Loads a character into the Characters collection.
agent.Characters.Load "CharacterID", Provider
| Part | Description |
| CharacterID | Required. A string value that you will use to refer to the character data to be loaded. |
| Provider | Required. A variant data type that must be one of the following: Filespec The local file location of the specified character's definition file. URL The HTTP address for the character's definition file. provider An alternate character definition provider (object). |
The Microsoft Agent Data Provider supports loading character data stored either as a single structured file (.ACS) with character data and animation data together or as separate character data (.ACF) and animation (.AAF) files. Use the single structured .ACS file to load a character that is stored on a local disk or network and accessed using a conventional file protocol (such as UNC pathnames). Use the separate .ACF and .AAF files when you want to load the animation files individually from a remote site where they are accessed using the HTTP protocol.
For .ACS files, using the Load method provides access a character's animations. For .ACF files, you also use the Get method to load animation data. The Load method does not support downloading .ACS files from an HTTP site.
Loading a character does not automatically display the character. Use the Show method first to make the character visible.
If you create an object reference and assign it to this method, it returns a Request object. If you use HTTP protocol, assigning a Request object to the Load method and checking its status in the RequestComplete event enables you to prevent your code from failing when the character data fails to load.
The Provider parameter also enables you to specify your own data provider (that would be loaded using a separate control) that can have its own methods for loading animation data. You only need to create a data provider object if you supply character data in special formats.
To load a character from the Microsoft Agent site, consult the character data page at http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/prog/agent/characterdata.htm for the latest information on the location of the character files.
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