Q.  Dear Mr. Know-It-All,

I finally got RealPlayer7 running under Odin. Now I want to use it as a Netscape helper. Can I do this?

A.  Yes, you can. It requires a REXX script to interface between Netscape and RealPlayer7 running under Odin. The script is a bit too long to include in this article. You can get a copy of Netscape Helper for RealPlayer7 at:

The zip file contains two files:

• realplay.exe.cmd - the interface script
• realplay.txt - detailed installation and usage instructions

When Netscape starts a helper application it passes the helper the name of a file which contains the data pointed to by the selected URL. In the case of RealPlayer content, this is usually a RAM file containing of list of URL's pointing to RM files at the server. The RM URL contains the music and/or video content. The passed file can contain media content, but this is usually not done because it would slow down response.

The REXX script takes the passed file name, optionally logs the requests, copies the file to a temporary file, and invokes RealPlayer7 under Odin passing the temporary file name to RealPlayer.

The REXX script needs to be configured for your setup. The installation instructions explain what to do.

After the script is ready, you will configure Netscape to use the script as the Application helper to play Real media content of the type:

Once you have done this, clicking on a link pointing to this type of content will start the application helper. If all goes well, you will hear audio and, maybe, see pictures.

Odin is a work in progress. RealPlayer7 under Odin can not yet play all Real media formats. This will change as Odin development continues. If you can not play the media content directly from the RealPlayer Open menu, you will not be able to play it from Netscape.

Some content types require RealPlayer to run as a Netscape plug-in. At this time, it is not possible to run RealPlayer7 as a Netscape for OS/2 plug-in. If the content is compatible with RealPlayer 5, you might be able to use the 16-bit Windows plug-in. However, most newer contents are not compatible with RealPlayer 5.