The Essential Guide to Open Source Flash Development

✍ Scribed by Chris Allen, Wade Arnold, Aral Balkan, Nicolas Cannasse, John Grden, Moses Gunesch, Marc Hughes, R. Jon MacDonald, Andy Zupko

• Publisher: apress
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 410
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

• Explore the world of open source Flash and discover which tools are available.
• Learn how to identify which tool you need and how to best fit it into your workflow.
• Step-by-step walk-throughs guide you through development with the most popular open source Flash tools.
• Written by the project leads and open source Flash aficionados.

The Essential Guide to Open Source Flash Development is a practical development guide to creating Flash applications with open source Flash tools and workflows. You will walk away with an understanding of what tools will best suit your current situation, making your development easier and more productive, and with the knowledge of how to install and set up some of the best tools available, including the following:

• Papervision3D: to create 3D in Flash
• Red5: to stream video over the internet
• SWX: to build data-driven mashups and mobile apps
• Fuse: to make ActionScript animation a cinch
• Go: to build your own animation tools in ActionScript 3.0
• haXe: to create Flash files and more
• AMFPHP: to communicate between Flash and php

Open source Flash has been a revolution for Flash and has made a major impact on how people build Flash content. The open source tools available expand on Flash's existing tool set, enabling you to perform such tasks as easily create full 3D in Flash or hook up to an open source video-streaming server. Many of these useful tools are powerful yet lack documentation. this book explains in step-by-step detail how to use the most popular open source Flash tools.

If you want to expand your Flash tool set and explore the open source Flash community, then this book is for you. If you already use some open source Flash tools, then you will find this book a useful documentation resource as well as an eye-opener to the other tools that are available.

Summary of Contents

• Chapter 1 Introducing the World of Open Source Flash
• Chapter 2 Exploring Open Source Flash: What's Available
• Chapter 3 Preparing an Open Source Workflow
• Chapter 4 Using an Open Source Workflow
• Chapter 5 Testing and Debugging
• Chapter 6 Deploying Your Application
• Chapter 7 Using AMFPHP
• Chapter 8 Working with SWX: The Native Data Format for the Flash Platform
• Chapter 9 Using haXe
• Chapter 10 Fuse and GoASAP: Open Source Animation Tools
• Chapter 11 Using Papervision3D
• Chapter 12 Introducing Red5
• Chapter 13 Building Some Red5 Apps

