a bug.
So, now I'm working on a way around this. After the last icon
synced with the audio, I had originally placed icons that waited
for the audio to complete and then would jump to the next icon
after the audio. This works the first time through the page, but it
creates another problem once you replay the page by either using a
replay or back button.
This new problem seems to treat the Navigation or the Goto
function (I have tried both) as if they were jumping to a new page
and erases everything on the page that appeared before the jump.
Everything after the jump seems to be placed on a "limbo" page and
does not get erased even if going to the next page on the
framework. The puzzling part is that this does not happen the first
time through the page.
Is there a way around these problems other than breaking
everything out of the media sync and placing it directly onto the
flowline using concurrent audio?

Answer 1

"LanceHolloway" <[email protected]> wrote in
message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm sorry. I just wasn't clear enough in what we are
doing and what the
> problem is.
>
> We're using Authorware 7.02, and we have been syncing to
position. The
> problem is that on slower computers, displaying the
graphics take longer
> so the
> audio finishes before the graphics are displayed causing
the hang.
> Adobe/Macromedia has confirmed this as a bug with
Authorware.
>
> We have several pages each with many display, sound,
erase, etc icons on
> the
> flowline for the page. Not all of our sound icons have
icons synced with
> them,
> and those are set for Wait Until Done. For the ones that
need things to
> happen
> while the audio is playing, we were using Media Sync on
position.
>
> To get around the bug, we placed a map icon containing
the last thing that
> was
> synced with the audio, and then we wait for the audio to
finish before
> forcing
> the flow to go to the icon immediately after the sound
icon. That icon
> after
> the audio could be a display or erase or calculation or
whatever depending
> on
> what was needed. It is not the end of the page, so we
don't need the
> whole
> page to erase at that time.
>
> At first I was just using a GoTo to go to the icon after
the sound icon,
> but
> then I tried a Navigation Icon and set it to jump to an
empty framework
> immediately after the sound icon with a single map icon
with an exit
> framework.
> The Goto and the Navigation/Framework solution gave the
same results.
> They
> prevented the hang with the audio sync. It works
perfectly the first time
> through the page, or if you interrupt the page midway
through its flowline
> (as
> in going back to a previous page before getting to the
end and then
> forward
> again.) However, once you reach the end of the page and
replay the page
> (or
> come back to it from another page) and get to the jump
to the next icon
> after
> the audio it erases everything as if it were jumping to
the next page. It
> does
> go to the correct icon after the audio and continues
like it should.
> Anything
> after that jump gets displayed as normal, but it will
not erase like it
> should
> when we go to another page.
>
> As of now, the only solution we have is to not even use
Media Sync. We'll
> have
> to make the audio concurrent, remove the synced icons
and place them on
> the
> flowline followed by an audio end wait loop.
>
> We have a lot of courseware using the Media Sync out
there at the moment
> before the problem was discovered, and so now we have to
go back in to fix
> it.
> I was trying to come up with a simple method using GoTo
or Navigation to
> get
> around having to reorganize all the synced icons.
Fortunately, most of
> our
> audio was simple Wait Until Done with no syncing.
>
> Even after all that, I don't think this will seem any
clearer. Is there a
> way
> to post a sample of an Authorware source?
You can post here ftp://www.magnoliamultimedia.com/uploads/