[PD] Using zexy under Windows 98

IOhannes zmoelnig zmoelnig at iem.at
Tue Jun 18 11:10:41 CEST 2002


hi !

Joseph Zitt wrote:
> 
> After trying this again, I'm still not getting it to work.
> 
> Do I understand correctly that to get zexy to run under Windows:
> 
> - there must be one and only one copy of the file zexy.dll on the
> system,
no

you can have as many zexy.dll's lying around on your system as you like.
you just have to make sure, that the correct one is loaded

> - that file must be in the pd/externs directory.
no

you can put it wherever you want.
you just have to make sure, that it is found.
when you execute the z_install.bat file, the zexy.dll is copied to the 
pd/externs directory (assuming that you unpacked the zexy.zip to pd/zexy)

> - that directory must be listed as an argument to -path in the pd batch
> file.
no
you jsut have to make sure that the library is found.
automatically the paths pd/extra and the directory of the current patch 
are searched (and i think pd/bin too, but i wouldn't put external 
libraries there)

so:
in order to make help helpful you should do following:
1.) open a shell (ms-dos console)
2.) cd to the path where you extracted zexy to (eg: pd/zexy)
3.) execute pd in verbose mode with something like "..\bin\pd -verbose"
adjust the "..\bin" path to your system; you can use absolute paths if 
you want (like "C:\sound\programs\pd\bin\pd -verbose"). if the 
pd/bin-path is in your system-path ("echo %path%") you may do without 
specifying the path)
4.) open a new patch, and create an object [zexy] (without the braces of 
course)
5.) watch the shell
5a) does it say something like the following ?
         @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
         @...the zexy external1b1...@
         @ forum::f?r::uml?ute 2000 @
         @ send me a 'help' message @
         @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
you are loading zexy and everything should be fine.
if so, watch the version number ("1b1" in this case). if it is less than 
1.0 (eg 0.9) you might miss some functionality. i think the matrix~ and 
  multiplex~ objects first appeared in zexy-0.8. there was a bug in 
multiline~ and matrix~ that distorted the output. it is fixed now (i 
hope on the windows-version too...)

if you are sure, that you have installed a recent version of zexy (and 
old versions are still around on the system) and you are loading an old 
version, you can see which file is loaded by the verbose-output
(lines like:
tried /Net/iem/Benutzer/zmoelnig/pd/abstractions/zexy.dll and failed
tried /Net/iem/Benutzer/zmoelnig/pd/externs/zexy.dll and succeeded
)
b) if not, does it say something like "zexy: can't load library"
what else does it say ?

c) if not, does it say something like
tried /Net/iem/Benutzer/zmoelnig/pd/abstractions/zexy.pd and succeeded
(notice the wrong extension).
then you shoud try to load the library explicitely from commandline with 
something like
"..\bin\pd -verbose -lib zexy"

6) now open the help-file "zexy.pd" (or other zexy help). the objects 
should create without problems

7.) if it has worked you can now try to experimt with correct path-settings
a) you can put the zexy.dll in your "library-path" (like pd\externs)
if you want zexy to be available all the time,
edit your startup-file to something like:
"pd -path c:\sound\pd\externs -lib zexy"
alternatively you can make a startup like
"pd -lib c:\sound\pd\externs\zexy"
b) if you want zexy on demand, use a startup like
"pd -path c:\sound\pd\externs"
and create an object [zexy] in your patch. (this can be useful, since it 
reflects the dependency on the library)
alternatively, you can create an object
[c:\sound\pd\externs\zexy] in your patch that depends on zexy
(this might proove not very portable to other systems than yours)


last hint:
the order of "-path" and "-lib" flags to the commandline (startup-file) 
is important.
you might not find the library with
"pd -lib zexy -path c:\my\special\pd\libraries"
although it would work with
"pd -path c:\my\special\pd\libraries -lib zexy"


hope this works
mfg.cds.adr
IOhannes




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