Flash 5 Flash MX

a) PC/Windows issues index

Flash 5 supports six FSCommands:

fullscreen - With this option you can able/disable fullscreen viewing of you movie. You can put it

in the frame or button (if you prefere leaving this choice to the user):

fscommand("fullscreen", "true");

allowscale - If you want to mantain aspect ratio of your movie and prevent it from being scaled

by the user you should set this option to 'false':

fscommand("allowscale", "false");

Sometimes (when you set your projector to fullscreen and you want to mantain its aspect ratio byallowscale/false), when you have some objects outside the stage, they will eventualy be seeneven if you don't want them to. You can solve this problem by putting a Mask with the size ofyour stage on the topmost layer of your movie to cover all off-stage objects. Another thing toremember is that any .swf you load into the main projector inherits its allowscale settings.

showmenu - 'False' argument will disable the upper menu (File/View/Control/Help) and all right

click menu options except "About Macromedia..." in Flash 5 and "Configuration" and "About..." inFlash MX.

fscommand ("showmenu", "false");

There is no way to eliminate completely right click menu (or put our own one) without some 3rdparty tool (even though you could do it in Hex Editor if you know how - check Sx's threads inResources). Title bar ("Flash" in Flash 5 and "Macromedia Flash Player 6 " in Flash MX) and iconcan also be removed/changed only with 3rd party tools.

trapallkeys - If you don't use this option (or you put it to 'false') user can exit fullscreen mode of

your projector by pressing Esc key. 'True' argument locks all keys, but user can still access Statusbar by pressing Windows key - if projector is set fullscreen - and exit your projector by pressingAlt + F4. Some non-advanced users may not know how to use these keys combinations, so besure to put some exit button if your projector is set to fullscreen and you used trapallkeys/true.

fscommand("trapallkeys", "true");

quit - As its name says, it closes your projector. You can put it into button or frame (no

parameters needed):

fscommand("quit");

exec - This command revealed itself to be the most interessting because it gives us the

oportunity to make movies communicate with other programs, open files in their defaultapplications and lot more (see Resources for more details):

fscommand ("exec", "c:\\windows\\notepad.exe");

This will open Notepad from Flash 5 projector. "Exec" fscommand in Flash MX is severely crippledfor security reasons and it does not allow passing arguments anymore. It can only open programs(applications, not specific documents in their default programs as it was possible before) whichmust be located in the fscommand folder on the root of projector file (no need to put thisfscommand folder in the path, Flash already knows it is supposed to look for it there).

In Flash 5 there is also an undocumented "save" FSCommand which allows you to write variables tousers HD and it was (also) suppressed in Flash MX. You can try using Shared Local Objects instead or3rd party tools to regain some of the "old power" of 'Exec' and 'Save' fscommands.

b) Macintosh issues index

Normaly all above code should work on Macintosh platform without problems (Flash was made to becrossplatform). One thing you will not be able to do with Mac projector is to write variables on user's HD.Also, when opening files with FSCommand in Flash 5 projectors you should remember to use colons (:)(and not slashes (/) as in PC) to separate folders in a pathname: FSCommand ("exec",":folder:filename");. On the other side, OSX uses standard Unix path notation (/) and not colon.

Another way to open specific file with Mac projector is by using applescript, which you should compileas an application in AppleScript Editor and then run it with FSCommand. Your applescript and file youwant to open with should be in the same folder. Here are 2 examples:

--set the name of the file to open property fileName : "thedocument.pdf"--get the path to the containing folder set myPath to (path to me as string)set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ":"set the parentFolder to ¬((text items 1 thru -2 of myPath) & "") as stringset AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""-- find the flash file tryset targetFile to alias (the parentFolder & fileName)on error--ie if there's no file here by this name, it will quit. return quitend trytell application "Finder"open file targetFileend tell

source

tell application "Finder"activate select file "Your File" of disk "Your Disk"open selection end tell

source

There seems to be a problem/bug with Flash MX projectors for Mac: basicaly if you have to load .swfs inyour main movie it will not stay fullscreen even if you put the FSCommand for it correctly. Workaroundfor this problem is to create an empty "container" movie with only FSCommand for fullscreen, and thenload your content into level1 or higher. That seems to be the only way Mac projector will stay fullscreen(see Resources below for more details).

Unfortunately, there are no 3rd party tools for Mac that could help you enhance your projectors asthere are for PC.

4. Burning CDs with projectors index

Ok, you have your flaming projector and you want to burn it on CD for distribution. Presuming most of usknow how to burn CD for our own platform, only burning hybrid CD (crossplatform) will be covered here.

