FX Flash Group

Creating subtitles for flash video using XML

2008-05-23T05:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,
This tutorial will show how to create subtitles on-the-fly from content stored in XML format. It assumes that you know how to create an FLV (Flash Video) file.

First step: Create the Flash file
First you need to create a new fla file and import the FLV file to the main stage. This is automatically wrapped in a FLVPlayback component. Give this the instance name of video1. A dynamic text field also needs to be created for displaying the subtitles. Assign this text field the instance name txt_output.

About cuepoints
Adobe describes a cuepoint as ‘a point at which the video player dispatches a cuePoint event while an FLV file plays’.

We will create a cuepoint for every point in the video that we want to display a subtitle. Cuepoints can be defined directly on the FLVPlayback Component’s Parameter Pane, located on the Component Inspector or the Properties pane. However, we will go a step further and create the cuepoints dynamically using Actionscript.

Each cuepoint requires; a name, the time (in seconds) when it will be displayed, and the text that will be displayed. This information will be stored in an XML file called cuepoints.xml and will follow this structure;

Parsing cuepoints.XML
The first thing to do is to get the subtitle information for each cuepoint from cuepoints.xml. We will use a Class developed by Antonio De Donitas called XModel. This is a very useful class that makes parsing XML files easier. The purpose of the XModel class is to convert XML data into an ActionScript object whose properties are named after the elements and attributes in the XML data.
The XModel class improves upon the built-in functionality of AS2 by:

Reducing the amount of code required to access the XML data.
Making your application-specific code much more readable and, therefore, much easier to extend and maintain.

Here’s a snippet of the code;

var theContent:XModel = new XModel();
var listener = new Object();
theContent.addEventListener("onModelledObject", listener);
theContent.load("xml/cuepoints.xml");

The use of the XModel class follows the same event-driven approach that is broadly used in Flash applications:

Cuepoints.xml is loaded using an XModel instance called theContent.
A listener object called listener has been created and registered so that it listens for an event called onModelledObject, which is triggered by theContent.

Detail of onModelledObject
onModelledObject stores the details of each subtitle in an array for later retrieval. XModel makes the parsing code a lot more meaningful and easier to follow since it allows you to access the xml content by referencing the actual node names. A function called createCuepoint() is also invoked for every iteration of arr_cue_points. Here is what this function looks like;

function createCuepoint(cTitle:String, cTime:String):Void{
var cuePt:Object = new Object(); //create cue point object
cuePt.time = Number(cTime);
cuePt.name = cTitle;
cuePt.type = "actionscript";
video1.addASCuePoint(cuePt); //add AS cue point
}

Code for createCuepoint()
The final line in this function adds the cuepoint to a FLVPlayback instance called video1.

Triggering cuepoints at runtime
Now we need to listen for cuePoint events that occur while the FLV file plays.
A listener object called listenerObject is created and registered to listen for the occurrence of cuePoint events. A cuepoint event is dispatched when the amount of lapsed time is the same as the time property for a cuepoint. Here’s what it looks like;

//populate cuepoints...
var lastCue:Number;
var listenerObject:Object = new Object();
listenerObject.cuePoint = function(eventObject:Object):Void {
var str_name = eventObject.info.name.toString();
_root.txt_output.text = arr_cue_points[str_name].cueText;
}

Handling cuePoint events
Every time a cuepoint is active, the subtitle text for that cuepoint (which is stored in the array we created earlier) is written to a dynamic textfield called txt_output.

Don't forget to add:video1.addEventListener("cuePoint", listenerObject); in your code.

If you require the source files, feel free to ask. :)

Flash Hacks - Flash Performance

2008-05-12T04:19:00.000-07:00

Hi Gang,
I have found some very important stuff related to Flash performance. Refer to the following link:
http://www.actionscript.org/resources/articles/579/1/Flash-Hacks/Page1.html

This post is similar to the one posted by Shaurya, with additional information. It’s a bit old and caters to flash 6, 7, and 8, but the info it gives is still relevant, useful and pretty long.

