WEBANIME The Animation Utility for the Web Version 1.4S for Windows Overview ======== The WebAnime CGI program let you have a document that contains an image which is getting updated by the HTTPD server on a regular basis. It uses the "multipart/x-mixed-replace" mime to push a series of images to the client. Only NETSCAPE V.1.1 and above, presently support the server push functionality. You don't need any CGI programming skills to make animations on your HTML pages. Just use the WebAnime utility with appropriate options and it will make the animation for you. All you have to do is to let your imagination working. Installation ============ The following files are included in the archive: WEBANIME.EXE - The CGI executable. WEBANI14.INI - The WebAnime initialisation file. WEBANI14.HTM - This file. HTML format. WEBANI14.TXT - This file. Text format. FILE_ID.DIZ - Description file. REGISTER.TXT - Registration form. LOGO-1.GIF - WebAnime logo image file demonstration. LOGO-2.GIF - WebAnime logo image file demonstration. . . . LOGO-15.GIF - WebAnime logo image file demonstration. EYES-1.GIF - Image file demonstration. EYES-2.GIF - Image file demonstration. . . . EYES-8.GIF - Image file demonstration. You will need the Visual Basic runtime library VBRUN300.DLL in your windows\system directory. VBRUN300.DLL can be found on almost any BBS or FTP sites that carries windows programs. Edit the WEBANI14.INI initialisation file in the WINDOWS directory, fill in the reference to DIRECTORY field. This reference must point to the fully qualified directory where you will keep all your animation image files. For example, you will have DIRECTORY=C:\HTTPD\WEBANIME. Save the file. After the installation, you can access the 'WebAnime Main Menu' by calling WebAnime with the following URL from your Browser command line: http://your.server.addr/your-cgi-alias/webanime.exe/Mgr That's it for the installation. Creating your animation ======================= An animation is a series of images that are displayed successively. There is no limitation in the total number of images used neither in the size of these images. You can create your images with any Windows picture program. Images must be saved or converted to a GIF, JPEG or TIFF format to be compatible with the HTTPD protocol. For WebAnime, you must save your image file with the following filename convention: 'aaaaa-xx.ext'. The aaaaa part is called the image base name. The xx part is called the image sequence. The first image of your animation will have '1' for sequence, the second one '2', ect. The ext part is the image filename extention and specifies the image format. For example, the WebAnime logo animation demo is built with 15 GIF's images with filenames: logo-1.gif, logo-2.gif, logo-3.gif ... logo-14.gif and logo-15.gif . All your animation image files must be located in the directory specified by the reference DIRECTORY in the WEBANI14.INI initialisation file. WebAnime don't currently support NT's/95 long filename. You can test your animation by entering the full URL path in the location field of your browser. For example, to test the WebAnime logo animation demo, you can use the following URL: http://your.server.addr/cgi-win/webanime.exe?IMGNAME=logo&SEQUENCE=15 or use the http://your.server.addr/cgi-win/webanime.exe/ListAll utility. Take a look at the WebAnime Query Parameters for more information on how you can customize your animation. Insert animation in your HTML documents ======================================= WebAnime let you insert an animation anywhere you want in your HTML documents. You do it by calling the WEBANIME.EXE CGI program inside a traditional HTML tag. You only have to build the query string that will represent your animation. The general syntax to insert an animation in your HTML document is the following: Examples: *** WebAnime Query Parameters ========================= With WebAnime you can use the following query parameters: IMGNAME: Mandatory. This parameter is used to specify the common image base name of your images filename. For the WebAnime logo animation, I use 15 images with filename logo-x.gif. So we will take IMGNAME=logo for that animation. SEQUENCE: Mandatory. This parameter specifies the total number of images that will be used for the animation. For the WebAnime logo animation I use logo-1.gif, logo-2.gif ... logo-15.gif, I will then take SEQUENCE=15. FORMAT: Optional. Use this parameter to specify the format of your animation image file. WebAnime support the GIF and JPEG format. When used, the FORMAT parameter must be set to the image filename extension. For example, if you are using JPEG image format, you will use FORMAT=JPG. If not specified, WebAnime will use FORMAT=GIF by default. LOOP: Optional. Use the LOOP option to make your animation start over automatically LOOP's time. For example, use LOOP=3 to make your animation looping three times. If not specified, WebAnime will use LOOP=1 by default. ROLLBACK: Optional. The ROLLBACK parameter can be used to make the animation rolling back to the image sequence 1. You enable this feature by using ROLLBACK=TRUE on the query string. For the logo demonstration, if ROLLBACK=TRUE, WebAnime will display the following sequence: logo-1.gif, logo-2.gif, ..., logo-14.gif, logo-15.gif, logo-14.gif, ..., logo-2.gif, logo-1.gif. If not specified, WebAnime will use ROLLBACK=FALSE by