i have been working on a Photoshop UI project and also working with Flash Builder for about 3 weeks and i can't find a solution to a communication problem. Here are some details about the issue; if you are interested in helping me, thanks.
The main frame of the UI is Extendscript
I have an as3 swf which needs to load a local JPG file dynamicly, I
assume this is a "Access Local Files Only" situation for Flash.
The same SWF needs to communicate with Extendscript, so i load it into
a FLEX app dynamicly via SWFLoader and it passes some variables to,
and triggers some functions in FLEX via a "myFlexParent" object.
Flex is the bridge between Flash and Extendscript so it passes the
variables and functions to Extendscript JSX code via
Externalinterface.call or CSXSInterface.instance.evalScript().
This is where i'm STUCK. I guess ExternalInterface calls or CSXSInterface.instance.evalScript() are threated as a network operation and they don't work if i set the compile option "-use-network=false" in flex. Bu otherwise the local JPG file cannot be loaded.
Adding locations in the Settings Manager wont work for me because i'm going to turn the UI into an Extension and it should be easy to install.
I guess i'm trying to find a way to establish 2 way communication between FLEX and ExtendScript, that would be interpreted by flash player as a LOCAL communication, which actually is.
I'll appreciate any bit of information. Thanks.
ExternalInterface is going to be considered a network call and setting the -use-network=false will break those calls down. This is due to the security sandbox. If it was allowed then the flash app could be used with some simple AJAX to turn a non-network app into a network app very easily.
Adobe doc's say:
This communication relies on the domain-based security restrictions
that the allowScriptAccess and allowNetworking properties define. You
set the values of the allowScriptAccess and allowNetworking properties
in the SWF file’s wrapper.
Reference link:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/flex/using/WS2db454920e96a9e51e63e3d11c0bf6167e-7fff.html#WS2db454920e96a9e51e63e3d11c0bf6167e-7ff5
Look into changing your app into an AIR app as you will be able to do both network and local file operations (different security model since the user installs the application).
Related
I am working with a very large number of legacy SWFs written in AS1 and AS2. These SWFs use loadMovieNum extensively.
I am trying to integrate these into a new Air-based app (written in either AS3 or Flex). However, loadMovieNum doesn't seem to work within the Air app.
For example, an AS2 SWF (file1.swf) may try to load another AS2 SWF using:
loadMovieNum("http://127.0.0.1/file2.swf", 5);
This works fine if the SWF is played indepedently but if it is played from within the Air app, it fails.
EDIT: What happens in the Air app is that file1.swf will load successfully but silently fails to load file2.swf. There are no errors and no exceptions. A try...catch around the loadMovieNum reports nothing and file1.swf continues to play.
The relevent code from the Air app is as follows:
AS3 version:
var mLoader:Loader = new Loader();
var mRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest("http://127.0.0.1/file1.swf");
mLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onCompleteHandler);
mLoader.load(mRequest, loaderContext);
function onCompleteHandler(loadEvent:Event):void
{
// Add to the stage
addChild(mLoader.content.parent);
}
Flex version:
<mx:SWFLoader id="swfObj" source="http://127.0.0.1/file1.swf" />
It is simply the case that loadMovieNum will not work in Air? Or is there something that can be done. Obviously, making extensive changes to the legacy SWFs is, in all liklihood, not possible.
Thanks in advance.
I've concluded that _levels are not supported in SWFs that are loaded directly into Air apps. For example, even _level0 (which should always be defined) returns as undefined. Consequently, it would appear very unlikely that loadMovieNum would be supported.
I have discovered a workaround, though. Using the HTML browser component in Air, a webpage - in which the AS2/1 SWFs are embedded - can be loaded into the Air app. If you do this then loadMovieNum works as expected in the AS2/1 files.
AS3 version:
var hLoader:HTMLLoader = new HTMLLoader();
addChild(hLoader);
hLoader.width = stage.stageWidth;
hLoader.height = stage.stageHeight;
hLoader.load(new URLRequest("file1.html"));
Flex version:
<mx:HTML id="minibrowser" width="100%" height="100%" location="file1.html" />
Unfortunately, the HTML component is not supported by all Air profiles. In particular, in my case, it is not supported by the TV profile.
Although it may not seem intuitive, this seems like a security issue. When AS2 content loads up other AS2 content, they have to be in the same security sandbox in order for them to run.
I created a quick sample just to test this theory and I was right. The reason it works in Flash is because the AS2 content is in the same sandbox as the content it is loading. But AIR security is different. So when you load up the AS2 content in AIR (using the logic you supplied), the loader gets put in the application sandbox. The sandbox is now different than the content it is loading, so it refuses to load them.
This explains why it works when using an HTML wrapper. When the HTML loads up the swf, it probably gets put in the local-with-network sandbox which is the same as the content.
So... How do you fix it?
You can try to load your content up in a different security sandbox. But really the problem is that AS3 security isn't playing nice with the AS2 security. My suggestion would be to create the AIR application without an AS3 wrapper. You can't do this directly in the tooling, but you should be able to use the ADT packager to do it. In the xml descriptor, make the initial content the AS2 swf, and package it together. Now when you launch your AIR application it uses the AS2 swf as the main application. Suddenly your files should all be in the same security sandbox, and Flash won't prevent any of the content from running.
You can test this locally by using ADL to launch the app instead of launching it directly from Flash Professional or Flash Builder. (They both use ADL, but if you call it directly you have more control over the arguments used.)
EDIT: Apparently you can't have an AS2 swf as the main swf for Desktop AIR applications. (I've tested using ADL on desktop and it works, but I have been told that you won't be able to install an AIR application on desktop with this setup.) So for desktop you probably want to use the HTML workaround. This is supported in AIR for TV, so this would work on those devices.
