#1 2011-06-28 15:54:33

**_jamerson_**

Once and for all FLASH!

Hi, I'm hoping someone can give me a definitive answer here.

I know connect has gone to AS3.0, so the old SYNCSWF in Flash will no longer work and all has to be re-written. But is there a new SyncSWF for FLASH? Can I used Flash to develop for connect8 with the same functionality that I had with syncSWF.
The only thing I can find is the collaboration SDK, however that appears to be only for Flex, no mention of flash.
What about the Web Service, does this give the same functionality as syncSWF used to?

Any help would be much appreciated.

James

**_ssahai_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

The new collaboration SDK supports AS3. Hence it should be good to go with Flash as well as Flex.
You can just import the swc inside Flash and start working.
Web services are just calls to the server for doing something. SyncSWFs allow you to provide the whole new interface to the functionality which may even be in addition to what Connect provides. This actually  matches with the new name that Adobe can now come up for them 'Extensions'.

alistairlee

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

My understanding is that the current SDK does not work with the Flash authoring tool - only with Flex.

I'd love to be proven wrong here though since all of my old extensions were created with Flash.

**_FrankBWalsh_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

I'm looking for an answer to this same question. I have a swf written in flash that I'd like to obtain the username using the sync connector, but everything I'm reading suggests you can only use the curren SDK in flex.

Can anyone give us a pointer here?

**_ssahai_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

I'm sorry I was wrong. I verified by writing a Flash swf and it is not recognized as a syncswf by Connect. Actually there is nothing in the SDK that should require Flex, I guess this must be an oversight somewhere. I am filing a bug for the same. Fingers crossed.

Last edited by **_ssahai_** (2011-06-30 03:48:32)

**_jamerson_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

Thanks ssahai, as you say, I can't see any reason why it shouldn't work in flash, Flex produces swfs and uses as3. I also tried as you suggested and tried converting one of the examples with the sdk to a as3 class. Flash does see the syncConnector in the actions panel, but I can't get it to work. Perhaps if enough people complain about this, they might do something about it.

**_AChemey_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

@FrankBWalsh - if all you are trying to do is to wean the users name from a Connect Meeting from a Flash file, you can just use the XML-API's to accomplish this.  A lot of data can be weaned from the XML-API's.  I have only used the SyncSWF (and related components) to ensure all users experiences are the same (e.g. synchronizing the screens of your application).  However, if you want to display, purely as an example, a certificate for each user showing their own individual name you can just use the XML-API's in your Flash-based certificate without using SyncSWF.

**_dhwalker_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

jamerson
Here is a blog article and a couple of videos you might find helpful.

http://blog.easelsolutions.com/2011/06/ … ct-8-pods/

**_jamerson_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

Thanks dhwalker, those videos and resources are great. However I'm loading up the example of part 2 and it never appears to load up the CustomPod.swf. If I put the emulator swf and index test.swf into flash it works but only with one instance of the index. Outside of flash, it just doesn't play ball. Has anyone else had the same problem, or is it just me?

James

**_dtauer_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

@James  I responded to your question on our blog, but thought I'd get you here too.  I just double-checked the Part 2 files from my tutorial and they worked fine in a meeting room.  The thing to remember is to ZIP up both the "index.swf" and the CustomPod.swf files.  Those are the only two files you need to zip.  Then add the ZIP file into the share pod in a meeting room.  Because the zip file contains "index.swf" that file will be run by Connect (and that file loads the CustomPod.swf file).  Hope this helps.

**_jamerson_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

@dtauer, I've figured out what the problem was. It was actually down to the security sandbox settings in the Flash player, to allow the player to load up external swf files locally, you must add the path to the Trusted Location settings (Right click on a flash player, select Global Settings from the drop down list. Then depending on your player version you will either need to click on the Advanced Tab and then click on Trusted Location Settings, or you will be presented with a web page, click on Global Security Settings on the left and a panel should appear in the browser where you can add the required path.

After doing that, it works perfectly, so thank you very much for creating those, I'm not a Flex user prefering the freedom of Flash Pro, just wish Adobe had created the SWFConnector so that Flash could use it.

James

**_dtauer_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

Nice find!  I'm going to update my blog post to mention that.  I have my entire development folder allowed so I never get those issues (and always forget to add that step in the instructions!)