Enjoy !!!

about flash performance

2008-03-06T05:48:00.001-08:00

Hey People!
In doing SRM06 we faced a major hurdle about flash performance – flash kept crashing
In investigating all that we got to learn a lot of under the hood stuff about the flash player and the flash compiler.Much of it would require a lot of space to share…But, there was one very interesting resource that I dug up, rummaging thru my favs. Folder… hehe .
http://oddhammer.com/actionscriptperformance/
The site is very informative about flash performance issues, has some tests calibrating various operations to milliseconds too!Also there is a wealth of other stuff here – including tutorials on Unicode characters in flash.
It’s a bit old and caters to flash 6, 7, and 8, but the info it gives is still relevant and useful
Enjoy!

:) :) :)

Shaurya Agarwal

ActionScript 3.0 compatibility with previous versions

2008-01-10T04:48:00.001-08:00

Some points to be keep in mind while working with flash previous version (1.0 & 2.0)

.......

Compatibility with previous versions

As always, Flash Player provides full backward compatibility with previously published content. Any content that ran in previous versions of Flash Player runs in Flash Player 9. The introduction of ActionScript 3.0 in Flash Player 9, however, does present some challenges for interoperability between old and new content running in Flash Player 9. The compatibility issues include the following:

A single SWF file cannot combine ActionScript 1.0 or 2.0 code with ActionScript 3.0 code.

ActionScript 3.0 code can load a SWF file written in ActionScript 1.0 or 2.0, but it cannot access the SWF file's variables and functions.

SWF files written in ActionScript 1.0 or 2.0 cannot load SWF files written in ActionScript 3.0. This means that SWF files authored in Flash 8 or Flex Builder 1.5 or earlier versions cannot load ActionScript 3.0 SWF files.

The only exception to this rule is that an ActionScript 2.0 SWF file can replace itself with an ActionScript 3.0 SWF file, as long as the ActionScript 2.0 SWF file hasn't previously loaded anything into any of its levels. An ActionScript 2.0 SWF file can do this through a call to loadMovieNum(), passing a value of 0 to the level parameter.

In general, SWF files written in ActionScript 1.0 or 2.0 must be migrated if they are to work together with SWF files written in ActionScript 3.0. For example, say you created a media player using ActionScript 2.0. The media player loads various content that was also created using ActionScript 2.0. You cannot create new content in ActionScript 3.0 and load it in the media player. You must migrate the video player to ActionScript 3.0.

If, however, you create a media player in ActionScript 3.0, that media player can perform simple loads of your ActionScript 2.0 content.

Making Games from Scratch

2007-11-28T07:38:00.000-08:00

I found something very much interesting on site called as “Scratch” its a tool which allow user to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art and this is all done just by dragging “sprites” on the stage and by assigning value to the variables ! ..So I download the tool and checked out the feature, I really found it very much brainstorming tool for kids its good ….but….. “Ye “but” he tho problem hai” I was thinking we can do much more then this using flash, flex ,director or any other technology.

Just a thought

We can build an engine which will allow users to create game, quiz, assessment, simulations, e-Books etc, this sounds big and complex but nothing seems impossible.

Check this out

http://kidconfidence.com/blogs/2007/10/07/creating-a-video-game-from-scratch-a-fun-way-to-teach-kids-about-computers/

eLearning Technology: Flash Quiz Tools

2007-11-28T04:39:00.000-08:00

I found some useful information related to eLearning tools on the net. Thought it would be worth, if I shared it with you all. Following is the info which I found.
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A client wanted to create online quizzes that would live inside of a larger site. They didn't really need tracking of user responses, instead they wanted them to be fun. I suggested a couple of tools, but then wondered if I had given them the best list of tools.

So, the eLearningGuild research again to the rescue... Here's guild member satisfaction ratings for tools in the test / quiz category. Note: there are additional rating items such as would use again, vendor responsiveness, etc.

Note - the empty column now contains links to more information on the tools. So I could quickly gather specific data on the product. Unfortunately, it didn't tell me how they produced output and the desire was for self-contained Flash. But, I could quickly link to the sites to find out more and finally recommended that they should look at:

Articulate Quizmaker allows you to easily create Flash-based quizzes, surveys, and assessments. And, Quizmaker allows you to track your results with your standards based Learning Management System as Quizmaker output is SCORM and AICC compliant.