✦ Table of Contents

The Essential Guide to Open Source Flash Development......Page 1
CONTENTS AT A GLANCE......Page 7
CONTENTS......Page 9
ABOUT THE AUTHORS......Page 17
ABOUT THE TECHNICAL REVIEWER......Page 21
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 23
Layout conventions......Page 25
INTRODUCING THE WORLD OF OPEN SOURCE FLASH......Page 29
Community open source initiatives......Page 35
Development tools......Page 36
Libraries and toolkits......Page 39
Server-side technologies......Page 41
Adobe open source initiatives......Page 42
ActionScript 3 libraries......Page 43
And many more . . .......Page 44
PREPARING AN OPEN SOURCE WORKFLOW......Page 47
Installing the Java JDK......Page 48
Installing the Flex SDK......Page 49
Installing FlashDevelop......Page 51
Installing MTASC......Page 55
Installing an IDE......Page 56
Installing Eclipse......Page 57
Installing Eclipse plug-ins......Page 58
Installing swfmill......Page 69
Installing Xray......Page 70
Installing a web server......Page 75
Installing Ant......Page 76
Using FlashDevelop to create an ActionScript 3 build script......Page 77
Using Eclipse to create an ActionScript 2 build script......Page 78
USING AN OPEN SOURCE WORKFLOW......Page 83
Integrating SWFs from designers......Page 84
Creating a Flash application with FlashDevelop......Page 88
Creating a Flex application with FlashDevelop......Page 99
ActionScript 2 development......Page 105
Modifying the build process......Page 106
Reading a list of recipes......Page 108
Bringing it all together......Page 117
Viewing the recipe details......Page 120
Displaying the recipe details......Page 123
Unit testing......Page 129
Test cases, suites, and runners......Page 130
-tiered testing hierarchies......Page 133
Getting started with AsUnit......Page 134
Creating an AsUnit test case......Page 135
Creating an AsUnit test runner......Page 137
Getting started with FlexUnit......Page 140
Creating the FlexUnit test case......Page 142
Creating the FlexUnit test suite......Page 143
Creating the FlexUnit test runner......Page 144
Asynchronous testing......Page 146
Using Xray to log effectively......Page 148
Using the Xray Property Inspector......Page 151
Inspecting nonvisual objects......Page 154
Executing ActionScript at runtime......Page 156
Embedding SWF content......Page 159
Using SWFObject......Page 161
Staging strategies......Page 165
Using Ant and FTP......Page 168
Using Ant and SFTP/SCP......Page 171
Executing commands on the server......Page 172
Deploying desktop applications......Page 173
Creating the front-end SWF......Page 174
Creating the Screenweaver back-end......Page 175
Interacting with the Screenweaver application from Flash......Page 177
Distributing your desktop application......Page 179
Introducing AMFPHP......Page 181
What are the benefits of AMF?......Page 182
The requirements for using AMFPHP in the examples......Page 183
Server configuration......Page 184
Creating your first service......Page 185
Using the Service Browser tool......Page 186
Consuming HelloWorld......Page 187
The HelloWorld logic......Page 189
Building the database adapter......Page 192
Testing the database connection......Page 193
Integrating the database and Flash......Page 194
Additional ProductService methods......Page 197
Interface alterations to manipulate products......Page 198
Connecting to HelloWorld with Flex......Page 201
Using Flex to update the product database......Page 208
Class mapping from PHP to ActionScript 3......Page 213
Creating the data access object......Page 214
Creating the application......Page 215
Narrowing it down......Page 219
Dealing with a corrupt PHP installation......Page 220
Dealing with service errors......Page 221
Dealing with ActionScript errors......Page 222
Thanks . . .......Page 223
WORKING WITH SWX: THE NATIVE DATA FORMAT FOR THE FLASH PLATFORM......Page 225
A common vocabulary......Page 226
Why do you need a new data format?......Page 227
Supported platforms and technologies......Page 228
How simple is SWX?......Page 229
SWX Service Explorer......Page 230
SWX Data Analyzer......Page 231
Installing SWX on your server......Page 232
All platforms......Page 233
Writing your first custom service......Page 234
Consuming your calculator service in Flash......Page 235
Case study: p.i.n.k. Spirits......Page 239
Goal: a product locator......Page 241
Establishing an initial service connection......Page 243
Creating assets for search and results states......Page 246
Adding the functionality......Page 248
Getting more information......Page 252
Flash for developers......Page 255
The arrival of MTASC......Page 256
ActionScript 3......Page 257
The birth of haXe......Page 258
haXe IDE......Page 259
Displaying the SWF......Page 260
haXe trace......Page 261
Syntax differences......Page 263
API differences......Page 264
Feature 1: libraries......Page 266
Feature 2: interoperability......Page 267
Feature 4: typed arrays......Page 268
Feature 6: speed......Page 269
Feature 7: independence......Page 270
Feature 8: and much more . . .......Page 271
Summary......Page 272
Introducing Fuse......Page 275
Open source mash-up......Page 276
The need for speed in AVM 1......Page 277
ZigoEngine: Fuse’s animation engine......Page 278
Stylizing motion......Page 280
Fuse: sequencing simplicity......Page 281
Life after Fuse 2: transitioning to ActionScript 3......Page 289
The Go ActionScript animation platform......Page 290
The need for speed in AVM 2......Page 291
Go architecture......Page 293
Rolling your own animation classes......Page 296
EllipseTween......Page 310
GoASAP, garbage collection, and memory......Page 314
Into the wild: physics, 3D, and beyond......Page 316
USING PAPERVISION3D......Page 319
The committer team......Page 320
The CS3 component......Page 321
Explanation of the parts......Page 322
Primitives......Page 323
Materials......Page 324
Your first Papervision project......Page 325
Setting up Flash......Page 326
Creating the asset......Page 327
Initializing the scene......Page 329
Adding the cube......Page 330
Summary......Page 334
INTRODUCING RED5......Page 337
The history of Red5......Page 338
Installing Red5......Page 340
Simple Windows setup......Page 341
Checking your installation......Page 346
Setting up your development environment......Page 348
Setting up Eclipse for Red5 development......Page 349
Starting Red5 in Eclipse......Page 351
How Red5 web applications are set up......Page 353
Directory structure of Red5 applications......Page 354
Source code......Page 355
Configuration files......Page 356
Connecting to myTest with Flash......Page 357
Debugging Red5 in Eclipse......Page 359
Simple samples......Page 365
Exploring SimpleBallDemo......Page 366
Exploring SimpleBroadcaster and SimpleRecorder......Page 369
Exploring SimpleSubscriber......Page 372
Creating simple chat using SoSend......Page 374
Exploring SimpleStreamPlayer......Page 377
Being a guitar hero......Page 378
Getting a list of MIDI devices......Page 379
Receiving MIDI messages......Page 382
Sending MIDI messages......Page 383
Flexing your Red5 muscles......Page 387
VideoBroadcaster.mxml......Page 388
VideoPlayer.mxml......Page 389
Chat.mxml......Page 390
Links and more......Page 391
INDEX......Page 395