ActiveX (oxc control to Hal)

[wgb14]

Hi,

I am just wondering if there is an activex control(ocx) which will allow me to access the HAL engine directly from other applications. I tried this HalFace assistant OCX that installed in my system with HAL but it does not work.

Any ideas?

[wgb14]

No reply so far and i really wonder if what i am asking is possible!!!! It will be great to have HAL answering questions into my multimedia applications. However, the point is can it be done?

[Dr.Benway]

I think, but I am not completely sure, that the Halface.ocx only contains the animation sequences necessary for the default avatar of Hal. That Hal looks a lot like an msagent, but only more primitive.

Why don't you try to alter the VBScript-commands inside the Hal-brain you are using? Or write a Hal-plugin in Javascript?

[wgb14]

Hi thanks for the reply

The Hal ActiveX that installs with HAL, indeed is something like the MS Agent (does not offer access to HAL's conversational engine). As for "alter the VBScript-commands inside the Hal-brain you are using" I am not really sure what do you mean! Then, a HAL-plugin will not do, since Macromedia Director recognizes only ocx controls installed in my system.


So, i wonder if someone from inside the company can answer me whether or not an Active X wrapper to their conversational engine exists. I have been searching the forums and Zabaware official site many hours now  and i can not find any indication of a HAL ActiveX.

[wgb14]

It seems that HAL plugins are ACTIVEX controls that extend the functionality of HAL. However, to create such plugin, I will have to find out which function(s) are provided by the HAL chat engine and how to access them. Given my limited time to complete my project, this is something that i can not do for the time being. So, i will return to my initial request if such plug-in already exist and if yes where i can dowload it, or even buy it. Any replies on that will be greatly appriciated.

Thanks

[Medeksza]

quote:Originally posted by wgb14

Hi,

I am just wondering if there is an activex control(ocx) which will allow me to access the HAL engine directly from other applications. I tried this HalFace assistant OCX that installed in my system with HAL but it does not work.

Any ideas?

Do you want to interface with Hal's brain to get text input and text output or do you want to interface with the entire Hal Assistant program that ties the brain, different character engines, and speech systems together? There is documentation on how to inteface with the HalBrain.DLL activex control at http://www.ultrahal.com/files/detail.asp?iFile=251&iType=18

Interfacing with all of Hal Assistant's subsystems would take a lot of code and would not be a simple drag and drop of an ActiveX control. No documentation currently exists on how to do this.

[wgb14]

Hi,

No all i need is basic text input and ouput from the engine. Which of the files am i supposed to download from the link that you sent me?

[wgb14]

Ok! I have finally manged to find the proper files and documentation about the HalBrain.dll file. However, to pack these functions or one of the functions into an ocx file is beyond my programming skills. If there is no ready-made ocx, i am afraid that i will have to abandon the idea of using HAL into my work. Too bad that the compnay does not offer something like that --- it would have been great to have HAL answering questions into my multimedia applications.