Adobe Captivate is the easiest way to create professional-quality, interactive simulations and software demonstrations in Adobe's Flash format. Without any programming or multimedia skills, users can automatically record onscreen actions, including editable mouse movements, text captions, and scored click boxes. Add e-learning interactions like data-entry fields and customizable quizzes.

Respondus StudyMate is a Windows authoring tool that lets you create numerous Flash-based activities and games using four simple templates. StudyMate provides an authoring environment that requires no experience with Flash programming, game design, or HTML. Questions and items can also be imported from MS Word, IMS QTI, Respondus, rich-text, and other formats. This makes it possible to create interesting, interactive activities from existing content. Other features include an Equation Editor, a spell checker, the ability to include image files and web links, and question/answer randomization. The Flash activities that can be created with StudyMate include: Fact Cards, Fact Cards Plus, Flash Cards, Fill In the Blank, Pick A Letter, Matching, Glossary, Crosswords, Quiz, and Challenge. It is also possible to generate three activities that can be used with iPods, PSP players and other portable devices.

OnDemand Presenter provides the ability to develop robust multi media content allowing you to easily incorporate both conceptual and transactional information into interactive presentations. Creates interactive questions and tests using 14 different question and survey types.

Rapid Intake Flashform Rapid eLearning Studio creates interactive Flash-based AICC or SCORM-conformant e-learning courseware. Quickly create Flash-based e-learning courses, quizzes, and tests. Add an integrated glossary - Add external audio, video, and images into the course content Flashform is customizeable and extensible by any knowledgeable Flash developer.
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2007-11-13T05:59:00.000-08:00

http://www.debreuil.com/docs/ch01_Overriding.htm

Flash Accessibility - Section 508 DDA

2007-10-26T04:50:00.000-07:00

Flash and Accessibility - Not the best combination

Flash is really not the choice for accessability, and you will most likely find a lot of visually impared people will be more frustrated with Flash. If you choose flash and javascript, know that you will be restricting the visually impared user to Jaws/Window Eyes (Screen Reader), MS Windows, and Internet Explorer.

As an example, work is currently underway to make Macromedia's Flash technology accessible to people who use screen-reading software. While some positive progress has been made, it will be a considerable time before most users will benefit, and even then, Flash may be accessible only in certain specific circumstances. It is certainly wrong for web designers to assume that improvements in the accessibility of a technology mean that it can be used indiscriminately without regard for the principles of accessible web design.

Mouse-only interactions
Do not use interactive elements within your Flash movie that require the use of the mouse. The most common of these are drag-and-drop and double click. There is no keyboard alternative for either of these events. Flash elements, such as scroll bars and sliders, must include functionality that allows them to be used via a keyboard.

Do not require fine motor skills in order to navigate the movie. Do not move buttons that the user may want to select and make sure that navigation items are of a sufficient size. Because of the visual nature of the Flash authoring environment, it is almost entirely inaccessible to both screen reader and keyboard users. Although menu items, panels, and drawing tools are exposed to screen readers and can be accessed via the keyboard, it is impossible to use the tools to add elements to the Flash stage without using a mouse.

Finally, screen reader users will need to access Macromedia Flash content using the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser. This is the only browser with support for MSAA.

All accessible Flash content must be tested on the Microsoft Windows platform. While there have been recent improvements to the Apple Macintosh OS 10.4 release (Tiger), including a built in screen reader called VoiceOver, the Flash Player does not support this screen reader. All accessible Flash content must be tested using Microsoft Internet Explorer. At the time of publishing this document, Internet Explorer was still the only accessible browser available. The Mozilla Project has made some improvements with the Firefox Browser, and support for screen readers will soon be available. However, the version of the Flash Player that runs in Firefox is not yet accessible.

That is because the Adobe approach to accessibility is windows centric. I found that reading the Adobe product (flash & PDF) chapters in Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance. For example, Flash only talks to Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA) through IE. The Adobe view is that visually impaired people will only use one of five screen readers on a Windows box using IE.