default. DELAY: Optional. (No effects on Windows Platforms) You can use this parameter to specify a delay between each image of your animation. Due to a various network speed, you will probably need to make your animation slower or faster. But take in consideration that clients will load your animation at different network speed. Animation that seems too fast for you can run slowly for a client. If not specified, WebAnime will use DELAY=0 by default. PATH: Optional. By defaut, WebAnime uses the GetPrivateProfileString API to extract from the WEBANI14.INI initialisation file the location directory of your animation image files. You can bypass this by specifying a PATH option on the Query String. For example, you can use PATH=C:\HTTPD\HTDOCS\IMAGES to force WebAnime to point to the C:\HTTPD\HTDOCS\IMAGES directory. ONLY: Optional. The ONLY parameter let you display a specific image of your animation sequence. To enable this feature, use ONLY=TRUE on the query string. If this parameter is used, then the SEQUENCE parameter will be used to specify the image to display. For example, if I want to display the third image of the demo animation, Then I will use: from a HTML document or http://your.server.addr/cgi-win/webanime.exe?IMGNAME=logo&SEQUENCE=3&ONLY=TRUE from the browser command line. By default, WebAnime always assumed ONLY=FALSE. (RANDOM and ONLY options are mutualy exclusive.) RANDOM: Optional. In many cases, it is nice to be able to present "fresh" content each time a user load one of your page. Using RANDOM=TRUE would then cause WebAnime to select and display a single image at random from the SEQUENCE's images in your set. (WebAnime will generate a number between 1 and SEQUENCE. This number will be randomly regenerated averytime your page is loaded.) Using this feature you could cause a different image to be loaded every time a client access the page. That will give to your HTML documents a "fresh look". By default, WebAnime always assumed RANDOM=FALSE. Example: (RANDOM and ONLY options are mutualy exclusive.) DEBUG: Optional. You can use this argument to ask WebAnime to generate a debug output that can be use to solved animation problems. This option must be use only from the browser command line and not within a HTLM tag. To enable this feature, use DEBUG=TRUE on the Query String. By default, WebAnime always assumed DEBUG=FALSE. Example: http://your.server.addr/cgi-win/webanime.exe?IMGNAME=logo&SEQUENCE=15&DEBUG=TRUE Tips ==== Here's some Tips for Web Animations: - Use images as small as possible. - All your images must be the same size. If you want to create an animation that's getting bigger and bigger, use the size of your last image sequence for all your animation files. - If you know the exact size of your animation images, use the HEIGHT and the WIDTH HTML image tags. For example: Troubleshooting =============== Here's some things you can do if you cannot run WebAnime properly: - Can you run another Visual Basic CGI program that comes with the server? Try for example to run the cgitest.exe CGI sample. - Have you look to your HTTPD error.log file for a pertinent information? - Have you try to run WebAnime with the DEBUG query parameter? - Is the WEBANI14.INI file have been properly copied to the windows directory and the DIRECTORY point to your animation image directory? - Use the PATH parameter to make WebAnime point directly to the animation image directory. - Do you have a "TEMP" dos environment variable set? (Reboot your PC with a 'SET TEMP=\ADIRECTORY' in your AUTOEXEC.BAT. Be sure that \ADIRECTORY exist!) - Try to run WebAnime from the browser command line with a URL like: http://your.server.addr/your-cgi-alias/webanime.exe?IMGNAME=logo&SEQUENCE=1 If it works, increase SEQUENCE one by one... - If you receive the following error (For WebSite): 500 Server Error The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. Message: Failed to create CGI process. URL too long? Then, + Open the server's property sheet (server admin) and go to the CGI tab. + In the Windows CGI area, change the Exec Template to ~p ~v (remove the other tokens). The last step changes the command line that the server generates for Windows CGI programs (only) so that it contains neither the pathnames of the input and output files, nor the URL arguments. This guarantees that the command line issued by the server will be within the operating system limits regardless of the size of the URL argument string. [Robert B. Denny (19-Jul-95)] Registration ============ This program is Shareware, you may evaluate it for a period of no more than 30 days. After this time you must either register (read REGISTER.TXT) or remove it from your system. Failure to comply with this condition is a violation of the law. As you are aware, authors spend numerous hours to create such programs, and this, to reach your requirements. Therefore, they need all your support. Please register if you use this program for longer than the trial period. Registration is $12 (US) or $15 (Canadian). To register, please send your name, address, a check or money order to: Sylvain Senechal 284 Coulonge Street, Apt. 6 Longueuil, Quebec (Canada) J4G 1V4 Phone: (514) 646-7710 WebAnime is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of WebAnime. WebAnime V.1.4S for Windows Copyright (C) September 1995, by Sylvain Sénéchal, Montréal, Canada. All rights reserved.