• Why do my mask images refuse to work with OSbevelButton members?
• Will there be a Mac OS X version of the OSControl Xtra?
• Will the OSControl Xtra work in Windows XP?
• Will the OSControl Xtra work under MacOs 7.6?
• How can I preview on Windows how my interface with OSControl Xtra members will look under MacOS?
• I'm seeing strange things with the OSControls happening on my Macintosh: some controls are not available, they change shape and color when pressed etc.
• Why is there no DropDown/PopUp menu OSControl type?
• Why can't I make a projector with the Demo version?
• Does the OSControl Xtra work with Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and other double-byte fonts?
• The properties of my OSControl sprites appear only after the movie has been played. Why?
• The demo movies look very dull and grey on my system. How can I get the cool looking, colorful images that I see on your screenshots?
• My PopUp menus show many strange characters, and not the text I have set. What do I do wrong?
  
• I've bought a newer version of Director. How do I get a keyfile that works in that new version of Director?
  
• I've bought Director MX for the Macintosh. Where is the version of the OSControl Xtra that works on Mac OS X?
  
• I have installed my keyfile and still I get those red Demo lines through all of my OSControl sprites. What should I do now?
  
• Sometimes the properties I've set in one OScontrol will bleed over to another OScontrol in the next section of my movie. How can I prevent that?
  
• When I insert a slider or scrollbar it always is a horizontal one. How can I make vertical sliders and scrollbars?
  
• When I view the old Demo movies in Mac OS X I get an alert saying that the OSControl Xtra needs at least Mac OS 8.5. What's up?
  


• Known bugs and incompatibilities

Why do my mask images refuse to work with OSbevelButton members?

Will there be a Mac OS X version of the OSControl Xtra?

Will the OSControl Xtra work in Windows XP?

Will the OSControl Xtra work under MacOs 7.6?

How can I preview on Windows how my interface with OSControl Xtra members will look under MacOS?

I'm seeing strange things with the OSControls happening on my Macintosh: some controls are not available, they change shape and color when pressed etc.

Why is there no DropDown/PopUp menu OSControl type?

Why can't I make a projector with the Demo version? Why doesn't the Demo version work in Shockwave?

Does the OSControl Xtra work with Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and other double-byte fonts?

The properties of my OSControl sprites appear only after the movie has been played. Why?

The demo movies look very dull and grey on my system. How can I get the cool looking, colorful images that I see on your screenshots?

My PopUp menus show many strange characters, and not the text I have set. What do I do wrong?

I've bought a newer version of Director. How do I get a keyfile that works in that new version of Director?

I've bought Director MX for the Macintosh. Where is the version of the OSControl Xtra that works on Mac OS X?

I have installed my keyfile and still I get those red Demo lines through all of my OSControl sprites. What should I do now?

• Delete the file 'dirapi.mch'. Director will make a new one on startup. This file contains references to all available xtras. This is often happening if you are using Director MX. It's really persistent in not updating this file.
• If you're on Windows do a 'View Properties' (click on the file with your right mousebutton) on the 'OSCNTRL.BRD' file and see if it lists the correct version(s) of Director. Note: Director MX = version 8.5 on Windows and 9.0 on Mac.
• Make sure your keyfile is in the same (sub) folder as the OSControl Xtras in your xtras folder.
• Please verify that the MIX Services Xtra is also present in your Xtras folder.
• Remove all non-Macromedia Xtras just to check if there is no Xtra conflict.
• What version of the demo OSControl Xtra is it? Check and make sure it is at least version 1.2.
• (if appropriate) Exchange the MX and the 8.5 version. They might have got mixed up.

Sometimes the properties like button text I've set in one OScontrol will bleed over to another OScontrol in the next section of my movie. How can I prevent that?

sprite(spriteNum).initProps()

This is a Director "bug" that we've reported to Macromedia. Some of Director's native Xtras suffer from this problem too (e.g. VectorShape).

When I insert a slider or scrollbar it always is a horizontal one. How can I make vertical sliders and scrollbars?

