Macromedia Director: Lingo Scripting for Interactive CDs

If you're building a "Multimedia CD-ROM" or an interactive kiosk, you're using Macromedia Director 7. While Flash is okay for little web animations, Director is a beast. The heart of its power is Lingo, an English-like scripting language that is surprisingly flexible.

The Score and Sprites

Director uses a movie metaphor. You have a "Score" with frames and "Sprites" on the "Stage."

Writing Lingo

There are two styles of Lingo: the old-school "Verbose" style and the new "Dot Syntax" introduced in Director 7.

Verbose Style:

on mouseUp me
  set the member of sprite 1 to "ButtonDown"
  updateStage
  go to frame "Main"
end

Dot Syntax (The future!):

on mouseUp me
  sprite(1).member = member("ButtonDown")
  _movie.go("Main")
end

Complex Logic with Parent Scripts

You can even do Object-Oriented Programming in Lingo using "Parent Scripts."

-- Parent Script: MyObject
property pValue

on new me, initialValue
  me.pValue = initialValue
  return me
end

on getValue me
  return me.pValue
end

-- Usage in a regular script:
set myObj = new(script "MyObject", 100)
put myObj.getValue()
-- Output: 100

Director 7's new 3D engine is coming soon, but for now, mastering Lingo is how you make those high-budget interactive encyclopedias. Just remember: updateStage is your best friend when things aren't moving!