Since Flash projectors on CD have to be loaded completely in computer's memory before they start toplay, beware of their size. Even though there is no definite answer (using preloaders and loading .swfsinto main movie may help), it is recommended that they should not be bigger then 25 Mb (Macromedia'soriginal advice is: no bigger then 4MB!!! - see resouces for the technote). If you have to do a biggerproject, you may consider switching to Director.

a) Burning on Mac index

Since Mac recognizes the ISO 9660 file system and Windows file formats, and Windows do notunderstand Mac's Hierarchical File System (HFS) file format, hybrid CDs used to be burned on Macintosh.But PC users should not despare because there are workarounds to this (see below).

Toast is one of the burning programs which allows making Hybrid CDs on Mac. You will need to maketemporary disk partition on your Desktop and copy your Mac projector and eventualy the shared .swffiles (those that will be seen on both Mac and PC) on it. In another folder on your desktop (but not inthe temporary partition) put all PC files (projector, autorun.inf and icon). Then in Toast window chooseCustom Hybrid, select Mac volume, press Data button and then simply select your temporary partition(or drag it on Toast window). Now choose ISO volume, hit ISO button and select your PC files from thefolder you made (just files, not whole folder), and select also all shared .swf files from the temporaryMac partition. This way the shared files will be burned only once, but will be seen on both Mac and PC.You will have to specify "Joliet" naming settings for PC files so the names can be longer then 8.3characters.

Autostart feature on Mac is handled by QuickTime and you can choose the file you want to autostart(your projector) from the settings in Mac volume of Toast window. If you want your PC projector toautorun when CD is inserted, you'll have to make autorun.inf file. You can use free program BBEdit tocreate this file for PC on your Mac. Choose New document and write this:[autorun]open=yourprojector.exeicon=youricon.ico

Save the file as autorun.inf. It should be on the root of CD to work correctly. If you want your CD toshow custom icon in Windows Explorer, it should be Windows icon format, any simple graphic image willnot work. Program called Iconographer can make Windows icons on Mac.

It may be vise to allocate enough RAM memory (size of your projector, size of .swf files to load into themain one and a couple more Mb just to be sure) to your Mac partition before burning, because CDinherits its memory settings. When you have all this done, burn your CD and enjoy...

b) Burning on PC index

The only way to create crossplatform (hybrid) CDs on PC is to use specific program which makes imagefile (nothing to do with graphic images) containing your Mac and PC projector and eventual shared files.Image file is then burned to CD with your favourite burning software. The result is functional and autorunworks on PC as autostart does on Mac. Here is the procedure to use with program called MacImage:

When you open the program it willbe in the default Project Mode andHybrid view.

Give the name to the Project, launch Explorer and drag your files in their places: PC projector, autorun

file and icon into the ISO view of the MacImage window (files with yellow spots in the picture) and Macprojector into the HSF view (file with green spot). Do not worry about decoding of .hqx file, programtakes care of it. Shared files (both yellow and green spots) go into ISO/HSF view because this way PCusers will see only PC files, Mac users will see only Mac files and both will see shared files.

Once you finished all this, you will have to compile image file: choose Compile option from the Projectsmenu (or click fourth button on the toolbar - look for the pointer in the picture above), give the name toyour image file and the program will do the rest. All you have to do now is burn compiled image to CDwith burning software.

To implement the Autostart feature for Mac you should take one more step. Reopen the compiled imagein the Partition Mode (switch mode in the first item of Options menu), select the file you want toautostart (your Mac projector), and choose Autolaunch feature from the right click menu. Resave theimage and it will be ready for burning.

Almost all burning packages are capable of burning image files. In Nero you should choose Burn Imageoption from File menu, open your image file (switch to "all files" type to see it), accept the defaultvalues from pop up window and it will burn image to CD. And that's it...

PC users can make autorun.inf file in text editor (Notepad)and it should look like the one on the picture on the left.Autorun should be on the root of your CD but yourprojector and icon do not have to be. Just remember tochange autorun.inf file if you plan for any reason to putyour projector in specific folder (the same is valid formaking autorun.inf for burning hybrid CD on Mac).

5. Resources index

a) FSCommand/Projectors index

Standalone & Applicationsand Macintosh Forums on FlashKit Board should be a best place to start (and continue). There are alsointeresting tutorials on FlashKit about manipulating projectors, opening files from projector with batchfiles and autorun features.

Basic info about FSCommand and Flash size from Macromedia site.

