The StoryBook Home Page

Story32 - StoryBook
-------------------

StoryBook is a small, quick, easy, limited, no-frills, 
and free multimedia authoring tool and player. 
StoryBook plays sounds and displays pictures you create 
through a StoryBook definition file.    When reading 
the book, you click on each screen to move to the next.  

System requirements:
--------------------

You'll need a multimedia or at least wave-player-equipped
 computer to play stories.  You'll also need the core 
Visual Basic run-time vb40032.dll and a couple others, 
which you probably already have.  They weren't included 
to make this program very simple.

Usage:
------

You can run StoryBook from any directory, with the command
 Story32.  This will play the story named Story32.bk in 
that directory.  You can also name a story, using:

Story32 another.bk

where another.bk is the story definition file you want 
to play.  

Disclaimer-agreement:
---------------------

StoryBook is free to use for any purpose providing you 
agree to the following:

     The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or 
implied, including, without limitation, the warranties 
of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose.

     The author assumes no liability for damages, direct 
or consequential, which may result from the use of Story32.




Making a StoryBook definition file:
-----------------------------------

Use Notepad to make a file with this information:
(the demo is given as an example only, and comments are not allowed)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
StoryBook for Windows        The Story Title for the title bar
500                          width - Window size in pixels
350                          height - Window size in pixels
manual                       the mode:  manual auto OR test
25                           seconds between pages for auto mode
story_p1.bmp                 the first page wave file's [path] and name
page1.wav                    the first page picture file's [path] and name
story_p2.bmp                 second page picture file
page2.wav                    second page wave file
story_p3.bmp                 ...
page3.wav                    ...
story_p4.bmp
page4.wav
Story_p5.bmp
page5.wav
Story_p6.bmp
page6.wav
end                          end - this is required

[comments can go on lines after the end statement]
---------------------------------------------------------------
That's the definition file.  Some comments:

Picture format:

Pictures must be .BMP format.  Sorry, no JPG or GIF's.

Picture size:

StoryBook will stretch your pictures to fit the window, so make 
all your pictures the same size, and set the window size to 
match using Story32's test mode as a guide.  Be warned, the 
sizes it reports may be off, and they include the picture plus 
borders.  If you have one or two smaller pages, paste them onto 
a white page of your standard size and use that image so things 
don't get stretched out too bad.


Missing Lines:

If you're missing a line, Story32 will get tangled up.  Check that you have the lines right when you make up your .bk files.

Playing silence:

To have a quiet page, have a blank line on the wave line.

Test mode:

The test mode is a manual mode, plus it gives the VB reports of 
image size and window size across the title bar.  Unfortunately,
 neither of these are the real image size, but they're a rough 
guide.

Organizing:
-----------
It's easiest to put an entire story in a subdirectory.  
Story32.exe is small enough that you can put it in each 
directory you have a story in, cutting down on path problems.  
Still, the filenames follow regular naming conventions so you 
can pull stories from anywhere on your disk.