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Adobe Flash CS 6Level 4Topics: Components Loading and Controlling Flash ContentPublishing Flash

FLASH CS6ComponentsEach component includes anActionScript application programminginterface (API) that allows you tocustomize it at runtime. The API allowsyou to handle events that occur whena user interacts with a component orwhen something significant happensto it. The API also enables you to setproperties and call methods and toapply styles and skins to customize acomponent’s appearance. UsingActionScript, you can also create acomponent instance at runtime andconfigure it as needed.Adobe Flash Professional includesboth ActionScript 2 and ActionScript3 components. You cannot mix thesetwo sets. When you create a new Flashdocument, Flash Professional presentseither ActionScript 3 components orActionScript 2 components based onwhether you choose an ActionScript 3FLA file or an ActionScript 2 FLA file.When you open an existing FLA file,Flash determines which set ofcomponents to present based onwhether the publish settings specifyActionScript 2 or ActionScript 3.Adobe Flash Professional components are building blocks forcreating rich interactive applications on the web. By providingcomplex controls that behave in a consistent way and are ready touse and customize, components significantly reduce the time andeffort needed to develop applications from scratch.For example, rather than creating your own custom button, combobox, list, or video player, you can simply drag a component fromthe Components panel into your document during authoring. Youcan easily customize the look and feel of these components to suityour application design. Components share runtime libraries; onceyou’ve used one component in your application, adding anotherone does not greatly impact the size of your SWF file at runtime.Explore the sections below to dive into whatever topic interestsyou.Using the Flash video componentUsing Flash CS6 (and CS5) component is really easy You can use *.mp4 videos without prior encoding to a Flashvideo formatAll operations are centralized in the properties panelThe only difficulties relate to file path operations (correct pathsand copying files)In most cases, you would have to adapt your video file, i.e. at leastmake it smaller and cut of unwanted beginning and end.Just below we explain the procedure for an *.mp4, *.flv or *.f4vvideo that already is “ready” for production.47

FLASH CS6Step 1: Drag the component to the stage and save the file1. Open the components panel (Menu Window- Components orCTRL-F7)2. Drag FLPLayback 2.5 on the stage3. Now save your Flash file, else it will not work, since Flash willnot find the video file.4. Copy the video file into the same directory as your flash file(unless you know how to deal with relative file paths,something that you may have learned creating HTML pagesusing pictures)Step 2: Configure the properties of the component1. Select the component2. Set the name of the video file with source in the Propertiespanel (e.g. BFB-BBC.mp4). Make sure to shorten the file path Bad: C: \.\flash\ex6\screenshots\my video.mp4Good: my video.mp43. Select an appropriate skin. A skin will define what kinds ofcontrols the user will have. You also can make adjustements tothe color4. Keep the defaults for starters, e.g. maintainAspectRation forstarters.48

FLASH CS6Step 3: Publishing a flash file that uses videoIf you plan to publish the flash file on a web site or if you mail yourapplication, do not forget to include all the files, for example flash-cs6-mp4-video.html (the HTML file, optional) flash-cs6-mp4-video.swf (the Flash file) BFB-BBC.mp4 (the video) SkinUnderAllNoFullscreen.swf (the skin library)The Loader class is used to load SWF files or image (JPG, PNG,or GIF) files. Use the load() method to initiate loading. The loadeddisplay object is added as a child of the Loader object.Use the URLLoader class to load text or binary data.The Loader class overrides the following methods that it inherits,because a Loader object can only have one child display object—the display object that it loads. Calling the following methodsthrows an exception: addChild(), addChildAt(), removeChild(),removeChildAt(), and setChildIndex(). To remove a loaded displayobject, you must remove the Loader object from its parentDisplayObjectContainer child array.iOS notesvar loader:Loader new Loader();var url:URLRequest new URLRequest(“swfs/SecondarySwf.swf”);var loaderContext:LoaderContext new LoaderContext(false, ApplicationDomain.currentDomain, null);loader.load(url, loaderContext);AIR 3.7 and higher supports loading ofexternally hosted secondary SWFs. Thedetailed description about this featurecan be found here.These iOS restrictions restrictions donot apply when an application is running in the iOS Simulator (ipa-test-interpreter-simulator or ipa-debug-interpreter-simulator) or interpreter mode(ipa-test-interpreter or ipa-debug-interpreter.)In AIR applications on iOS, you can only load a SWF file containingActionScript from the application package. This restriction includesany ActionScript, such as assets with class names exported forActionScript. For loading any SWF file, you must load the SWF usingthe same application domain as the parent SWF, as shown in thefollowing example:In addition, on iOS you can’t load a SWF file that contains anyActionScript ByteCode (ABC) then unload it and reload it. If youattempt to do this, the runtime throws error 3764.Prior to AIR 3.6, only SWF files that do not contain ActionScriptbytecode can be loaded, regardless of whether they’re loadedfrom the application package or over a network. As an alternativeto using an external SWF file with ActionScript, create a SWC libraryand link it in to your main SWF.49

