Web WhizBang

Working with RealAudio

To get a RealAudio file to play from your web page requires three components: the RealAudio sound file, the web page, and a special instruction file called a RealAudio Meta file.

The RealAudio sound file

1. Encode the digitized sound into RealAudio format
   1. Drag the fleatsound icon onto the RealAudio Encoder icon. In a minute the RealAudio Encoder window will appear.
   2. Click on Encode in the RealAudio window. A save dialog box will appear.
   3. Click on Save in the save dialog box. The encoding should finish automatically and a file called fleatsound.ra should appear in the fleat folder window.
      
2. Put the RealAudio sound file into a folder the RealAudio Server can serve it from.
   1. Drag the icon fleatsound.ra onto the folder RealAudio files on Server. This uploads the .ra file to the realaudio server in the other room.

The RealAudio Meta file

1. Create a special RealAudio Meta (Instruction) file
   1. Drag the fleatsound.ram icon onto the Text Editor icon. I have already created this file for you according to the instructions RealAudio provides. The RealAudio Meta file consists of a one-line instruction (namely: pnm://142.104.133.15/filename.ra) that tells your RealAudio Player where the .ra file is that the user wants to hear. There are three parts to the instruction:
      • pnm:// The first part of the line is the letters pnm:// instead of http://, so the computers know to treat the file as a sound to be played by a real audio server and player and not by the web server and browser.
      • 142.104.133.15/ The next part is the Internet Protocal address (URL) of the RealAudio server. In our case this address is the same as the address for the web server, because both of the servers are on the same computer. They could be on different computers.
      • filename.ra The last part is the name of the sound file that is to be sent by the RealAudio server to the RealAudio player.
   2. Replace filename.ra at the end of the instruction with fleatsound.ra
   3. Save the file and close the window.
2. Put the RealAudio Meta (Instruction) file into a folder the Web Server can serve it from
   1. Drag the icon for fleatsound.ram onto the folder Web files on Server. This uploads the .ram file to the web server in the other room.

The Web Page

1. Create a link in a web page to the RealAudio Meta file.
   1. Drag the fleatRA.html icon onto the Text Editor icon. I have created this file for you. It is an ordinary web page with a link to the RealAudio Meta file.
   2. Replace filename.ram in the A HREF tag with fleatsound.ram
   3. Save the html page and close the window.
2. Put the web page into a folder the Web Server can serve it from
   1. Drag the icon for fleatRA.html onto the folder Web files on Server. This uploads the .html file to the web server in the other room.

You are now ready to test it:

Here's what is supposed to happen: When the user clicks on the link on the web page, the browser gets the RealAudio Meta file from the web server. Instead of just displaying that file, the browser knows to process the instruction it contains, which causes the RealAudio player to be launched and the RealAudio file specified in the instruction to be streamed to the player from the RealAudio server specified in the instruction. The browser knows what to do because the user has configured it as part of installing the RealAudio player.

1. Double click on the Browser icon. In a minute Netscape will appear.
2. In the URL box type: http://142.104.133.15/fleat/fleatRA.html In a few seconds, the page will appear.
3. Click on the button and see if your real audio file plays.