Plug-in Helper
Plug-in Helper is a tool you can use to enhance QuickTime movies for the Internet. Its main purpose is to put plug-in parameters, such as
AUTOPLAY
and
CONTROLLER
, inside a movie. When the QuickTime plug-in plays that movie, it's as if you had put the parameters in the
<EMBED>
tag.
That's handy because with
HREF
and
QTNEXT
you can specify more than one movie in a single
<EMBED>
tag. With Plug-in Helper, each movie can have its own set of plug-in parameters, so that you can set
CONTROLLER="False"
in a poster movie, for example, and
CONTROLLER="True"
in the movie it links to.
It's also nice to take some settings out of the highly visible HTML and put them inside the movie structure for privacy. For example, you can put
QTNEXT1="../Secret/Next.mov"
inside a movie without ever putting the URL of
Next.mov
in your HTML.
Most plug-in parameters for a movie can be set two different ways: in the HTML itself or using Plug-in Helper (the
AUTOPLAY
parameter can also be set by user preferences). What happens if a parameter is set one way in HTML and another way in Plug-in Helper?
The sequence is HTML first, Plug-in Helper second, user preferences third. The first method to set a parameter fixes its value. Any values not specified by one method can still be set later.
Note
Starting with QuickTime 5, movies loaded into the plug-in through
HOTSPOT
,
HREF
, or
QTNEXT
can have their parameters explicitly set in HTML by the
SaveEmbedTags
parameter or by the
E<
>
URL extension. For details, see
SAVEEMBEDTAGS
and Passing Plug-in Data in URLs.
Plug-in Helper also has some features that aren't in the
<EMBED>
tag. You can use Plug-in Helper to prevent the movie from being edited or saved, and you can permanently associate URLs with the movie, so clicking the movie activates a link even if the movie is playing in QuickTime Player (or playing in someone else's website).
Bear in mind that Plug-in Helper sets only the parameters that QuickTime understands, not the
<EMBED>
parameters that the browser itself understands, such as
SRC
,
HIDDEN
,
HEIGHT
, or
WIDTH
.
There are two versions of Plug-in Helper, one for the Mac OS and one for Windows. Use the version that's right for you. They're both in the Tools folder on the CD.
You can open a movie in Plug-in Helper by choosing Open from the File menu, or you can drag the movie onto Plug-in Helper. There's a checkbox for copy-protecting the movie, a text-entry box for plug-in settings, and a pair of text-entry boxes for
HREF
links, as shown in the following illustration. It's pretty easy to use.
The checkbox for copy protection applies to a movie whether it's played by the plug-in, QuickTime Player, or any other QuickTime application. If this box is checked, QuickTime will not allow the movie to be saved or edited. For more information, see Copy-Protecting Movies.
The parameters you enter in the Plugin Settings text box affect only the QuickTime plug-in; they won't affect a movie when it's played by QuickTime Player. The only exceptions are
MOVIENAME
and
MOVIEID
, which QuickTime Player also recognizes. For practical examples of using the Plugin Settings box, see Adding URL Links to Movies and Making a Poster Movie, immediately following this section.
Tip
If you need to store settings in a movie that's played by QuickTime Player, see Settings You Can Save.
The URLs you enter in the
HREF
text boxes are active in either the QuickTime plug-in or QuickTime Player. We'll look at the HREF text boxes in detail next.
When you're ready to save your changes, click the Export button. You have to give the movie a new name or a new location at this point. If you try to overwrite the movie you just opened, it doesn't work (Plug-in Helper just beeps).
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