How to run one application from another application in flex? - apache-flex

I have two flex applications Main.mxml(where I have a button called loadDataViewer) and ViewData.mxml. What I want is when the user press the loadDataViewer button, the application ViewData.mxml will open in a new window. Is there any way to do it in Flex?
SWFLoader class looks interesting but I think it will load the other appliation inside the Main application which I don't want. I also saw that there is ExternalInterfaceAPI which can be used to open a url browser but not sure if I can reference the swf file of VewData application. As suggested here( http://learn.adobe.com/wiki/display/Flex/Local+Connections ) that LocalCOnnection can be used to reference one flex application in another but that's only when both applications are open I guess.
Any suggestion to guide me to the right direction wouild be greatly appreciated.

You could embed your viewData swf to an HTML file, and either do any of the following:
Call External Interface...
var url:String = 'myViewData.html';
ExternalInterface.call('window.open("' + url + '")');
or
Call the navigateToURL method...
var url:String = 'myViewData.html';
var urlReq = new URLRequest(url);
navigateToURL(urlReq,'_blank');

Use Modules. Adobe help.

Related

Launching a webpage in browser from an Adobe Air app not working

I've got a webpage I want to hook in to my Adobe Air app. It's running JavaScript, so I can't open it in the app, but I'm trying to launch it in the default system browser.
Here's the code that's supposed to be launching the page:
public function beginModule():void {
var loader:HTMLLoader = new HTMLLoader();
var gameURL:URLRequest = new URLRequest("file:///path/to/file.html");
loader.navigateInSystemBrowser = true;
loader.load(gameURL);
}
I've also tried using
flash.net.navigateToURL(gameURL);
but that had no effect.
Every time I hit the above method, that block executes but nothing happens other than a quick cursor change-- no browser opened, no change in the app. What am I missing here?
Before you start, check if the HTML page is properly running in the browser.
To open a HTML page in flex, use the HTML tag: <mx:HTML></mx:HTML>
Something like this: https://snipt.net/anishnair/flex-show-html-page/?key=28838d54ac287180032dee000ce33a74
Thank you.
Regards,
Anish
Simply use :
navigateToURL(url,"_blank");
to navigate to the url in the web-browser.

Flex 4.6, AIR 3.5, desktop app, navigateToURL, _self

I have a desktop AIR app built with Flex 4.6 and Air 3.5. I use navigateToURL to launch a URL in the default browser, works fine:
var request : URLRequest = new URLRequest ( "http://localhost:8890/test.html" );
var urlVariables : URLVariables = new URLVariables ();
urlVariables['activity'] = "xyz.json";
request.data = urlVariables;
request.method = URLRequestMethod.GET;
navigateToURL(request, "_self");
The app lets the user construct some JSON content (xyz.json), then test it in a test rig (test.html).
The second and subsequent times I do this, I get a new tab (I'm using Chrome). What I want is for it to appear in the same tab as the last one. Note that I've used "_self". If I pass any string I get the same result.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
I dont believe it is possible to force browser to reuse same tab - that would be browser behaviour, not AIR behaviour (ie: you would change the expected behaviour in browser settings; eg: always open content in new tab).
I believe from a desktop app when you invoke NavigateToURL() it will force a new window (container) to launch.
If you can you could create a separate 'receiver' page on the server to receive the data (invisible to the user) Then launch a 'viewer' page with NavigateToURL that would contain an ajax script to check and update the data received from the 'receiver' page.
I would check out URLLoader() Class. I use this many times for my web service scripts.

stoping flash file from running more than one time

I am working with a flash-template to create a website. I have a master page with a flash header and flash menu. when my home pages runs the flash header runs. the flash file should just run once but it is running each time I click on the menu items. I tried to use updatepanel, but i didn't know how to set the updatemode since my menu is working with flash. any idea of what i should use???
Store some data in the client that says they've viewed the flash before. When you execute your flash file, check for the existence of this data, and react accordingly. You may want to peak at http://www.flash-db.com/Tutorials/saving/ on how to save data.
You could use local storage, as shown here :
Write it as :
import flash.net.SharedObject;
var so:SharedObject = SharedObject.getLocal("userData");
so.data.isUsed= "true";
so.flush(); // writes changes to disk
Read it as :
import flash.net.SharedObject;
var so:SharedObject = SharedObject.getLocal("userData");
var isUsed = so.data.isUsed;
If it's a website page you may also use ExternalInterface.addCallback to add a function which can be called from javascript.

How to add flex controls to my AS3 project?

I'm absolute newbie in Flash development but anyway I need to do something.
I have a pure AS3 project that plays video from youtube (chromeless player). I need to add some controls to manage this player. I don't know how to do that? If I just add mxml file into the project nothing happens. How to bind this file to as3?
Thanks
Flex components need to have UIComponent parent to function properly. If your player is based on Sprite, controls will not be initialized.
There is a trick to use Flex controls in the Sprite, but only after initialization in Flex Application. If you don't have Application, no luck.
You could use an AS3-only alternative. One library I've used is minimalcomps which offers some simple but effective controls for use in any AS3 project.
You can't use MXML, but nobody stops you to create your own controls if they are simple.
A short and simple example of how to add a button with an image:
loader = new Loader();
loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onComplete);
loader.load(new URLRequest('http://i1.nyt.com/images/misc/nytlogo379x64.gif'));
function onComplete(event:Event):void
{
var button:Sprite = new Sprite();
button.addChild(event.currentTarget.content);
addChild(button);
button.buttonMode = true;
button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, onButtonClick);
}
function onButtonClick(event:MouseEvent):void
{
trace ('click');
}
This would be the most basic version of a button with a loaded bitmap image.
Normally you would like to check for errors as well... what to do if the image is not found, or when you're not allowed to access it.
If you're going to need more then one button you could make a class which accepts an url, so you could just pass the url to the class and the button would be created.
A completely other way to approach this is with an SWC file, you could create the buttons in the Flash IDE and export them as an swc, which you can embed and use in your pure AS3 project.

ActionScript 3 - a loader that supports many apps?

I have created a simple SWF-loader in ActionScript 3.0. It loads an SWF from a server and then plays it. While downloading, it displays the "loading" screen.
Its main defect is that it can load only one Flash application - the one which it is compiled for. Let's say it's named test1.swf.
Is there any way to make the loader support more than one Flash app (for example test2.swf and test3.swf)? I mean by passing external parameters to it and not by creating another loader. Is using Javascript the only way to do it? I don't want my loader to require the Javascript support.
And I really don't want to create separate loaders for all of my apps...
Thanks in advance.
In order to load an external SWF your loader only need the url of the swf to be loaded, this url doesn't have to be hardcoded. There are many ways to pass parameters to a SWF file and they don't necessarily require Javascript.
You could load a XML file for instance, a simple text file would work too , you could also use a PHP script. Using flahsvars would require Javascript, although only to set your application in your HTML page.
With the following example , your app doesn't need to recompile , you simply change the url in the text file.
Example with a text file containing a url, something like this:
http://yourwebsite.com/test1.swf
var urlLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
urlLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE , completeHandler );
urlLoader.load( new URLRequest('swfURL.txt') );
function completeHandler(event:Event):void
{
loadExternalSWF(event.target.data );
event.target.removeEventListener(Event.COMPLETE , completeHandler );
}
function loadExternalSWF(url:String ):void
{
//your code here , using the url value
trace(url );//should return your text file content
}

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