There is a demo version of JAWS available which runs for 20 minutes before you need to restart your OS, great for Parallels or VPC users.

The Adobe definitive list of screen readers (ie ones that work with flash/PDFS) are: GW Micro Window Eyes 4.2 or later, Freedom Scientific JAWS 4.5, 6.1 or later, IBM Home Page Reader 3.04, Dolphin HAL 6.50, KDS PC Talker (Japan), Browsealoud.

Make Flash simpler for:
Hearing disabilities
Provide synchronized captions for any audio that conveys content

Photo epilepsy
Remove strobing content that flashes between 2 and 55 times per second

Motor disabilities
Ensure the Flash content is keyboard accessible
Do not require fine motor skills

Cognitive disabilities
Give users control over time sensitive content Provide easy to use controls and navigation schemes Be consistent Use the clearest, simplest language appropriate to the content

Low vision
Provide plenty of contrast. Allow the Flash content to scale to a larger size. Because Flash is based on vector objects (mathematically defined lines and shapes) rather than raster (pixels of differing colors) technology, most Flash content can be easily scaled to any size without distortion. Individuals with low vision may be able to interact with Flash content in ways not possible with HTML content

Blindness
Ensure screen reader accessibility or provide an accessible alternative Ensure keyboard accessibility Because of the audio capabilities of Flash, it can present content through audio, thus removing the need for a screen reader to extract audio content from the Flash movie. However, you must warn users of screen readers that a self voicing item will play, and give them the option of stopping the audio, but do not interfere with screen reader audio or keyboard commands Provide textual equivalents for all non-text elements that convey content or provide a function

For more information on creating Accessible Flash Content visit http://www.webaim.org/techniques/flash/

For information on VoiceOver visit http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200505/voiceover_and_safari_screen_reading_on_the_mac/
http://images.apple.com/accessibility/voiceover/pdf/VO_GettingStarted.pdf

Following is the comparison between various screen readers.

For Section 508 details visit http://www.section508.gov/

A short history of Flash!

2007-10-19T02:58:00.000-07:00

Hey people!

Today me and Sureshbabu, got around to talking about a history of flash, and turns out that several of my facts were wrong! It turned out to be quiet in interesting discussion.

Here's a short history of the software to tickle your interest.

FutureSplash Animator (Spring 10 April 1996) – initial version of Flash with basic editing tools and a timeline
Flash 1 (November 1996) – a Macromedia re-branded version of the FutureSplash Animator
Flash 2 (June 1997) – Released with Flash Player 2, new features included: the object library
Flash 3 (31 May 1998) – Released with Flash Player 3, new features included: the movieclip element, JavaScript plug-in integration, transparency and an external stand alone player
Flash 4 (15 June 1999) – Released with Flash Player 4, new features included: internal variables, an input field, advanced Actionscript, and streaming MP3
Flash 5 (24 August 2000) – Released with Flash Player 5, new features included: ActionScript 1.0 (based on ECMAScript, making it very similar to JavaScript in syntax), XML support, Smartclips (the precursor to components in Flash), HTML text formatting added for dynamic text
Macromedia Flash MX (ver 6) (15 March 2002) – Released with Flash Player 6, new features included: a video codec (Sorenson Spark), Unicode, v1 UI Components, compression, ActionScript vector drawing API
Flash MX 2004 (ver 7) (9 September 2003) – Released with Flash Player 7, new features included: Actionscript 2.0 (which enabled an object-oriented programming model for Flash), behaviors, extensibility layer (JSAPI), alias text support, timeline effects
Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 (ver 7) (9 September 2003) – Released with Flash Player 7, new features included all Flash MX 2004 features plus: Screens (forms for non-linear state-based development and slides for organizing content in a linear slide format like PowerPoint), web services integration, video import wizard, Media Playback components (which encapsulate a complete MP3 and/or FLV player in a component that may be placed in a SWF), Data components (DataSet, XMLConnector, WebServicesConnector, XUpdateResolver, etc) and data binding APIs, the Project Panel, v2 UI components, and Transition class libraries.
Macromedia Flash Basic 8 (released on 13 September 2005) – A less feature-rich version of the Flash authoring tool targeted at new users who only want to do basic drawing, animation and interactivity. Released with Flash Player 8, this version of the product has limited support for video and advanced graphical and animation effects.
Macromedia Flash Professional 8 (released on 13 September 2005) – Released with the Flash Player 8, Flash Professional 8 added features focused on expressiveness, quality, video, and mobile authoring. New features included Filters and blend modes, easing control for animation, enhanced stroke properties (caps and joins), object-based drawing mode, run-time bitmap caching, FlashType advanced anti-aliasing for text, On2 VP6 advanced video codec, support for alpha transparency in video, a stand-alone encoder and advanced video importer, cue point support in FLV files, an advanced video playback component, and an interactive mobile device emulator.
Flash CS3 Professional (as version 9, released on 16 April 2007) – Flash CS3 is the first version of Flash released under the Adobe name. CS3 features full support for ActionScript 3.0, allows tweens to be converted into ActionScript, adds better integration with other Adobe products such as Adobe Photoshop, and also provides better Vector drawing behavior, becoming more similar to Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Fireworks.

