Copyright: Copyright © 1990-1997 PCSoftInc


Sound API UI Help

Sound API UI help provides help for the common dialogs which are part of PCSoftsoft's Sound API (SNDAPI.DLL).

Media Manager

Choose Media Element Dialog

Choose Media Elements Dialog

Description Dialog

Copy/Convert Dialog

Record Sound Dialog

Synthesized Text Dialog

Choose Directory Dialog

Install/Remove Dialog


Media Manager

The Media Manager allows you to play, manage, and edit various sound, video, picture, and text files, also called media elements.

To select media elements:

o	Click on the files with the mouse.  You can select the files either by name or by description.  Hold down the Shift or Control key to select multiple files.

o	Press the OK button.

To close Media Manager:

o	Press Cancel.

To play media elements:

o	Select the file(s) you want to play.

o	Press the Play button.

o	Playback can be stopped at any time by pressing the Stop button.

To record a new sound file:

o	Press the Record button to open the Record Sound  dialog.

Note:	The Record button will not be available if your system does not have hardware capable of recording sounds installed,

To delete media elements:

o	Select the element(s) you want to delete.

o	Press the Delete button.  You will be asked for confirmation after each deletion.  Yes to all will cause all elements to be deleted.

To change the file name or description of a media element:

o	Select the media element you want to rename or re-describe.

o	Press the Description button to open the Description  dialog.

To copy or convert media elements:

o	Choose the media element(s) to be copied and/or converted.

o	Press the Copy/Convert button to open the Copy/Convert  dialog.

To create a text file for playing synthesized text:

o	Press the Text button to open the Synthesized Text dialog.

Note:	The text button will not be available if the speech synthesis module is not installed.

To mark sounds as being phrases:

o	Select the sounds you want to mark as phrases.  Sounds marked as phrases will play with an accompanying face if one is selected for the application playing the sound.

o	Press the Phrase button.

Note:	You can mark sounds as not being phrases by selecting the sounds, holding down the shift key, and pressing the Phrase button.


Choose Media Elements Dialog

The Choose Media Elements dialog allows you to select one or more media elements for use with an application.  You can also play media elements, record sounds, convert sound files to different formats, and copy media elements.

To select media elements:

o	Click on the files with the mouse.  You can select the files either by name or by description.  Hold down the Shift or Control key to select multiple files.

o	Press the OK button.

To select no media elements:

o	Press Cancel.

To play media elements:

o	Select the file(s) you want to play.

o	Press the Play button.

o	Playback can be stopped at any time by pressing the Stop button.

To record a new sound file:

o	Press the Record button to open the Record Sound  dialog.

Note:	The Record button will not be available if your system does not have hardware capable of recording sounds installed,

To delete media elements:

o	Select the element(s) you want to delete.

o	Press the Delete button.  You will be asked for confirmation after each deletion.  Yes to all will cause all elements to be deleted.

To change the file name or description of a media element:

o	Select the media element you want to rename or re-describe.

o	Press the Description button to open the Description  dialog.

To copy or convert media elements:

o	Choose the media element(s) to be copied and/or converted.

o	Press the Copy/Convert button to open the Copy/Convert  dialog.

To create a text file for playing synthesized text:

o	Press the Text button to open the Synthesized Text dialog.

Note:	The text button will not be available if the speech synthesis module is not installed.


Choose Media Element Dialog

The Choose Media Element allows you to select one media element for use with an application.  You can also play media elements, record sounds, convert sound files to different formats, and copy media elements.

To select a media element:

o	Click on the files with the mouse.  You can select the file either by name or by description.

o	Press the OK button.

To select no media element:

o	Select (none).

o	Press OK.

To close the media element chooser without making any changes:

o	Press Cancel.

To play a media element:

o	Select the file you want to play.

o	Press the Play button.

o	Playback can be stopped at any time by pressing the Stop button.

To record a new sound file:

o	Press the Record button to open the Record Sound  dialog.

Note:	The Record button will not be available if your system does not have hardware capable of recording sounds installed,

To delete a media element:

o	Select the element you want to delete.

o	Press the Delete button.  You will be asked for confirmation after each deletion.  Yes to all will cause all elements to be deleted.

To change the file name or description of a media element:

o	Select the media element you want to rename or re-describe.

o	Press the Description button to open the Description  dialog.

