Quickstart Guide

This Quickstart Guide is aimed at users who are already familiar with Zinc v2 and have previous experience with Command Line Software. If in doubt, please consult your System Administrator.

After installing Zinc v2 CMD Edition, launch the Command Line (Normally accessed via START > RUN and then typing "cmd") and locate the folder where Zinc v2 CMD Edition is installed. From this point, it is possible to execute Zinc v2 from the Command Line and specify the optional parameters. To begin, we shall take a look at the options available. Type "zinc -h" as shown below:

The "-h" switch brings up the Help Information on how to use Zinc v2 from the Command Line. A Text Version of the Help is provided below:

MDM Zinc v2 Command-line Compiler.
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Syntax: [operation] [sourcetype] [swffiles ...] [additionaloptions] -o outputfilename

Possible Operation values:

-h Displays this help message.
-c Compiles using the supplied sourcetype.

Possible Sourcetype values:

-s        Takes a single swf file as input. Used for simple testing only.
-p        Takes a Zinc v2 project file (.zinc) as input. Other than the
         output file this parameter does not take any swf files as input files.
-t        Takes a Zinc v2 Template files (.znct) previously made in Zinc v2 as input.
       You also need to supply a swf file for all defined forms in the template file
       after this parameter.

Possible Additional Option values:

-gvfile                Takes a single text file as input for setting Global Variables.
                       Text file lines must be in the format globalvarname=value
-sgvfile                Takes a single text file as input for setting Secure Global Variables.

                       Text file lines must be in the format globalsecurevarname=value
-liblistfile        Takes a single text file as input for adding library files.
                       Text file lines must specify the full path of the file to add and
                       have a single line per file

  Notes:

  1) The output file parameter, -o is mandatory. Make sure you specify a valid output file.
  2) The output file parameter, has to be specified last, check examples for syntax.
  3) Upon successful compilation the compiler will generate a log file called: zinccc.log.
  4) Compiling a hqx file directly from a swf file is NOT supported. Only exe files
     can be created using the -s option.

  Examples:

  To compile a single swf to an exe:
  zinc -c -s myswf.swf -o myswf.exe

  To compile a Zinc v2 project file:
  zinc -c -p myprj.zinc -o myswf.exe

  To compile a Zinc v2 Template with two forms to an exe:
  zinc -c -t mytmp.znct mainform.swf subform1.swf -o myswf.exe

  To compile a Zinc v2 Template with 5 forms to an exe:
  zinc -c -t mytmp.znct mainform.swf subform1.swf subform2.swf subform3.swf subform4.swf -o myswf.exe

  To compile a Zinc v2 Template with 5 forms to an Mac OSX hqx file:
  zinc -c -t mytmp.znct mainform.swf subform1.swf subform2.swf subform3.swf subform4.swf -o myswf.hqx

  To compile a single swf to an exe with global vars in external text file:
  zinc -c -s myswf.swf -gvfile C:\globalvars.txt -o myswf.exe

  To compile a single swf to an exe with secure vars in external text file:
  zinc -c -s myswf.swf -sgvfile C:\secureglobalvars.txt -o myswf.exe

  To compile a single swf to an exe with global vars & secure vars in external text file:
  zinc -c -s myswf.swf -gvfile C:\globalvars.txt -sgvfile C:\secureglobalvars.txt -o myswf.exe

  To compile a single swf to an exe with global vars & secure vars & library files in external text file:
  zinc -c -s myswf.swf -gvfile C:\globalvars.txt -sgvfile C:\secureglobalvars.txt -liblistfile c:\liblist.txt -o myswf.exe

Compiling Using the CMD Edition

The CMD Edition of Zinc v2 is not intended for use as an IDE (although it is still possible). It is intended to be installed on a central server location and accessed via command line to produce EXE or HQX* files from pre-defined .zinc or .znct files. (*Mac OSX Plug-In required for Commercial HQX Output)

The most flexible way to compile using the Command line is to use pre-designed Zinc v2 Template Files (.znct). Zinc v2 Templates are files which contain generic data on the size, position, platform etc of how the compiled projector should look and behave on the users system. Zinc v2 CMD Edition used .znct files to create the physical EXE file based upon pre-populated selections. From the Command Line, you can then specify a .znct Template to use, and still specify a unique SWF file to compile, resulting in completely new Projectors with the same pre-designed look, feel and behavior!

To learn how to create a Template File, Click Here.