[osflash] Flash 8's External Interface - synchronous projectors!

[. m a r c o s a u g u s t o]

Ok, everything beautiful...new concepts...ideas...
heheheh
but....What I'll need to learn ?!?!!?!? 
Python + SQLObject + Flash =  my cross-os standalone soft?




On 8/12/05, hosey hosey <hoseyhosey at gmail.com> wrote:
> Have you thought about XUL with flash 8?  
>  http://www.darronschall.com/weblog/archives/000108.cfm
>  I noticed your old example throws up a warning now, dont remeber it doing
> so before....
> 
> 
> On 8/8/05, Darron J. Schall < darron at darronschall.com> wrote:
> > Flash 8 has a wonderful new feature called ExternalInterface, sometimes 
> > referred to as External API.  Essentially, it's the "new" way for the
> > Flash player to talk to it's host.
> > 
> > During the last Macromedia PodCast from Mike & Christian they had talked
> > about Flash and JavaScript communication with ExternalInterface.  Now 
> > that the cat is out of the bag on Studio 8, I wanted to let everyone
> > know that you can also use ExternalInterface with a desktop host as
> > well, and not just a browser.
> > 
> > What does this mean?  It means we can now build an open source 
> > synchronous projector (akin to mProjector) if we wanted to.
> > 
> > Heres some details:  The communication is done via an event and a few
> > methods.  When you call this ActionScript line:
> > 
> > result = ExternalInterface.call ("TheMethod", "A sample string param...");
> > 
> > The ActiveX object will raise a "FlashCall" event and send you the event
> > request as an XML string. The string will look like this for the above 
> > actionscript:  <invoke name="TheMethod"
> > returntype="xml"><arguments><string>A sample string
> > param..."</string></arguments></invoke>
> > 
> > In the event handler, you can then fire off your "TheMethod" in your C# 
> > (or C++,m or Python, or whatever is hosting the control), and then
> > return some data back to flash.  When you return data, you have to pass
> > it back in the XML format as well, but you would call the
> > control.SetReturnValue ("string") method, where "string" would look like
> > this:
> > 
> > "<string>This is a sample string being returned</string>"
> > 
> > The Flash movie will block until either the return value is set, or the 
> > event handler is done executing (i.e. you don't have to return a value
> > if you don't want to).
> > 
> > Going the other way, from C# to Flash, you would first have to register
> > a method to call inside of the Flash movie.  You can do that by a line 
> > like this:
> > 
> > // expose a method "activeStateChange" to the C# container
> > ExternalInterface.addCallback("callMeFromCSharp", this, onCalled);
> > 
> > The params are the method name C# should use, and then the typical scope 
> > / callback in ActionScript.  Then, you can call the method as so (in C#
> > here):
> > 
> > string result = flashMovie.CallFunction("<invoke
> > name=\"callMeFromCSharp\"
> >
> returntype=\"xml\"><arguments><bool>false</bool></arguments></invoke>");
> > 
> > Notice I'm using "CallFunction" to call the method, and I'm passing in
> > the XML string for the invocation.  This will fire off the "onCalled"
> > ActionScript function inside of the movie.  In that function then, I can 
> > "return 'hello'" and then the C# result will be "<string>hello</string>".
> > 
> > So yes, this gives you synchronous communication from C# -> Flash and
> > Flash -> C#.
> > 
> > The awesome thing here is you don't have to use just strings.  You can 
> > send native objects back and forth via ExternalInterface.  For instance,
> > if I want to return an array from an ExternalInterface call:
> > 
> > var listFiles:Array = ExternalInterface.call("ListFiles", "c:\windows"); 
> > 
> > I can send an array of strings back, by calling SetReturnValue with the
> > following string as the parameter:
> > 
> > "<array><property id='0'><string>test.dll<string></property><property 
> > id='1'><string>hello.dll</string></property></array>"
> > 
> > That will get serialized by the Flash Player as an array, and then in
> > ActionScript I can loop over listFiles as an array (since it *is* an
> array): 
> > 
> > for (var i = 0; i < listFiles.length; i++) // etc
> > 
> > Likewise, numbers are serialized as <number>12.123</number> and objects
> > look somewhat like arrays:
> > 
> > <object>
> >     <property id='isThisCool'> 
> >        <bool>true</bool>
> >     </property>
> > </object>
> > 
> > So, what the open source community should do is build a serialization /
> > deserialization library to abstract the XML format away.  Then, there 
> > should be an API build to abstract ExternalInterface away like:
> > 
> > var ftp:DudeFTP = DudeAPI.OpenFTPConnection(ip, username, password);
> > if (ftp.success) {
> >     var files:Array = ftp.listFiles("/pub"); 
> > }
> > 
> > var newWindow:DudeWindow = DudeAPI.createWindow("some.swf", modal,
> > title, closeButton, this, onClose);
> > 
> > // etc.
> > 
> > Let the discussion begin!  Maybe this is a good time to ressurect my
> > SharpFlash project...  ;-)
> > 
> > -d
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > osflash mailing list
> > osflash at osflash.org
> > http://osflash.org/mailman/listinfo/osflash_osflash.org
> > 
> 
>  
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> 


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