Binary Data Managment: Extract/Release All?

[mobichan]

Yea. At first that pdf was a godsend.... until I found out it had just enough misinformation to cause me weeks of headaches. It would be great if any future guides could include using arrays from Binary Data as well as calling sounds. Ini files seems to run under their own set of rules (like the fact they don't need to be explicitly saved by an action), so they are a sort of misleading example. The Windows runtime also seems to now bypass the Extract/release workflow, so maybe it should be removed or deprecated in F2.5 altogether?

EDIT: I should also mention that on iOS, you can save array files that come from Binary Data, which was a bit misleading to me at first. I assumed it was actually overwriting the array file in the .ipa, but now I think it must be writing a copy of the array file somewhere locally. This caused me to believe all runtimes worked this way. Ultimately, if you have multiple runtimes in a single mfa source, you have to establish multiple save routines. It would be nice if the help file at least had a description of what Binary Data is and what it should be used for. As it stands, it only tells you that the Binary Data button opens a window. T_T

[ratty]

The Windows runtime also seems to now bypass the Extract/release workflow, so maybe it should be removed or deprecated in F2.5 altogether?

Can you elaborate on this? I JUST implemented the extraction process into my program...does it not work consistently!?

[mobichan]

@ratty:
Yves wrote: "Yes, just load your file as if it was a normal file with the full pathname or Apppath$ + etc, the Array object will first try to load it from the embedded files in the EXE and if it doesn't find it it'll try to load the external file. Same thing for the Active Picture object, etc. You need to extract files only in specific cases if the object doesn't support direct loading from the EXE (for example the Direct Show or AVI objects that require external files)."

That probably means you can use either method (extract/release OR simply call the file by its full path) but it is still a little ambiguous. I wish there was a more concise explanation of how and why Binary Data should be used.

[ratty]

Oh, ok. I misunderstood and thought you had said Windows wasn't allowing us to extract/release. Thanks for the clarification. I chose that route because I couldn't figure out how to call the files from binary without release. It's really hard and tedious to test that since you pretty much need a secondary machine for it.