Glossary
Definitions of Director, Shockwave, and Lingo terminology used across this wiki.
A - C#
| Term | Definition |
|---|
| actorList | _movie.actorList: a list of objects that receive stepFrame every frame advance and on updateStage(). Not cleared automatically when branching movies. |
| Afterburner | Macromedia's name for the Shockwave compression applied to .dcr/.cct files. |
| Ancestor | An object assigned to a script's ancestor property; handler and property lookups fall through to it, giving Lingo its inheritance mechanism. |
| Behavior | A script cast member attached to a sprite span or a frame in the Score. Receives events for that sprite/frame. |
| Bitmap cast member | Raster image asset with bit depth (1/2/4/8/16/32), optional palette, and a registration point. |
| Cast / Cast library | A library of cast members. Movies have one internal cast and any number of external casts. |
| Cast member | One asset in a cast: bitmap, text, field, shape, sound, script, video, 3D, etc. |
| Cast member script | A script attached directly to a cast member (not a separate script member); runs for any sprite using that member. |
| Channel | One row of the Score. Sprite channels hold sprites; special channels hold tempo, palette, transitions, two sounds, and the frame script. |
| Chunk expression | Lingo sub-string addressing: char, word, item, line (e.g. word 2 of line 3 of t). item splitting honors the itemDelimiter. |
| Child object | An instance created from a parent script with new(). |
| clickOn | the clickOn: sprite number that received the last mouse click (0 = stage). |
D - I#
| Term | Definition |
|---|
| DCR | Compressed Shockwave movie file. |
| Dirapi.dll | The core native runtime library of Director/Shockwave on Windows: Lingo VM, score engine, event dispatch, property descriptors. |
| Direct to Stage (DTS) | Media rendering mode where a video/3D member draws directly to the screen, bypassing sprite compositing (always on top, no ink). |
| Dot syntax | Object.property style Lingo introduced in Director 7 (sprite(1).locH), coexisting with verbose syntax (the locH of sprite 1). |
| DXR | Protected (source-stripped) Director movie. |
| Film loop | A cast member that encapsulates an animated Score excerpt; renders as a nested sub-score inside one sprite. |
| Frame | One column of the Score; the unit of timeline playback. |
| Frame script | Behavior in the script channel of a frame; receives enterFrame/exitFrame etc. for that frame. |
| Global | Variable declared with global; persists across handlers, scripts, and movie branches for the whole player session. |
| Handler | An on eventName ... end block in a script; Lingo's unit of code. |
| Iml32.dll | The imaging/media support library: bitmap import, palettes, blitting, compositing callbacks, windows and rects. |
| Ink | Per-sprite compositing mode (Copy, Matte, Background Transparent, Blend, Add, ...). See Ink modes. |
K - P#
| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Keyframe | Authored sprite property values at a specific frame within a sprite span; Director tweens between keyframes. |
| Lingo | Director's scripting language. |
| Linked media | Cast member whose data lives in an external file rather than inside the cast. |
| Marker / Label | A named frame position used for navigation (go to frame "menu"). |
| Matte | Ink that removes the white bounding region of a bitmap, leaving visible artwork opaque; also changes the mouse hit area to the visible area. |
| Member script | See cast member script. |
| MIAW | Movie In A Window: a movie opened in a separate window object, with its own stage and score, communicating with the main movie. |
| Movie script | Script cast member whose handlers are available movie-wide (last stop in the message hierarchy). |
| Parent script | Script cast member used as a class; instantiated with new() into child objects. |
| Playback head | The current Score position; advancing it drives the frame event cycle. |
| Primary event handler | Global first-chance handler properties: mouseDownScript, mouseUpScript, keyDownScript, keyUpScript, timeoutScript. |
| Projector | Standalone executable bundling the runtime and movie(s). |
| Puppet | A sprite channel under Lingo control (puppetSprite), overriding authored Score data; also puppetTempo, puppetPalette, puppetTransition, puppetSound. |
| Purge priority | Cast member memory eviction hint (0 = never purge ... 3 = purge first). |
Q - Z#
| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Registration point (regPoint) | The anchor point of a member's image; the sprite loc positions the regPoint, not the top-left corner. |
| RIFX | The RIFF-variant container signature of Director files. |
| Score | The timeline grid of frames x channels holding sprite spans and effects channels. |
| Script instance | A behavior instance attached to a sprite (visible in sprite(n).scriptInstanceList). |
| Shockwave | The browser plugin and compressed format family for web delivery of Director movies. |
| Sprite | An instance of a cast member occupying a Score channel over a span of frames, with its own position, ink, blend, and behaviors. |
| Sprite span | The frame range a sprite occupies in its channel. |
| Stage | The visible drawing surface of a movie; also accessible as (the stage) window object. |
| stepFrame | Event sent to actorList members each frame advance and on updateStage(). |
| Stub projector | A projector with no embedded movie, loading external files; the common form for preservation because the movie files stay accessible. |
| Tempo | Frame rate setting (fps) from the tempo channel or puppetTempo. |
| Timeout object | Timer object (timeout().new(...)) that periodically sends a handler message to a target; tracked in _movie.timeoutList. |
| Tween | Score-driven interpolation of sprite properties between keyframes. |
| updateStage | _movie.updateStage(): redraws the stage immediately without advancing the frame; also triggers stepFrame for actorList objects. |
| Xtra | Native plugin module (scripting, transition, media, or tool Xtra). |
| XObject | Pre-Xtra native plugin API (Director 4 era and earlier); occasionally still met in very old titles. |