Migrating to the Character Generator filter

Revision as of 13:13, 10 May 2010

This entry provides descriptions of the initiatives required to successfully migrate to our new Character Generator from the existing Text & Graphics Overlay and Flash Overlay filters.

Why Migrate?

The Character Generator filter was developed in response to customers requesting to provide a unified interface for text, graphic, image and Flash items management and to be able to define Z-order for each item. Below is some information that would help you understand how to migrate to the new filter.

Managing Overlay Items

All items can be added via a simple algorythm:

1. Add a new item with m_objCarGen.AddNewItem() method.
2. Update item's properties via m_objCarGen.SetItemBaseProps() method.

To change the properties you can use MLCHARGENLib.CG_ITEM_PROPS stucture that contains universal properties for each overlay item (such as alpha, back color, position, etc.).

Creating and managing image items:

• Replace PICTUREMIXERLib.CoPictureMixerClass with MLCHARGENLib.CoMLCharGenClass.
• Replace the old m_objTnGOverlay.AddImage2 method with the new m_objCarGen.AddNewItem() method.
• If you need to change basic properties, you can create additional MLCHARGENLib.CG_ITEM_PROPS structure and use the m_objCarGen.SetItemBaseProps() method to set the properties of your graphic item.

Creating and managing Flash items:

• Replace MLFLASHOVERLAYLib.CoFlashOverlayClass with MLCHARGENLib.CoMLCharGenClass.
• Replace the old m_pFlashOverlay.AddNewItem method with the new m_objCarGen.AddNewItem() method.
• If you need to change basic properties, you can create additional MLCHARGENLib.CG_ITEM_PROPS structure and and use the m_objCarGen.SetItemBaseProps() method to set the properties of your Flash item.

Creating and managing text items:

• Replace PICTUREMIXERLib.CoPictureMixerClass with MLCHARGENLib.CoMLCharGenClass.
• Replace the old PICTUREMIXERLib.OVERLAY_PROPS structure with 2 new structures: MLCHARGENLib.CG_ITEM_PROPS and MLCHARGENLib.CG_TEXT_PROPS. MLCHARGENLib.CG_TEXT_PROPS contains text-specific properties (such as font type, font size, text style, etc.) that are not available in MLCHARGENLib.CG_ITEM_PROPS. To change basic item properties use the MLCHARGENLib.CG_ITEM_PROPS structure and the m_objCarGen.SetItemBaseProps() method.
• Replace the old m_objTnGOverlay.AddOutlinedText method with the new m_objCarGen.AddNewTextItem call. Please note that it uses the MLCHARGENLib.CG_TEXT_PROPS structure.

Graphic items:

"Graphic" - new type of overlay item in Character Generator. This type allows to use bsaic graphic figures (like circles, rectangles, etc.) as overlay items.

Group items:

"Group" - new type of overlay item in Character Generator. This type allows to collect several items in a group to simplify the interaction with them. For example you can create "text and images scrolling in a rectangle" group and operate with it like with a single item.

bsaic graphic figures (like circles, rectangles, etc.) to your items collection.

Item Identifiers

Every Character Generator item has its own string identifier and can be accessed through it. It is strongly recommended to give intelligent identifiers to the items, like variables names (for example "LogoPic", "ScrollingMsg", etc.). It will help you to access the items easily while using the advanced features of the new Chararacter Generator filter.

Items XML descriptions

Every Character Generator item has the XML description and can be changed in 2 ways:

• Common way - using the the MLCHARGENLib.CG_ITEM_PROPS structure and the m_objCarGen.SetItemBaseProps() method.
• XML change - using the SetItemProperties() method.

This feature allows to interact with items more flexible. For example you can store your items collection in XML and add then with a single method call.

This and other features detailed description you can find in Character Generator documentation.