Three useful tutorials in our own AS.org tutorial section: Launch Applications, Opening Documentsand Execute Files from Flash projectors.

All the things you ever dreamed of doing with Flash (but never dared to ask how): check "Flash andoffline usage" part of Sx's "Must Read Threads" at were-here.com and enjoy (there is a smaller versionof it at FlashKit)...

Very good FREE application to launch, save, copy, move, print, delete files, manipulate windows, playwith registry and dll's... from Flash projector is called Flash Command Line Tools. Works with Flash 3to 5 but not with MX. FlashGeek is a program originaly meant to let you open documents from Flash 5projectors, but will work with MX also since it passes arguments though text files (the only drawback isthat you need a separate copies of program's .exe and .txt file for every document you want to open).If you want to launch files from MX projector you could use another two free applications: Executorand freeMX. Both need Flash OCX to be installed on users machine, but the latter is more completesince it will check for ocx and if it is not there, freeMX will install it (you should include the full playerinstaller on CD - it is free but be sure to sign the licence agreement at Macromedia site).

Les Paone recently renewed his site (you can still find his FREE edited player) and included a new toolfor MX projectors called SOP. Using Flash Shared Objects it allows running programs, opening, deletingand printing files, minimizing and maximizing your projector.

Here is (partial) list of 3rd party tools with which you can customize your projector and enhance itsfunctionalities: SWF Studio, Flash 'N Pack, LPFlashEX, FlashAnts, Jugglor. They are all comercial. Ifyou are looking for a freeware tool try Resource Hacker (here is a nice tutorial about it). It will let youcustomize some of the projector features, but beware because the issue about its legality is not quite

clear.

Northcode Inc. has some nice free utilities too: Topmost will let you open browser window (or anyother) in front of fullscreen projector; Browse will open an Windows Explorer on the root of the drive it'slaunched from (it has no parameters so it will work from Flash 5 and MX); Center will let you center thewindow of application launched from projector (Flash 5 and MX); Kill is used to close any window fromprojector (Flash 5, check here for the documentation); with Min you can minimize any applicationrunning alongside your projector (Flash 5); Wallpapr allows you to set Desktop wallpaper from projector(Flash 5) and if you are interested in making Flash projector "talk" with Visual Basic, check theseexamples: fscommand.zip and flashvb.zip. Tim Goss (known as Northcode - moderator of FlashKitStandalone & Applications Forum) started other two sites you may find interesting: BeyondFlash isinformational and ExtendingFlash is practical with some of his free utilities.

If for any reason you prefer to mantain your movie as .swf inside HTML page but you would still like tohave it autorun from CD you may use these two tools: autohtml.exe or Northcode's RunFile.

All above mentioned resources are only for PC. To edit basic features of Mac projectors (title, icon, rightclick menu) you could use ResEdit. But there are no 3rd party tools to significantly manipulate andextend Mac projectors. This may be the only possible solution at the moment.

Here is the link for details about that problem/bug for MX fullscreen projector on Mac (together withsome problems about Autostart feature on OSX). Applescript in detail from apple.com. You will need tohave CarbonLib 1.5 or latter installed if you want to run Flash MX projector on Mac OS 9.x (read thetechnote). Another conflict that may cause problems with executing MX projectors in OS 9.x (they mayrun slow or not even run at all) is with Logitech MouseWare extension (technote).

b) CD Burning index

Comprehensive tutorial for burning hybrid CDs with Toast from the Roxio site.

You can find David Hrycyszyn's very good in-detail tutorial about burning hybrid CDs on Mac (the onethat used to be on were-here.com) here.

Although not Flash centered, this two tutes can also be interesting: setpixel's one about burningDirector projects, and Rose Marshack's one about enhanced music CDs. More usefull info about extraCDs (music and multimedia content) can be found in this thread.

As seen before, MacImage will allow PC users to create hybrid/crossplatform CDs (check their site, it'sfull of precious information about Mac/PC file transfer issues). Another program (much bigger and moreexpensive though) with same features is CDEveryWhere.

BBEdit and Iconographer for Mac users. Nice FREE icon editor for PC is @icon sushi.

Happy flashing and burning folks!!!

DiDi

PS: I welcome any feedback, comments, suggestions, more useful resouces... but PLEASE, do not e-mailme (unless, of course, you have a personal or business proposal ;) ), post on the original thread. I amnot a guru for this subject, and when you post your comment or question on the forums, more peoplewill see it and chances are better that you (and me and everybody else in the future) would get fasterand better solution there then in my inbox. Cheers...

Last updated April 22, 2003

FAQ by didinomade - viewed by flashers