**_jamerson_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

@dtauer - I'm currently testing in the Connect room, I have opened a number of connect sessions on the same computer so I can see both host and participant sides. However quite frequently when I load up the app, some users never actually get the app showing up, they just stare at the silver background of the pod window. Some get it, others do not, if I stop sharing and reload it different users will get it and others will not, eventually all will get it. I'm wondering if this might be something to do with the Flex swfLoader, any ideas?
I can send you the zip if you wish to see if does the same for you? (james.hill.kw1a@fmr.com) again, thanks for any help on this.

James

**_jamerson_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

Something else I've found in this is that the delta messages never seem to get through and the caught_up event doesn't seem to get passed through.

**_jamerson_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

Ok I've found another funny issue with the wrapper. dtauer, I know you're busy but if you have any idea on this would I'd much appreciate it.  I have a html text field with a link event listener attached to it. If I load the swf up on its own then the event listener works as expected. However as soon as I load it into the flex wrapper, the mouse pointer changes to a hand when rolling over a link as normal. However when clicked the event doesn't bubble through to the function assigned. It just doesn't appear to recognise the click. Any idea why this would be the case?

**_dtauer_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

Have you tried changing the LINK event to a CLICK event on the TextField. This would at least eliminate a mouseChildren or mouseEnabled issue (which I doubt since the cursor is reacting to the link).  Also, are you adding the event listener directly to the text field?  (i.e. yourField.addEventListener.......)

**_jamerson_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

Thanks for getting back to me.
From what I can see, I can't use CLICK with TextEvent only LINK (or TEXT_INPUT).

For the listener I'm just using

FeedbackClip.FeedbackBox.PlayerList.addEventListener(TextEvent.LINK, playerIsSelected);

PlayerList being the textField.

and the called function:

function playerIsSelected(e:TextEvent){
    trace("usrID:"+e.text);
}

With a series of:
<a href=\"event:"+sortedList[i].usrId+"\">"+UserList[sortedList[i].usrId].userName+"</a><br>

getting dumped into the field. It's really odd, like the flex framework has something in there which stops the event from being passed to the swf file.

**_dtauer_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

Just for the heck of it, try:

FeedbackClip.FeedbackBox.PlayerList.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, playerIsSelected);
function playerIsSelected(e:MouseEvent){
    trace("whatever");
}

Basically, this is just to see if the CLICK event will work.  You won't get to differentiate between the different links, but the event listener should fire.

By the way, are you using the trace statement to verify it's working in the Flex shell?  Flash won't pick up on the trace statement if you are running the shell.  In this case you might have to put something "real" in your function (like populate a text field or hide/show something)

**_jamerson_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

The MouseEvent does go through just fine, I'm using it else where in the program as well though so it wasn't entirely unexpected I guess.

**_dtauer_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

I figured it out.  Because this SWF is getting loaded into a Flex-based SWF, you need to set the "selectable" property of you TextField to true:  FeedbackClip.FeedbackBox.PlayerList.selectable=true;

**_jamerson_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

Nice work! You're right it does work when I set it to selectable. However it also gives me the I bar in the rest of the field, so I need to try and figure out a way to get around that.

**_dtauer_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

yeah, I don't think there's a way to get around that other than using multiple TextFields

**_Olden_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

I am also a Flash developer and would like to continue to use the Flash IDE for Connect 8 development. Is it just the two of us (jamerson and myself) who prefer this approach?

I have been working with dtauer's template from blog.easelsolutions.com, but I wonder: does anyone else out there also have a generic starter template created specifically for Flash that they can share? And what has your experience been like so in working this way?

Thanks very much!

**_jamerson_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

Hi Olden,

I don't specifically have a template I can share, I thought about writing a class for it but there didn't seem to be a lot of point, it would just be another layer. Writing one would end up being rather limiting I think to do what you want to do in the app. If you have any thoughts on how it could work I'm open to giving it a go though.
dtauer's wrapper is certainly great and I'm using it alot at the moment, but as you can see from the messages above it does have it's limitations (though through no fault of dtauer at all!). Adobe are apparently working on moving the sdk over to Flash, but when that will come through I've yet to receive an answer. If anyone from Adobe is reading this, perhaps they could offer some clarification and timelines as I have seen quite a few people looking out for this.

**_Olden_**

Re: Once and for all FLASH!

FYI -- I checked in with Adobe support, who checked with the Flash application developers. At this point, there's still  no update regarding Connect SDK components for Flash. So those of use still using Flash for Connect 8 custom pod development will still need to muddle through as we are.

Dustin's Flex wrapper has been working fairly well for me, though I have the same issue that Jamerson mentioned earlier where neither the delta messages or the CAUGHT_UP event work as expected. Have either of you found a workaround for this?

Thanks!