cool! huh! I took this down from the ubiquitious wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash

You get many more interesting tidbits here. Check it out!

Also, for those who are hungry for more here is the history of flash and how it came around by the inventor of Flash - Jonathan Gay.

until next time then!

ciao.

shauryashaurya

...

Video Filters Part 2: Captions added

2007-10-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

Video Filters Part 2: Captions added
Applications
Flash Video Filters demo app

The text is loaded from an XML file and synced with the video as it plays. Note that FLVPLayback has been replaced with the MediaDisplay component (although it could also work with FLVPlayback). Download source files

Flash :: Components :: Plasmaplugs Table Renderer

2007-10-11T05:52:00.000-07:00

Description:
The component provides an advanced HTML table rendering engine for Flash, complete with CSS support and advanced features such as row and column spans. The component can render all common types of content (text, SWF files, images and Flash library objects) and allows embedding custom fonts and offers advanced text rendering controls. This component is available for: Flash MX 2004, Flash Mx Professional 2004 and Flash 8. Features - Support for all common HTML tags and attributes - Supports percentage or fixed widths/heights for table or individual cells - Alpha levels for backgrounds and borders - CSS support - Images/SWF/library object inclusion into table cells - Run-time control for table or individual cells through ActionScript - Send/receive tables to/from a server side script (eg: PHP,ASP,CFM) - Links to custom ActionScript functions from within the table - Font embedding - Advanced text formatting - Built in Help Book.

Features of Plasmaplugs Table Renderer Flash Component
The component provides a html table rendering mechanism for flash, pretty much the same way a web browser renders a html table.Here are some of the supported features in Table Renderer:
Common html tags and attributes
Percentage/fixed widths and heights for table and cells
Alpha levels for backgrounds and borders
Embedded fonts
Css support
Images/swf/library movie clips inclusion into table cells
Dynamic control table and cells through actionscript
Send/receive tables to/from a server side script (eg: php,asp,cfm)
Link to custom actionscript functions from within the table cells
Built in Help Book that can be accessed via the Flash Help Panel

This component is available For:
FlashMx2004, FlashMx2004 Proffesional 2004 and Flash8

Resource Specification
Platform(s):
linux, windows, freebsd, osx, sun

Additional Info:
With a limit of 4 x 4 size for the tables as a trial limitation. No restrictions on the full version.

You can read more about the Table Renderer component here http://www.plasmaplugs.com/

'Voodoo Chicken' or the 'Vietnam War', If It Is Working Don't Change!

2007-10-10T23:47:00.000-07:00

In figuring out the Big OOP Kahuna, we've all come across the ubiquitious 'Design Patterns' right?

Cool, now how many times just 'knowing' about a design pattern helped us write better code, create more robust systems, create reusable, more valuable code?

In my experience, not many.

No matter how well engineered the application, how well written the code, we still have rarely profited by writing code for that very application, in terms of raw effort, if at all, our profit margins have been pretty slim.

