How to distribute Madcap movie viewer?

[Joost]

Hi,

Can anyone enlighten me on how to distribute Madcap's desktop format for movies? I read in the help that I need to distribute the Madcap movie viewer to my users but it does not say how. I dowloaded the viewer. But how do I distribute it do my users? The file I downloaded is a setup wizard. Do my users have to manually install this viewer? Surely not... Is there maybe an automated way to install it?

And if not, is there a format that only requires a browser and no installation? The problem I am facing is that my users are not allowed to put stuff on their computers.

Thanks,

Joost

[Nita Beck]

If you're going to deliver your movie in the MadCap Movie format, then, yes, your users will need to download and install the MadCap Movie viewer. They can download it from MadCap directly from http://madcapsoftware.com/downloads/red ... ables.aspx. I don't know if it's possible for you to bundle the movie viewer with your movie somehow.

If you want your movie to be viewable in a browser, then you should output your movie in one of the two web-based formats: Microsoft Silverlight or Adobe Flash format. As far as I know, just because these are web-based formats doesn't mean that the movie files can't be stored locally. (Experts out there: correct me if I'm wrong here. I don't want to unintentionally lead Joost astray.)

I've used the Flash format for my movies. For a single movie, I end up with a .swf file and an .htm. I provide a link to the .htm, and that page then launches the movie. (The link is in a Help system, in my case.)

Even with these two formats, I think that some users still might need to install something on their computers, such as a Flash player.

[i-tietz]

Can anyone enlighten me on how to distribute Madcap's desktop format for movies? I read in the help that I need to distribute the Madcap movie viewer to my users but it does not say how. I dowloaded the viewer. But how do I distribute it do my users? The file I downloaded is a setup wizard. Do my users have to manually install this viewer? Surely not... Is there maybe an automated way to install it?

And if not, is there a format that only requires a browser and no installation? The problem I am facing is that my users are not allowed to put stuff on their computers.

How do you distribute the movie?
If you offer it via a website: Make a Flash movie - the necessary browser plugin has a market share of approx. 90% - that should be enough. You can either offer the swf file itself or embed it in a html page - that's a matter of taste and purpose.
If you offer it on a CD, maybe even as a part of a software package: Install the movie viewer together with the software. - That's what we do: The user needs the IE 6 (or higher) and a pdf reading software to access our documentation. The setup checks and in case offers to install the necessary.

[Joost]

Can anyone enlighten me on how to distribute Madcap's desktop format for movies? I read in the help that I need to distribute the Madcap movie viewer to my users but it does not say how. I dowloaded the viewer. But how do I distribute it do my users? The file I downloaded is a setup wizard. Do my users have to manually install this viewer? Surely not... Is there maybe an automated way to install it?

And if not, is there a format that only requires a browser and no installation? The problem I am facing is that my users are not allowed to put stuff on their computers.

How do you distribute the movie?
If you offer it via a website: Make a Flash movie - the necessary browser plugin has a market share of approx. 90% - that should be enough. You can either offer the swf file itself or embed it in a html page - that's a matter of taste and purpose.
If you offer it on a CD, maybe even as a part of a software package: Install the movie viewer together with the software. - That's what we do: The user needs the IE 6 (or higher) and a pdf reading software to access our documentation. The setup checks and in case offers to install the necessary.

The movies are part of a help system that will be installed along with the software. So, how do you guys integrate this Madcap Viewer with a software installer program so that users do not have to worry about anything?

Thanks,
Joost

[i-tietz]

No idea, I'm afraid.
That's not my job - we have a system developer to do that ...

Do you produce the setup yourself? If not: Ask the one doing it.

[Cecily]

I'm just playing with the trial version.

To kill two birds with one stone, I decided to use it to do a little demo for my mother, showing her how to navigate a particular website.

I created the movie and edited the captions etc without too much trouble, and then wanted to email it to her.

I spent ages rummaging around the menus and the help and trying different formats, unable to believe that there isn't a straightforward way to send a single, standalone, playable file.

As there isn't an easy way, can anyone suggest the least complicated way (bearing in mind that, like many end-users, she is not a techie and needs something simple - otherwise I wouldn't have needed to create the movie for her)?

[RamonS]

You can turn the swf from Mimic into an exe file. One freeware tool is Apecsoft's SWF2EXE converter (see bottom of page at http://www.apecsoft.com/). I haven't tried it, but since it is freeware it should be easy to try out. My understanding is that the swf file and player are bundled into this one executable file so that it can be started like any other application and it shouldn't matter if Flash is installed or not. Then again, if the Flash player is installed on a system, double-clicking the swf file should start playing it, hardly can make it easier than that.
If you go the executable route, package the exe file into a self-extracting package that starts the application. I am sure that makes it smaller and thus easier to email.