MatchWare Mediator EXP 6

Mediator has been at the forefront of code-free multimedia authoring for a number of years now. For most of my work, however, I still use tools like Director (version 8.5 reviewed issue 80, p182) and ToolBook because I like the flexibility that their script languages give me. It's been a continual frustration that I've been unable to use Mediator more because of the fixed boundaries of its feature set. Mediator EXP (EXPert) promises to change all that. But how does it square up to the cheaper Opus Pro (see p184) and its OpusScript scripting language?

Let's begin by looking at what EXP offers compared to Mediator Pro (see Reviews, issue 78, p164). The main enhancement is support for the Microsoft Scripting Engine, which allows you to program using VBScript or JavaScript. Visual Basic is, in my view, the easiest way into programming and will therefore suit Mediator Pro upgraders. Existing Flash or Web programmers will probably opt to use JavaScript.

Scripting takes place using Microsoft's simple ScriptEdit applet. ScriptEdit features colour coding and emboldening to make your code clearer and confirm that you've typed keywords correctly. It's certainly superior to Opus Pro's ultra-basic editor.

EXP offers the ability to control Mediator objects in a simple way. To make the connection between VBScript and Mediator, you use a command like this:

Set Obj=Md8Objects.Item(mObject).

MObject is the name of the Mediator object, for example 'image1'. Thereafter, you can reference the Mediator object using the variable name. So, Obj.width = 200 would, in this case, set the width of image1 to 200. This process is much quicker and simpler in use than OpusScript's method.

However, what really sets Mediator EXP apart from most of its rivals is its ability to host and interact with ActiveX controls. Tie this together with VBScript and you have an expandable programming language capable of working in a similar way to Director's Xtras.

If you look at the screen shot above you'll see that Mediator's built-in listbox control is limited. Fortunately, the listbox installed with any office application as part of the Microsoft Forms collection is more useful. Here, I've added the listbox control to my Mediator page. Mediator lists ActiveX's unique properties in the same way as any Mediator object. I've used VBScript's file I/O capabilities to read in a text file and then the AddItem method to populate the listbox.

Mediator can then trap when the user clicks on the list, and a little more VBScript works out which item was clicked and puts that value into a variable which is shown on the page. A few lines of code and you've got a working menu system. The only real challenge is working out what methods the ActiveX control supports, but the Microsoft ones are well documented both in the help for VB 6 and online.

You'll have to distribute ActiveX with your application if it isn't part of the standard Windows installation. The Microsoft Script Engine also has to be installed on the target machine, although this is unlikely to be a problem as it's included in all recent Internet Explorer versions.

Mediator has always been top of the productivity chart, but speed of development can be improved even further using the Macro Script function. Macros run within the development environment and allow you to carry out often-repeated tasks with a single click. If, for example, you find yourself having to constantly resize images to fit your screen template, you could quickly write a VBScript routine that handles this automatically.