interMedia Dynamic SMIL Example

This example synchronizes the presentation of image, text, and streaming audio stored in Oracle8i to sell music CDROMs.

• The demo plays sample audio clips of all songs on a particular CD in sequence.
• An image fades in as a song clip begins and fades out as it ends.
• The title of the song clip appears while the audio clip plays.

Synchronization and streaming media playback is accomplished using the interMedia RealServer plugin and these RealNetworks technologies:

• rich media formats (RealPix, RealText, and RealAudio) stored in Oracle8i with interMedia;
• RealServer (streams media from Oracle8i through interMedia while optimizing for variable bandwidth conditions);
• and a Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) presentation.

To simplify the example, a static HTML page is used, but the HTML page could be generated dynamically from Oracle8i as well.

Table of Contents:  

• About This Example
• System Requirements 
• Installation Steps
• User Guide

The SMIL presentation is dynamically generated using data from Oracle8i. Audio duration, an attribute of the RealAudio clip, is stored in Oracle8i and used to determine when to fade in/out a new image. To simplify this example, the audio duration is specified manually in the PL/SQL load procedure (load_schema.sql), using the setAudioDuration method. However, interMedia can also be used to automatically extract RealMedia attributes like audio duration and store them in Oracle8i.

• interMedia 8.1.6 setProperties() method can be called to automatically extract duration from RealAudio as, or after, the audio data is stored in Oracle8i.
• interMedia Annotator utility for Mac and NT clients can extract media attributes and media samples and load them with media data in Oracle8i.
  

Managing media data and attributes in Oracle8i makes a Web site more manageable and places rich media data under transaction control. As CD tracks are added to Oracle8i, they can automatically appear in the SMIL presentation for the CD if the HTML page is dynamically generated. The SMIL presentation can be expanded to include other CDs by dynamically generating the HTML page, with CD content, based on a CD identifier specified by the user. See Use Java Servlets & JSPs to load/retrieve rich content and Use interMedia with PL/SQL Gateway and Web Toolkit to load and retrieve rich content for more complete examples of dynamically generated pages.

More information on SMIL is available at http://www.realnetworks.com/devzone/library/index.html.

B. System Requirements

• 300MHz CPU 128MB memory (256 / 380 for performance), 500MB free disk, CD, sound & video
• Windows NT 4.0 SP3 or 5, network software installed
• Oracle8i 8.1.5 Server + client software + SQL utilities
• Realserver G2
• Oracle's RealServer FileSystem Plugin (available from Oracle Technology Network)
• Netscape Browser 4.5 or greater or Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0

1. Specify a proper directory path for MEDIADIR in the file create_cdload_procs.sql.
   
   • In the file create_cdload_procs.sql, change the directory path  'c:\Www\SmilExample\' to the directory where you put this demo. e.g. create or replace directory MEDIADIR as 'd:\Test\SmilExample\';
   
   
2. Run the SQL script do_all.sql.
   
   
3. Install RealServer Basic or better and the Oracle RealServer FileSystem Plugin.
   
   • RealServer is available at  http://www.realnetworks.com/products/index.html
     
   • RealNetworks G2 Streaming Server Plugin for interMedia is available at http://technet.oracle.com/products/intermedia/ --> Software
   
   
4. Configure RealServer to use the database by adding the mountpoint to the fsmount list in rmserver.cfg.
   • Edit the file real_mountpoint.cfg file in this demo package to make the SQLnet parameters access your database. Change the host name (a-pc.us.oracle.com) and SID (ORCL) to your own.
   • Copy the content of rel_mountpoint.cfg into the fsmount list in rmserver.cfg, which is typically located in C:\Program Files\Real\RealServer.
   
   
5. Start RealServer.
   
   • Go to Start Menu --> Settings --> Control Panel --> Services.
     
   • Start RMServer.
   
   
6. Edit Blue.htm and change the references a-pc.us.oracle.com to your RealServer node.
   
   
7. Open the HTML file Blue.htm in your web browser.
   
   • RealPlayer will need to be installed.

D. User Guide

After opening the HTML file Blue.htm in your web browser, simply click the play button in the Real Player control panel. 

Notice that the album cover picture fades in and out at the beginning of a new clip and the end of the current clip, and that the title of the current song is also displayed during the time the audio of the song is playing.

Each individual audio can also be streamed from the database by clicking on the song hyperlink.