I go from project to project coding similar applications, and its a rare instance that I am able to reuse my code with minimal effort. Even in the cases where I know a 'trick' of how to get something done, I still struggle as hard in 'implementing' it in my current situation, as I fought with the problem in the first case!

There are too many examples to count : Multi Page Printing in flash, or Depth Management in Flash, or Drag-Drop like activities in Flash. Although I know how I did it in one project, It's still hardly a 15-20% reduction in my effort, the next time I do it!

This sort of problems plague us coders every step of the way, in every project, in every product.

But, where do we miss, where is it that things go wrong?

In the quest to improve the quality of (and practice of writing) my code, I came across a significant observation, I'll quote this verbatim :

"Identifying bad practices can be as valuable as identifying good practices."

How simple was that!

With this deceptively simple little observation in place, software engineers across the world set out to document both, their smiles as the good practices, and their sins as the bad ones.[okay pathetically cheesy line, but, you do get the point, don't you.]

The good practices took the shape of Design Patterns, from starting in the completely unrelated feild of architecture (the brick and mortar kind), they spread to management practices, governance and finally in programming of digital applications, a domain where we, the coders, encounter them most often.

But, what happened to the bad practices?

As it turns out, these were documented as the "Anti-Patterns".

Their official definition is :
"An AntiPattern is a pattern that tells how to go from a problem to a bad solution."

It makes an interesting read, wading thru the Anti Patterns Catalog.

I must confess to have comitted many of these sins as listed in the catalogue :)
Look thru, how many can you recognise to have comitted? Ummm... don't tell me, hehe...

But, there's always hope, and I am trying to improve, I look at some of these anti-patterns, and try to eliminate them from my day-to-day work and from my line-to-line code.

Here are some of my favorites, not just interesting names, but, interesting lessons in software engineering too, check them out :

So, people, take a look at these and see if there is anything you can find to help you improve as a coder, or help you resolve an issue your project...

BTW: "Voodoo chicken" is also a slang for "a spicy chicken dish"...

ciao.

shauryashaurya

PDF Tool

2007-10-10T04:33:00.000-07:00

SWF Tools is a collection of SWF manipulation and creation utilities written by Rainer Böhme and Matthias Kramm. It is released under the GPL. Included are:
PDF2SWF A PDF to SWF Converter. Generates one frame per page. Enables you to have fully formatted text, including tables, formulas etc. inside your Flash Movie. It's based on the xpdf PDF parser from Derek B. Noonburg.
SWFCombine A tool for inserting SWFs into Wrapper SWFs. (Templates) E.g. for including the pdf2swf SWFs in some sort of Browsing-SWF.
SWFStrings Scans SWFs for text data.
SWFDump Prints out various informations about SWFs.
JPEG2SWF Takes one or more JPEG pictures and generates a SWF slideshow.
PNG2SWF Like JPEG2SWF, only for PNGs.
GIF2SWF Converts GIFs to SWF. Also able to handle animated gifs.
WAV2SWF Converts WAV audio files to SWFs, using the L.A.M.E. MP3 encoder library.
AVI2SWF Converts AVI animation files to SWF. It supports Flash MX H.263 compression. Some examples can be found at examples.html.
Font2SWF Converts font files (TTF, Type1) to SWF.
SWFBBox Allows to readjust SWF bounding boxes.
SWFC A tool for creating SWF files from simple script files.
SWFExtract Allows to extract Movieclips, Sounds, Images etc. from SWF files.
RFXSWF Library A fully featured library which can be used for standalone SWF generation. Includes support for Bitmaps, Buttons, Shapes, Text, Fonts, Sound etc. It also has support for ActionScript using the Ming ActionCompiler. SWFTools has been reported to work on Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, HP-UX, MacOS X and Windows 98/ME/2000/XP.

Introduction to Apollo

2007-10-10T03:56:00.000-07:00

Apollo is a new cross-platform desktop runtime being developed by Adobe thatallows web developers to use web technologies to build and deploy Rich InternetApplications and web applications to the desktop.In order to better understand what Apollo enables, and which problems it tries toaddress, it is useful to first take a quick look over at the (relatively short) history ofweb applications.