[ddots-l] Re: X3 Scripting Project and Status
- From: "Steve Spamer" <stevespamer68@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 10:44:14 -0000
Thanks for keeping us up to speed Steve, sounds promising. Please pass on
my virtual encouragement to John, best steve.
-----Original Message-----
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Steve Matzura
Sent: 31 October 2014 08:23
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] X3 Scripting Project and Status
On Sun, 26 Oct 2014 23:02:29 -0400, neville peter <neville@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
>Does anyone know how much access his scripts will provide?
Yes folks, it's a real project, underway, and making way. I know a little
bit about it because I've been working with John on it in a sort-of
secondary assistive capacity.
The project is still in its infancy. It's using two technologies not
previously available--the Microsoft User Interface Automation (UIA) now
available through JAWS version 15 and above, and an actual application
program interface (API) which Cakewalk provides to developers. Bill McCann
is working to get John registered as a third-party developer so he, John,
can have the API, which in turn JAWS can call upon, revealing more
information to the script.
What John has learned so far is that all graphics are labelable, and he has
a system that presents all the graphics on any given screen in a menu
structure to the JAWS user. No hotkeys or fancy controls yet, of course, but
they will most certainly come.
John biggest issue, and it's not a problem really, just something around
which he is learning to wrap his head, so to speak, is that since he's not a
musician, the things Sonar and X3 do are not native to his understanding at
this point. For instance, he called me one day and asked me what this ruler
thing was with all these strange markings on it that didn't read in any
number base he was familiar with. I explained to him about measure, beats,
pulses per quarternote, the whole thing. Working with that measure bar will
probably be his next big thing. I explained to him that the current Sonar
CakeTalking implementation gives us access to that ruler in all kinds of
interesting ways, and that eventually he'll need to define hotkeys to read
it, move through it, mark it, etc. He claims no worries there, and I believe
him.
He's also discovered that his graphic-labeling system, his own, not the
standard JAWS one, works the same for several plugins, including Rapture,
Dimension and Hypersonic. I explained to him that, at their core, these
softsynt plugins all do the same thing--have a patch browser, ways to shape
the audio and effects, etc.--which may and probably will make it easier and
faster to script to control them.
The bottom line here is this: This is a big project. You know how, in the
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, it says "The universe is really big"?
That's about how John feels about doing X3 as compared to the previous
"really big" project he did--namely, Quickbooks. This project will not be
done in a month; maybe not in three; but I'll bet before next Spring,
something useable will be available and properly documented. It took David
Tinto many long times to get CakeTalking working to its current level. In
fact, I still have an original Version 1.10 diskette here in my desk drawer,
so I know the phases it went through, and the frustrations we went through
while we waited for the next level of access. I don't think the X3 project
will take nearly as long, but it's left the launch pad and is definitely on
its way up.
PLEASE READ THIS FOOTER AT LEAST ONCE!
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