Mobile Authoring with Flash Professional 8

From a seminar by Jonathan Duran.
http://seminars.breezecentral.com/p44534952/

The challenges

There are multiple geographies os's, differnent screen sizes. differnent manufacturers. flashlite has 1.0 and 1.1 version. There are 100 ssupported handsets for flashlite.. japan has the largest base. Some are kdi, vodaphone.These are the major playeres.. For hardware, nokia and samsung. will have player installed..

flash mx2004 has not very good inbuilt support for mobile and no emulator and no way to test user input via a keypad. flash lite is based on flash 4 player.. In the flash 8 environment, it uses flash mobile device player. The tester emulates that specific device eg nokia.. you can load against all the devices you want it to work on.. The emulator has a skin from the manufacturer and the emulator can be updated at a later date..

FlashLite Device settings dialog box

Device Settings Dialog Box allows you to select different content type and different devices.. set your device in that dialog box. and it also allows you to switch between devices in real time..

FlashLite Authoring flow

1. mock up the layout.
2. test in emulator
3. test on device.
4. deploy to actual public . punters..

flash 4 actions

FlashLite has targetted timelines and variables.. slash/colon syntax.. eeek..
no native arrays.. have to emulate using vars..
no mc events..
only keypress events.. numbers and left right up down, and shoulder keys, page up and page down.
use eval, and you must use add instead of &&
fscommand2 has system device commands.. time from system clock etc..

Interested in pursuing a career in web programming? There are many online college degrees in Information Technology, so you can live your dreams. Find school grants as well as a college textbook to assist you.

FlashLite UI

There arent any FlashLite ui components.. macromedia have made some elements with cdk.. you have to drop them into your movie.. open the fla.. copy and paste to your movie..
tab ordering there is none.. no focus manager, no setfocus..
tab order is left to right , top to bottom.

if we are targetting timelines we have to use colon and slash syntax..
mc1/mc2/textvar
var1 = mc2/:txtVar =" add /mc1.
use set properties.. _root.mc2._x = 34; // you can do this.
you have to use old telltarget syntax.
tellTarget("mc2/mc2")
you dont have any onEnterFrame methods.. you have to revert to 2 or 3 frame loops.
FSCommand2 - new fsCommmands for mobile devices..
there are no mc events.. only button clicks or key press events. numbers or up down left right.. pageup, pagedown = shoulder buttons.
on(keypress "")

you have to call functions..
publish setting.. chooose flashlite 1.1, select what device you want, you also select what functions of that particular cellphone you want.. eg. docomo.. tmobile..
you can add phones to test againsts.. eg.. 6630, 7630 etc..

how to interact with data..

you can only use loadVariables from a text file.
loadVariablesNum("external.txt");
name value pairs differentiated by apmersands..
var1=2&var2=4&var3=7
data must be formatted in that format.. the string must be in that format. then flashlite should be able to read it..
when you are coding flash mobile device. swf will be compatible over all devices.. content is playing back ok.. you dont have to develop a swf for each device. key events.. 0-9 .. up down left right.. shoulder buttons.. basic keys that are supported.. above..

conventions for scripting in flashlite

on(keyPress ""){
gotoAndPlay(2);
}
if( _root.currentlevel == 1){
gotoAndStop(1);
}
on(press){
gotoAndStop(2);
}
on(release){
setProperty(eval("_level0/grid/pc" add num), _rotation, rotVal));
call("_level0:check");
}
if(_root.timeOut !=1){
tellTarget("level0")
if(_root.difficulty == 1){
blah
}

