Alcorn Mcbride V+ series, User Manual

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Advanced WinScript Programming 6-3
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Get Control of Your Sequences
When scripting a show, the show normally flows from beginning to end in a
straightforward manner, chronologically. However, there are times when the
normal show flow is halted abruptly, and changed to some other condition. If
the change is not handled properly, two problems could occur. The first is when
things start happening when they’re not supposed to, and the second when
things won’t happen when they’re supposed to.
When things happen on their own, it’s usually because sequences are running
that you didn’t know were running. I often get phone calls from people who say
“My show ran fine all day long, but when I put it in Night Mode it started
running again all by itself 20 minutes later”.
When things don’t happen when they’re supposed to, it’s usually because the
sequence you’re trying to run is already running. If Restart is not enabled in the
setup for that sequence, it won’t run if it’s already running. I will hear “My
show is supposed to loop over and over again. It runs fine the first time, but
won’t loop and run again.”
The solution to both problems is to make sure all sequences that could be
running are reset when the abrupt change occurs. This is especially important
for looping sequences, which never stop running until they are reset. What I do
for an absolute guarantee is to have a ResetAllSequences sequence that resets all
sequences (except the one that calls ResetAllSequences of course). Sometimes I
will not reset tiny sequences that are short in time, and don’t run other
sequences, but this can be attributed to laziness. Here is an example of
ResetAllSequences:
After calling ResetAllSequences, it is a good idea to wait a few frames before
doing anything else, to give all events that were running in those sequences time
to settle, especially serial commands to external devices like players. This is
shown in the following sequence, AbruptHaltToShow:
AbruptHaltToShow
Label Time Event Data1 Data2 Data3 Comment
00:00.00 Start ResetAllSequences
00:00.02 Still dvm1
00:00.02 Still DVM
00:00.02 Still dvm3
ResetAllSequences
Label Time Event Data1 Data2 Data3 Comment
00:00.00 Reset DayMode
00:00.00 Reset NightMode
00:00.00 Reset WaitLdps
00:00.00 Reset StartShow
00:00.00 Reset PreShow
00:00.00 Reset MainShow
00:00.00 Reset PostShow
00:00.00 Reset Maintenance