DekoCast Deko Tags

DekoCast Deko Tags Example

Tags Overview
List of All Tags
The DekoTags.dkc Example

Overview

The DekoCast Deko object displays text in the layout and style designed within the Pinnacle PostDeko Lite application. The Deko object allows either the entire document to be displayed, or just a single selected layer. If a single layer is selected, then the Deko object allows specifying the text to appear in that layer. Normally, that text appears in the default style for that layer, but tags - special commands embedded into the text, e.g. <preset id="1"/> - allow more control over the appearance of the text. See the tag list section below for a complete list of tags.

These three parameters of the Deko object - file name, selected layer, and override text - determine how the Deko object displays its graphics, following this process:

The dko file specified in the file name parameter is opened. If the file name is set to Preview, no new dko file is opened and the current contents of the Preview window is used to create the graphics. If no file name is specified, the Deko object is ignored and no graphics are drawn.
If no tags are present in the text override parameter, the text override text is drawn into the selected layer using that layer's default style . If Entire Document or Background is specified as the selected layer, then the override text is ignored.
If tags are present in the text override parameter, the Deko's current layer is set to selected layer, then the tags are evaluated and text inserted into the graphic in the order in which they appear in the text override string. The tags may change Deko's current layer, execute arbitrary deko macro commands, or even open a different dko graphic.
The resulting contents of the layer indicated by the Selected Layer parameter are displayed on the DekoCast screen. If Entire Document is selected, then all layers and the background are displayed on the DekoCast screen. Even if <layer> tags have been used to modify several layers, only the Selected Layer will be displayed. If <graphic> tags have been used to open a different dko file, the final contents of the Selected Layer of the most recent document is displayed.

note: when tags are used in the text override string, the Preview Window of PostDeko Lite is always used to do the rendering. This means if you have a graphic open in the PostDeko Lite application, it will be closed and replaced with the contents of the graphic being rendered. Before using PostDeko Lite to do any graphic design, be sure to close any DekoCast scenes which contain updating Deko objects which might use tags, to avoid losing any of your work.

back to top

The DekoCast Deko Text Override Tags

<br/>	inserts a line break into the text string.
<preset id="3"/>	selects a style preset from the current set ("1"-"8")
<preset file="x.pst"/>	selects a new preset file. The id and file attributes may be combined in the same tag.
<layer id="3"/>	switch to a different layer in the current graphic. The "layer" selection in the Deko object determines which layer (or all layers) is visible. Generally use this tag with "All layers" selected to change the text in multiple layers.
<style file="x.sty"/>	sets the current style from a Deko style file.
<graphic file="x.dko"/>	opens a specific deko graphic file. The default graphic is the file name specified in the deko object filename parameter field. If the filename field is empty, the deko object is ignored, so generally set the filename field to "Preview" when using this tag.
<graphic/>	opens a new blank graphic (contains a single empty text layer with the current style)
<macro>macro text here</macro>	executes a deko macro command.
<macro file="x.mcr"/>	executes the specified deko macro command file
<auto file="x.aut"/>	opens the named automation file. Also works with .atx automation files.
< > &	Display the <,>, and & characters. These codes are converted only if a tag is present in the text string. If necessary, include a do-nothing tag like "<preset/>" to force them to be converted.

back to top

The DekoTags.dkc Example Scene

The DekoTags.dkc example scene shows several deko objects, each cycling through several text strings which use different embedded tags. Select a Deko object and click the Contents tab in its editor to see the text controlling each object. hint: drag the editor window larger to see more text.

The upper crawling Deko object, "Transition Deko 1 - Single Layer", uses the 3layer.dko deko file as its template, and displays only layer number 2. The text contained in the Contents list uses the <preset>, <style>, <macro>, and <br> tags to control the look of the text in that layer. The Contents text also demonstrates the codes used to display the "<", ">", and "&" characters.

The middle Deko object, "Transition Deko 2 - Entire Document", also uses the 3layer.dko deko file as its template, but the Entire Document is selected for display, rather than just a single layer. This object's Contents list uses the <layer> tag to set the text in several layers using a single Deko object.

The lower Deko object, "Transition Deko 3 - Preview" does not specify a specific dko file as a template, but specifies Preview in the filename field. This object uses the <graphic> tag to select different dko templates in each line of the Contents list . This also demonstrates using generic image files in a template and using the "detail_edit" macro to select different images.

About Cropping in Crawls: Deko objects with a single layer selected and a scrollthru transition style - a roll or crawl - crop the crawl to the layer rectangle of the selected layer. Deko objects with Entire Document selected crop the roll or crawl to the boundaries of the screen. Use the Crop values under the Position tab of the Deko object editor to adjust the cropping.

About Spacing in Crawls: DekoCast uses the position of the layers in the dko graphic to determine the initial position of the text in the DekoCast screen. This position can be adjusted using the X and Y position parameters. In a horizontal crawl (hscrollthru transition), the vertical position of the text comes from the dko layer, but the text moves across the entire width of the page. The distance from the left edge of the layer to the start of the text is used to space sequential items in the crawl, so layers can be positioned anywhere left-to-right and still be tightly packed in the crawl. When the Entire Graphic is selected, the distance from the left edge of the page to the text is used to space items in the hscrollthru crawl (or the distance from the top of the page to the top of the text in a vscrollthru roll), so layers generally need to be positioned close to the edge of the page to get a good result. See the DekoCast User's Guide for more detailed information.

back to top

tph