EZPresentation Command Documentation

 

Commands descriptions (in alphabetical order):

 

Types of Parameters descriptions:

In the function descriptions below, arguments to functions are preceded by their type. Types are described in the following table.

Type Description Example
text Text string 'ABC', 'Click OK to continue', 'Welcome to Program X'
int Integer 34, 0, 20
num Real number 10.54, 200.5, 1
bool Boolean (true or false) 0 or 1 only
expr Expression to be evaluated winver(), if(getvar(3),2,5), msg('A or B?','A','B')

 

Default Startup URL

When EZ Presentation first starts, it needs to decide which HTML file is the "start" of your presentation. Click here to see how it decides.

 

Other Important Information:

Links that use EZ Presentation commands must NOT use the TARGET=_BLANK option of the <a href> tag, or the EZ Presentation commands will not be processed. You can use TARGET=_BLANK for regular HTML links within your presentation.

 


 

Full descriptions of commands (in alphabetical order) 

 

 

Command name: add
Brief description: add two integers
Usage syntax: add(expr:EXPRESSION1,expr:EXPRESSION2)
Examples of usage: add(5,getvar(3)), setvar(2,add(1,getvar(2)))
Notes: Simple addition of two integer expressions. Useful for incrementing values.

 

Command name: browse
Brief description: browse (navigate) to a different URL
Usage syntax: browse(text:URL,[bool:NEWWIN])
Examples of usage: browse('intro.htm')  navigate away from current page to intro.htm

browse('license.htm',1)  popup a separate browser to display license.htm

browse('ezp:seq(browse('quiknote.htm'),winsize(200,150))',1) create a small popup browser window

browse('ftp://ftp.yoursite.com') browse to an FTP site

if(winver()>=400,browse('install.htm'),msg('Driver not available for your version of Windows')) Browse to the install page only if they have a recent enough version of Windows

Notes: The link seq:browse('page.htm') is equivalent to just linking to page.htm. But browse() lets you control how you browse, lets you conditionally link to a page, control the size of popup windows, etc.

 

Command name: exit
Brief description: exit the browse application
Usage syntax: exit()
Examples of usage: exit()
Notes: Immediately ends the application (e.g. seq(exit(),msg('Hello')) would not perform the msg() command.

 

Command name: getregint
Brief description: getregint -- get an integer registry value
Usage syntax: getregint(text:KEY,text:ITEM,[int:DEFAULT])
Examples of usage:
if (getregint('hklm\software\myprog','curversion',0)>3,
msg('You already have a later version installed'),
open('Install.exe')
)

getregint('hkey_current_user\Software\myprog','language')

Notes: Key names correspond to standard registry key names and must start with one of the following 10 prefixes (case insensitive):
hkey_local_machine\ hklu\
hkey_current_user\ hkcu\
hkey_classes_root\ hkcr\
hkey_users\ hku\
hkey_current_config\ hkcc\

 

 

Command name: getvar
Brief description: getvar -- get an integer value stored with setvar
Usage syntax: getvar(int:VARNUM)
Examples of usage: getvar(1), getvar(7)
Notes: There are 10 variable slots, so you can getvar(1) thru getvar(10)

 

Command name: if
Brief description: perform conditional tests
Usage syntax: if(expr:EXPR1=expr:EXPR2,cmd:IFTRUE,cmd:IFFALSE)

you can compare 2 expressions with:
EXPR1=EXPR2
EXPR1<>EXPR2
EXPR1<EXPR2
EXPR1>EXPR2
EXPR1<=EXPR2
EXPR1>=EXPR2

Examples of usage: if(msg('Which?','A','B')=0,msg('You clicked A'),msg('You clicked B'))

if(winver()>=500,browse('Win2kXPInstall.htm'),browse('Win9xInstall.htm'))

if(winver()>=500,playsound('FullSong.wma'),playsound('ShortSong.wav'))

Notes: The if() command lets you add logic to your presentation.

