Play Method

Description

Plays the specified animation for the specified character.

Syntax

agent.Characters ("CharacterID").Play "AnimationName"

Remarks

An animation's name is defined when the character is compiled with the Microsoft Agent Character Editor. Before playing the specified animation, the server attempts to play the Return animation for the previous animation, if one has been assigned.

When accessing a character's animations using a conventional file protocol, you can simply use the Play method specifying the name of the animation. However, if you are using the HTTP protocol to access character animation data, use the Get method to load the animation before calling the Play method.

For more information, see the Get method.

To simplify your syntax, you can declare an object reference and set it to reference the Character object in the Characters collection and use the reference as part of your Play statements:

   Dim Genie   
   Agent1.Characters.Load "Genie", "http://agent.microsoft.com/characters/v2/genie/genie.acf"

   Set Genie = Agent1.Characters ("Genie")
   
   Genie.Get "state", "Showing"
   Genie.Show

   Genie.Get "animation", "Greet, GreetReturn"
   Genie.Play "Greet"
   Genie.Speak "Hello."

If you declare an object reference and set it to this method, it returns a Request object. In addition, if you specify an animation that is not loaded or if the character has not been successfully loaded, the server sets the Status property of Request object to "failed" with an appropriate error number. However, if the animation does not exist and the character's data has already been successfully loaded, the server raises an error.

The Play method does not make the character visible. If the character is not visible, the server plays the animation invisibly, and sets the Status property of the Request object.