When I view the old Demo movies in Mac OS X I get an alert saying that the OSControl Xtra needs at least Mac OS 8.5. What's up?

put "9.2" > "8"
-- 1
put "10.2.3" > "8"
-- 0

on prepareMovie
  
  -- code to test version number of MacOS so you can 
  -- alert users who still use MacOS < 8.5
  -- it uses the *free* Mac version of the Buddy API Xtra 
  -- which can be found on <http:/www.mods.au>
  -- ideally this code should be placed in the preparemovie 
  -- handler of stub projector that then branches to your
  -- project or, if the minimum system version is not met, 
  -- to another movie that informs the user.
  
  if the platform contains "Mac" then
    goodversion = 1
    xtraList = string(the XtraList)
    if xtraList contains "buddy" then --check if BuddyAPI Xtra is present
      macVer = string(baVersion("mac"))
      
      oldDelimiter = the itemdelimiter
      the itemdelimiter = "."
      
      if integer(macVer.item[1]) > 8 then -- version is at least 9
        exit -- we're running Mac OS 9 or higher
      end if
      
      the itemdelimiter = oldDelimiter
      
      if macVer < "8.5" then --running pre MacOS 8.5 system
        goodversion = 0
      end if
      
      if NOT goodVersion then
        alert "This movie requires the OSControl Xtra that is" && RETURN & \
        "not compatible with your system version." &RETURN& \
        "Upgrade to MacOS 8.5 or later and try again."
        halt --stop further execution of movie
      end if
    end if
    
  end if 
  
end prepareMovie

• Kaleidoscope
  OSControl Xtra Mac is not completely compatible with Kaleidoscope, a system 'hack' to change the system's appearance. Your projects won't crash, but not all controls will be recognized and various other things could be wrong. We are sorry to say that we can't fix this.
• Windowblinds
  OSControl Xtra Windows is not completely compatible with Windowblinds, a similar Windows utility as Kaleidoscope for the Mac. OSControl honors the color changes from the Windowblinds settings, but ignores the changes in the look of buttons and other controls. We are sorry to say that we can't fix this.
• MediaReady will probably return true for Bevel buttons with icons, even if these icons and their masks aren't loaded yet. You have to check mediaReady on those icons and masks as well.
  
• [Fixed in version 1.2] Only in D7: due to a bug in Director 7 (fortunately fixed in D8) every instance of the OSControl Xtra leaks a little amount of memory. This memory isn't released by Director and can lead to a memory shortage and even a crash of your project. We're trying to find a workaround for this leakage in Director 7 that doesn't criple the functionality of the OSControl Xtra. Version 1.2 fixed this bug.
  
• OSControl Xtra scrollbars don't work well with scrollwheel mice. Because our scrollbars are not attached to windows or fields they never get the messages sent by the scrollwheel mouse.
• The OSControl Xtra doesn't work with Japanese, Chinese, Arabic and other double-byte fonts. We are investigating the possibilities to include this functionality in future versions.
• If you have a dual monitor system, and you send a "click" message to an OSpopupMenu or OSmenu sprite, the menu may not appear on the correct position if the current mouse location is not in the monitor where the control is.
• If you use the example movies and behavior library in Director 8.5 or higher, the behaviors will throw up errors.
  This is because Macromedia decided that the old continuation character (¬) is now obsolete, after a new continuation character (\) was introduced in D8.0.
  
  So in order to use the behaviors in this library cast you'll have to open the cast in Director (version 8 or higher), and do a search and replace for ¬ and change it in \. Select the radio button in front of 'Cast OSControls' so all scripts are searched. Then check if everything went well by choosing 'Recompile All Scripts' from the 'Control' menu. After that you can save the file, you probably want to save it directly in your Director 8.5 Library folder. The old version will still work okay in Director 7.02 and 8.0.
• [Fixed in version 1.2]In version 1.1.0 you can't change the visible property of a sprite channel containing an OSControl cast member, either in the Score or with Lingo. This small bug was fixed in version 1.2.
• [Fixed in version 1.3] if you press characters on your keyboard to jump to items in a dropdown list in Windows, some debug information is put to the message window. This is not harmfull in any way, but will be fixed in the next version.
• [Fixed in version 1.3] In OSpopupMenus under Windows sometimes you see garbage text. Workaround is given in the FAQ entry above.
• [Fixed in version 1.3]You can't use 'special' characters like /, < and ( in OSpopupMenu and OSmenus because they got filtered out by the OS. This is the same behavior that also happens in Director's own 'installMenu' command. We're looking for a workaround in a future version.
• The 'duplicate()' and 'new()' functions don't work reliable with OSControl members. To make an OSControl member you need the (author only) OSControl Options Xtra. These functions need to be avoided, as a workaround you can use pre-made OSControl members and set their properties via Lingo.
• Script errors may cause update() handler to exit abruptly. Director (MOA) bug, can't be fixed by us.
• Changing a MIAW's windowType after updateControl() will destroy OSControl sprite properties. Director 'feature', can't be fixed by us.