 

Command name: msg
Brief description: display a message box or ask the user a question
Usage syntax: msg(text:MESSAGE,[text:BUTTON1],[text:BUTTON2])
Examples of usage: msg('Click OK to Continue')

msg('Do you want to install?','Yes I do','Not now');

Notes: Message boxes with 2 buttons return a 0 if button 1 is pressed, or 1 if button 2 is pressed.

 

Command name: open
Brief description: open an application, file, or folder
Usage syntax: open(text:FILE)
Examples of usage: open('test.exe')

open('readme.doc')

open('c:\program files\myprog\sample files');

Notes: Launches any application, file or folder, as if you entered the FILE into the Run window of the Windows Start menu.

 

Command name: playsound
Brief description: play a sound/audio file
Usage syntax: playsound(text:FILENAME)
Examples of usage: playsound('sample.mp3')
Notes: Supported audio formats depend on the Windows installation. All machines can play WAV files, and most all can play MP3. Only machines with Media Play 6.4 or later can play WMA files.

 

Command name: playvideo
Brief description: play a video file
Usage syntax: playvideo(text:FILENAME)
Examples of usage: playvideo('sample.avi')
Notes: Supported video formats depend on the Windows installation. Make sure you encode with a standard AVI encoder and your video files will play on virtually any Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP machine. Most modern machines will also show WMV and other video formats. (Technical note: playback is through an MCI window).

 

Command name: seq
Brief description: performs a sequence of commands in order
Usage syntax: seq(cmd:COMMAND1,[cmd:COMMAND2],...,[cmd:COMMANDN])
Examples of usage: seq(play('Sound1.mp3'),browse('next.htm'),playvideo('Sound2.avi'))
Notes: This is useful for doing multiple things, for example, in response to a single click on a link, or multiple things in an if() statement.

 

Command name: setregint
Brief description: setregint -- set an integer registry value
Usage syntax: setregint(text:KEY,text:ITEM,int:VALUE)
Examples of usage: setregint('hkcu\software\myprog','preference',1)

setregint('hkey_local_machine\Software\myprog','firstrun',1)

Notes: Key names correspond to standard registry key names and must start with one of the following 10 prefixes (case insensitive):
hkey_local_machine\ hklu\
hkey_current_user\ hkcu\
hkey_classes_root\ hkcr\
hkey_users\ hku\
hkey_current_config\ hkcc\

 

 

Command name: setvar
Brief description: setvar -- store an integer value
Usage syntax: setvar(int:VARNUM,expr:EXPRESSION)
Examples of usage: setvar(1,winver)

setvar(2,msg('Play sound?','Yes','No'))

setvar(5,add(1,getvar(5))) could be used to indicate how many times a link is clicked

Notes: All builtin variables default to 0. VARNUM can be from 1 to 10 (i.e. there are 10 builtin variables)

 

Command name: wait
Brief description: pause for a specified time
Usage syntax: wait(num:SECONDS)
Examples of usage: wait(10)  wait 10 seconds

wait(2.5)  wait 2.5 seconds

seq(playsound('sound1.wav'),wait(10),playsound('sound2.wav'))

Notes: Useful in a seq() command to delay the next command in the sequence from starting.

 

Command name: winsize
Brief description: change the size of the EZ Presentation window
Usage syntax: winsize(int:PIXELWIDTH,int:PIXELHEIGHT)
Examples of usage: winsize(400,200)  make the browser 400 pixels by 200

browse('ezp:seq(browse('quiknote.htm'),winsize(200,150))',1) create a small popup browser window

Notes: This is mostly useful for doing multiple things, for example, in response to a single click on a link, or multiple things in an if() statement.

 

Command name: winver
Brief description: returns the user's version of windows
Usage syntax: winver()
Examples of usage: if (winver()>=500,msg('You have Win 2000 or XP'))
Notes:  
For Windows Version winver() returns
Win 95 400
Win 98 410
Win ME 490
Win NT 3.51 351
Win NT 4.0 401
Win 2000 500
Win XP 501