To copy or convert a media element:

o	Choose the media element to be copied and/or converted.

o	Press the Copy/Convert button to open the Copy/Convert  dialog.

To create a text file for playing synthesized text:

o	Press the Text button to open the Synthesized Text dialog.

Note:	The text button will not be available if the speech synthesis module is not installed.


Description Dialog

You can change the name and/or description of any media element in this dialog.  The dialog initially displays the current file name and description of the media element.

To change the file name of the media element:

o	Type a new name in the File name field.  If you do not specify a directory, the file will be renamed in its original location.  If a different directory on the same drive is specified, the file will be moved to the new location.

o	Change the description, if desired.

o	Press OK when done.

To change the description of the media element:

o	Type a new description in the Description field.

o	Change the file name, if desired.

o	Press OK when done.

To close the dialog without making any changes

o	Press Cancel.


Copy/Convert Dialog

The Copy/Convert dialog lets you copy and move any media elements, and convert the file format of sounds.

To change the format of any selected sound files:

o	Choose the desired file format, sampling rate, number of channels, and sample size.

o	Change the destination, if necessary.

o	Press OK when done.

To copy media elements:

o	Select the destination.  Browse will display the Choose Directory dialog.

o	Be sure the Delete sound files option is not selected.

o	Press OK when done.

To move media elements:

o	Select the destination.  Browse will display the Choose Directory dialog.

o	Be sure the Delete sound files option is selected.

o	Press OK when done.


Record Sound Dialog

The Record Sound dialog provides a simple way of recording sounds.  The sounds are saved as wave (.wav) files.

To record a sound:

o	Press the Record button

o	Begin speaking (or making noise or whatever!) into the microphone.  The dialog indicates the maximum recording time possible.

o	Press the Stop button when done.

To play back the recorded sound:

o	Press the Play button

o	Press the Stop button  to stop playback at any time.

To specify the file name and description for the recorded sound:

o	Enter a file name and description.  Computer-generated defaults are provided.

To save the recorded sound:

o	Press OK.

To close the Record Sound dialog without saving the recorded sound:

o	Press Cancel.


Synthesized Text Dialog

The Synthesized Text dialog allows text (.txt) files to be created.  You can test how the speech synthesis module will read the text before saving it.

To enter and edit text to be read by the synthesis engine:

o	Click in the text area

o	Enter and edit text as you would in Windows Notepad.

To "play" the text with the speech synthesizer:

o	Press the Play button

o	Press the Stop button  to stop playback at any time.

To specify the file name and description for the text:

o	Enter a file name and description.  Computer-generated defaults are provided.

To save the text

o	Press OK.

To close the Synthesized Text dialog without saving the entered text:

o	Press Cancel.


Choose Directory Dialog

The Choose Directory dialog allows you to specify a directory for use by an application.  The dialog also allows you to create new directories.

To browse directories:

o	Choose a drive in the Drives list.

o	Double-click on the directories in the Directories list to open directories and browse sub-directories.

Note:	The files in the current directory are listed to make identifying and choosing the correct directory easier.

To create a new directory:

o	Press the New Directory button.

o	Enter a name for the new directory and press OK.  Press Cancel if you do not want the directory created.

To choose the current directory as the new directory:

o	Press OK.

To close the dialog without choosing a new directory:

o	Press the Cancel button.


Installing and Removing Files

The Installing and Removing Files dialog lets you choose which files to install to and remove from your hard disk.  This dialog generally appears after you change the media elements used by an application.  It gives you a chance to optimize performance by copying files to your hard disk, and to free disk space by removing files you no longer need.

To select which files to install or remove:

o	Select the files in the appropriate list you want to install or remove.  You can hold down shift or control to select multiple files.  Any files not selected will not be installed (if not present) or removed (if present).

Note:	The files listed in the Remove list are suggestions, based on your most recent actions.  It is possible that these files may be needed by other applications.

Note:	The disk space values are only estimates if you are installing to a compressed drive.  Most compressed sound and video files will not compress further when using a disk compression utility.

To install and remove all selected files:

o	Press Install

If you don't want to install or remove any files:

o	Press Skip.


Media Element

A media element is any multimedia file, such as a sound file (waveform or MIDI), a video clip (such as AVI), or a Windows bitmap.  If you have the speech synthesis module, text files are also treated as media elements--they will be read by the synthesis engine when played.  Talking Clock in general allows any type of media element to be specified when you can choose a media element for a chime or appointment.