FLASH CS6Loader securityWhen you use the Loader class, consider the Flash Player andAdobe AIR security model:When loading a SWF file from an untrusted source (such as a domain otherthan that of the Loader object’s rootSWF file), you may want to define amask for the Loader object, to preventthe loaded content (which is a child ofthe Loader object) from drawing toportions of the Stage outside of thatmask, as shown in the following code:You can load content from any accessible source. Loading is not allowed if the calling SWF file is in a networksandbox and the file to be loaded is local. If the loaded content is a SWF file written with ActionScript3.0, it cannot be cross-scripted by a SWF file in another securitysandbox unless that cross-scripting arrangement was approvedthrough a call to the System.allowDomain() or the System.allowInsecureDomain() method in the loaded content file. If the loaded content is an AVM1 SWF file (written usingActionScript 1.0 or 2.0), it cannot be cross-scripted by an AVM2SWF file (written using ActionScript 3.0). However, you cancommunicate between the two SWF files by using theLocalConnection class. If the loaded content is an image, its data cannot be accessedby a SWF file outside of the security sandbox, unless the domainof that SWF file was included in a URL policy file at the origindomain of the image. Movie clips in the local-with-file-system sandbox cannot scriptmovie clips in the local-with-networking sandbox, and thereverse is also prevented. You cannot connect to commonly reserved ports. For acomplete list of blocked ports, see “Restricting NetworkingAPIs” in the ActionScript 3.0 Developer’s Guide. However, in AIR, content in the application security sandbox(content installed with the AIR application) are not restricted bythese security limitations.import flash.display.*;import flash.net.URLRequest;var rect:Shape new phics.drawRect(0, 0, 100, 100);rect.graphics.endFill();addChild(rect);var ldr:Loader new Loader();ldr.mask rect;var url:String ar urlReq:URLRequest new URLRequest(url);ldr.load(urlReq);addChild(ldr);50

FLASH CS6Publishing overviewYou can play content in the following ways: In Internet browsers that are equipped with Flash PlayerAs a stand-alone application called a projectorWith the Flash ActiveX control in Microsoft Office and otherActiveX hostsWith Flash Xtra in Director and Authorware from Adobe By default, the Publish command creates a Flash Pro SWF file andan HTML document that inserts your Flash Pro content in abrowser window. The Publish command also creates and copiesdetection files for Macromedia Flash 4 from Adobe and later. If youchange publish settings, Flash Pro saves the changes with thedocument. After you create a publish profile, export it to use inother documents or for others working on the same project to use.When you use the Publish, Test Movie, or Debug Movie commands,Flash creates a SWF file from your FLA file. You can view the sizesof all the SWF files created from the current FLA file in theDocument Property inspector.Document Property inspectorFlash Player 6 and later support Unicode text encoding. WithUnicode support, users can view multilanguage text, regardless ofthe language that the operating system running the player uses.You can publish the FLA file in alternative file formats—GIF, JPEG,and PNG —with the HTML needed to display them in the browserwindow. Alternative formats allow a browser to show your SWF fileanimation and interactivity for users who don’t have the targetedAdobe Flash Player installed. When you publish a Flash Prodocument (FLA file) in alternative file formats, the settings for eachfile format are stored with the FLA file.Note:In Flash Professional CS5, when you set theFlash Player target to Flash Player 10 in thePublish Settings, the target is actually FlashPlayer 10.1.You can export the FLA file in several formats, similar to publishingFLA files in alternative file formats, except that the settings foreach file format are not stored with the FLA file.Alternatively, create a custom HTML document with any HTMLeditor and include the tags required to display a SWF file.To test how the SWF file works before you publish your SWF file,use Test Movie (Control Test Movie Test) and Test Scene(Control Test Scene).51