Flashlite Resources

• supported devices http://www.macromedia.com/mobile/supported_devices/
• ** Flash Lite 1.1 support/articles/samples http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/devices/flashlite.html
• ** Upcoming FL seminars http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/event/index.cfm?event=detail&id=127144&loc=en_us&promoid=BGUR
• ** FL Forums http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/webforums/forum/categories.cfm?catid=472
• *** Get the Flash Lite player http://www.macromedia.com/go/buy_flashlite
• You can download a FlashLite cheatsheet at: http://www.scottjanousek.com/blog/macromedia/flash/archives/000098.html
• templates for Flash MX 2004 :http://www.flash-lite.de/downloads2.html
• http://justin.everett-church.com/index.php/2005/07/10/flash-lite-flas-from-flash-forward/ - a few Flash Lite Source Files
• http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/p_s/i/flash/

loadVariablesNum - only way to get data in and out..
duplicatemovie..if you are duplicating lots of movies it takes a lot of cpu.. so make sure you test it.. if you do a lot
phones.. supported in usa .. not many
storing data .. all has to be done on the server.. unless you store in a java app
video support for flashlite.. = no.. you have to extract sound and the pics.. use the old video method of simulating by importing the frames of the video and adding a sound file underneath..
transfer files.. usb cable.. remove memory card .. audio streams - flv not supported.. can you save data to memory .. no.. has to be off to a server.. can we control phone camera.. not supported. no read-write to phone.. blue tooth not supported.. flash 4 actions only.. fsCommand2 can it get phones number. no.. kb limit. none.. dependent on the grunt of phone voice recognition. no.. fps .. depends on app... set to 40.. maybe it will hit 5, or 10-15 fps.

FlashLite FAQ v2

Q. What flash cellphones are compatible in the usa ?
A. Some phones in the US are Flash Enabled (you just have to purchase the player) currently there are NO phones in the US that come with Flash Lite Preinstalled. In north America, you can purchase the Nokia 3650, or 6620. Possibly the 901i. In North America the N series is supposed to be released Q3 2005, as well as the 6681, 6682.
Q. I have a Sony Clié with Flash Player 5, it will possible get newest version for? Will there be a new flash player for Sony Clie?
A. The Sony Clie - although it is no longer sold in the US, supports Flash 5 NOT Flash Lite
Q. where can the player be purchased from?
A. macromedia store, $10. http://www.macromedia.com/go/buy_flashlite
Q. you can develop in swish as long as the output is swf ?
A I heard it's possible with Swish.
Q. is it worth purchasing the N-Gage QD?
A. The N-Gage is a good phone to test Games with Flash Lite 1.1, and I think you can pick one up fairly cheap
Q. what's UI?
A. User Interface
Q. i can't believe we're back to Flash 4
A. No Flash 4 is Not really AS1, AS1 really didn't come around until Flash 5
Q. Flash Lite is DIFFERENT than Flash for Mobile Devices ?
A. Flash for Mobile Devices is Flash 4 with AS1. things like Pocket PC do not run Flash Lite, there are a couple flavors of mobile flash, but it is Mobile flash. Some PocketsPCs run flash 7 player. actually, for mobile devices, you have two options the Flash Player for the Pocket PC is Flash 6... NOT Flash Lite. Flash Lite = Cellphones.
Q. Anyone know if Flash will do SVG in future?
A. Flash Lite Does suport SVG

Q. is it possible to get one of these phones without activating phone service?
A. yes you just have to pay full cost of the phone.
Q. what's a good frame rate to use for developing for cell phones?
A. 15fps. I think frame rate is all depends on the processor power of your phone. FPS test flash sample reported that my 902SH can capable to keep in average 16.5-17 frame per second. this comes straight from macromedia about framrates of mobile devices: Device-dependent playback frame rate: A playback frame rate of 6 to 8 frames per second is appropriate, depending on the type of content and the CPU power of the target device. I used 6680 which has good amt of ram.
Q. so i don't have to buy a phone.. i can just test on an emulator...
A. the emulator is really cool (one of the most importants elements of F8. don't discount this emulator that he's talking about, the emulators RULE and will be WAY helpful in terms of "testing out" your app. it pretends to be that phone, with all the features. It has a good proximity of the reality, but the best is always test in the device too. What the emulator does test well are your typical errors, that way you can catch them and debug quickly.
Q. this emulator simulator the processor of devices too?
A. I'm not sure about that, the emulator should represent processor speed, but that presents some inherent problems. the mobile emulator in Flash Pro 8 does not emulate processor performance of the handsets.
Q. is flash lite internet enabled?
A. Flash Lite will allow you to access network connectivity (Internet)
Q. Can i store text files on a phone???
A. NO,you are not able to store files to the phones nativeatly, although there are 3rd party tools that enable you to write to a text file on the phone.