(1)When I run the HTTPService code in Flex builder and use Ctrl F11 to run the application then the HttepService runs fine and returns the value. Here, it is run inside an html wrapper 'mypath\Learning\bin-debug\httpServiceissue.html'
(2)The same code when I compile through command-line and then run in Flash PLayer then it won't run. This time its running on its own without html wrapper around.
Also, setting '-use-network = false' in command line (2 approach) allows flash player to load this file. I know that setting flag false will restrict SWF's access to local machine (no network) and give it access to local resource, but then why it works in Flex builder inside the html wrapper (in 1 case).
Please share you opinion on this.
'mx:HTTPService id="rooms" url="myfile.txt" fault="httpFaultHandler(event)" resultFormat="e4x" result="httpResultHandler(event)"'
I'm not really sure, I've never tried to use the service in that way. It might be a security, or "sandbox" restriction, that unless you've got a "crossdomain.xml" you can't get to any resource that isn't in the same domain. Would the txt file be delivered by some kind of web server when you hit F11?
Good luck, please let us know when you find an answer.
I am trying to load external SWFs in my Adobe AIR App. The loaded SWF is trying to access an URL to retrieve some informations via XML.
When starting the SWF by itself it works fine. When loading the SWF from the File.applicationStorageDirectory i will get an Security-Error because the loaded App is executed in a local-with-filesystem Sandbox appareantly.
First Question: Is there a way to change this? That the loaded SWF is running in a network Sandbox?
Since that first attempt didn't worked i've moved the SWF to the app:// directory.
Now i'll get a Security-Error because there is no policy file on the Server available where the XML data should be retrieved.
Second Question: Why is the policy file not necessary when running the SWF by itself, but is necessary when trying to load the data from the application Sandbox? What am i doing wrong?
Thanks in advance!
Here is my solution.
I am doing an ActionScript-based app btw. My goal here is the create an AIR Application that loads different modules on demand from a given internet ressource. The two applications are using the child/parentSandboxBridge to communicate.
I was using the SWFLoader class but did not correctly pass the LoaderContext with allowLoadBytesCodeExecution (or allowCodeImport for AIR2.0). As i was passing a LoaderContext with the mentioned variable, i was getting an VerifyError: Error #1053: Illegal override of activate in mx.managers.SystemManagerProxy since the AIR Application is done with Flex 4.0 and the loaded SWF is compiled with Flex 3.5.
The reason that error was thrown although the loadForCompatibility property was set to true was, that the SWFLoader class does not set the necessary applicationDomain for compatibility when a LoaderContext Object is passed. So i did the applicationDomain setting myself and everything works like a charm.
If anyone is interested in this procedure, just look into the SWFLoader::loadContent Method. In Flex 4 the interesting part starts at line 1836.
I'm building a Flex/Flash Builder 4 application that loads data using E4X/XML, like this:
I originally build an application that was a single MXML file which loaded this XML file and built a form from the data.
I've now build a main menu screen with a button to load the form screen as a seperate module. How do I get the XML declaration to work in this module without loading it again. Is it as simple as repeating the declaration in the module?
With Modular Flex apps you need to way to communicate across Modules without creating a tight coupling between the pieces. I usually use a Message Bus approach (see the Architectural Patterns First Steps in Flex screencast for more info) to accomplish this. When the module loads just send a message to the bus asking someone for the data you need. Have a listener on the bus listening for that message so that it can respond with another message containing the needed data.
I'm sure there's a simple explanation for this, but I haven't had much luck at finding the answer yet, so I figured I'd put the word out to my colleagues, as I'm sure some of you've run into this one before.
In my (simple) dev environment, I'm working with a handful of WCF Web Services, imported into my FB3 project and targeting a local instance of the ASP.NET development Web server. All good, no problems -- but what I'd like to know now is, What's the right way to deploy this project to test, staging and production environments? If my imported proxies all point, say, to http://localhost:1234/service.svc (from which their WSDLs were imported), and all I'm deploying is a compiled SWF, does Flex Builder expect me to "Manage Web Services > Delete", "> Add", recompile and release ever time I want to move my compiled Flex project from development to test, and to staging, and ultimately into production? Is there a simpler workflow for this?
Thanks in advance -- hope my question was clear.
Cheers,
Chris
If you have path names which will change depending on the enviroment then you will likely need to recompile for each environment since these will be compiled in the swf.
I typically use ANT scripts to handle my compile/deployment process when moving from development and production environments. This gives me the ability to dynamically change any path names during the compile. These build files can be integrated into Flex Builder making this process very easy once you have everything set up, and can be done with one click or scheduled.
Thanks Brett. I've been meaning to dig into automating my build processes anyway, so now's probably as good a time as any. :)
You do not need to build a SWF for each environment. Here's a technique I use commonly:
Externalize your configuration properties into an XML file; in this case, it could be a URL for each service or a base URL used by all your services
When the application starts up, make an HTTPService call to load the XML file, parse it, and store your properties onto some bindable "configuration object"
Bind the values from that object against your objects that depend on the URLs
Dispatch an event that indicates your configuration is complete. If you have some kind of singleton event dispatcher used by some components in your app, use that, so that the notification is global
Now proceed with the rest of the initialization of your application
It takes a little work to orchestrate your app such that certain parts won't initialize until steps 1-5 take place. However I think it's good practice to handle a lot of this initialization explicitly rather than in constructors or various initialize or creationComplete events for components. You may need to reinitialize things when a user logs out and a different user logs in; if you already have your app set up to that initialization is something you can control then reinitialization will not be a problem.