MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-USING DIRECTOR, Use Manual, Page: 444 / 500

444 Chapter 22: Managing and Testing Director Projects
Testing strategies
You can use the following strategies to test your movies effectively:
•
Testing in the Director authoring environment is different than testing in the Director
Projector and Macromedia Shockwave environments for online content. The Preview in
Browser command demonstrates the true behavior of the movie in the Shockwave
environment.
•
If you encounter a problem, try to isolate the problem in a new Director file that incorporates
only the problem feature or item. Make a list of the minimum steps that are required to
reproduce the problem in a new file. This process usually reveals the source of the problem in
your movie. It also reveals whether the problem is limited to one feature or if it is caused by the
interaction of two or more features in your movie.
•
Try to re-create the problem with different media. Sometimes the source of a problem is within
a specific media item used in your movie.
•
Try to re-create the problem on a different computer. This helps isolate problems with
hardware configuration or with the Director installation on a specific computer. If the problem
exists only when the movie is posted to a server, determine whether the problem exists on only
one server or all servers. Occasionally the server’s MIME types might need editing to include
the MIME types for Director. For more information, see Director TechNote 16509,
Configuring your server for Macromedia Shockwave Player, at
www.macromedia.com/
support/director/ts/documents/shockwave_config.htm .
•
When you use script, look for typing errors, missing punctuation, or inconsistent naming.
•
JavaScript syntax is case-sensitive, while classic Lingo is not.
Printing movies
You can print movie content to review it and mark changes, to distribute edits to a team, to make
handouts from a presentation, or to see your work on paper. You can print a movie while in
authoring mode in several ways. You can print an image of the Stage in standard or storyboard
format, the Score, the cast member number and contents of text cast members in the Cast
window, all scripts or a range of scripts (movie, cast, the Score, and sprite scripts), the comments
in the Markers window, the Cast window artwork, or the entire Cast window.
You can also use script to control printing. For more information, see the Scripting Reference
topics in the Director Help Panel.
To print part of a movie:
1
Select File > Print.
2
To specify what part of the movie to print, select an option from the Print pop-up menu.
You can print an image of the Stage, the Score, all scripts or a range of scripts (movie, cast, the
Score, and sprite scripts), cast text, cast art, cast thumbnails, and the comments in the
Markers window.
The Scripts, Cast Text, Cast Art, and Cast Thumbnails print options specify a range of casts
and cast members—internal or external. Information that appears in the Print dialog box
depends on the selection to be printed.
Note: Selecting Cast Text on the Print pop-up menu, prints a table of text cast members your
printer’s set resolution.