Q. Can it work with XML?
A. You can't work with XML directly - you have to use PHP, etc.. Flash Lite only supports Variable Pairs
Q. can we compile a flash lite movie with the player, so it can be downloaded and installed on the phone, even if the phone doesn't come with a player?
A. you can publish SWF files from Flash Pro 8 but the user needs to have Flash Lite installed
Q. and what abt sound, why does it jerk when you press any key on the phone
A. it's mainly a limitation of the small CPUs on the devices
Q. Is it possible to save data on cell phone memory through Flash Player?
A. no, not directly, not without a 3rd party tool .. http://www.blueskynorth.com/swf2sis/ -- can't use it to write files to the phone.. but you CAN bundle txt files, other swfs, etc with the app
Q. When is the next FlashLite release ?
A. next lite is to release on 3Q05
Q. utilise a shoulder button to exit the application?
A. The exit button is more or less the usual convention
Q. is possible integrate billing into FL1.1? (ex. for browsing or download ringtones, realtones)
A. wouldnt billing be done server side? yeah but is it possible to view it on the phone.. but the billing gets done elsewhere Flash lite can load a remote file which contains billing information at the server. for example: billing for Vodafone or dotcomo etc... ere different. at TVNET.net we authenticate against a a database thru a php browser page and load the player or not based on their billing status

Q. can flashLite use external actionscript files?
A. since #include is a compiler directive, you can use it to compile flash lite
Q. How do I get content onto my cell phone?
A. you can get content on the phone via USB, IR, Bluetooth, or over the air (i.e download from a website accessed from the mobile phone)
Q. can you store hi scores on the server . base on the limitation on handsets, is there a way to call server for highscores for users?
A. you currently can't store high scores to the phone without a 3rd party tool
Q. does flashlite support video?
A. Flash Lite does not support Video
Q. How about FLV audio streams?
A. no FLV.. you can use MP3 and other audio formats in Flash Lite
Q. does flash lite support voice recognition?
A. NO.
Q.What abt. creating a sis and a icon
A. you can use SWF2SIS to create an SIS and an Icon - it is created by Blue Sky North
Q. Can you request data from a server and display on the handset?
A. you can use PHP, or Load Vars to communicate with a Server
Q. can i use flash lite to send mms or sms . Can you capture or send SMS with flash lite ?
A. sms capture - no you cant but you can send an sms.. getUrl(phoneNumber)...

FlashLite Unanswered Questions

is there a cool way to create ring tones and sell them online?
can flash apps do server requests for information to display on the device?
can users attach their own image on their phone to display within a flash lite app?
why cant we have more descriptive error code in flashlite
For phone/mobile device hybrids, will I need to have both Flash Lite and Flash Mobile installed?
Can I even have Flash Lite installed on a mobile device?
Will the new Flash environment complain if you use syntax that's incompatible with Flash 4?
Can you install Flash lite on a Samsung pone that didn't come with it installed?
can it control the phone camera, read and write saved files in the phone, fetch Cell ID, fetch IMSI, control Blue Tooth device?
Any plans for the flash lite player to interact with the inbuilt capabilities of the phone (ie. turn on camera and capture)
why cant we have more descriptive error code in flashlite, it just says content error making it difficult to actually find out where the error lies even with the list you've provided
Can the FScommand2 class get the users mobile phone number?... for ID purpose for storing data server side??
It's possible use Bluetooth with Flash lite (or future)??
and what abt creating a log like other (BREW,J2ME) does
IF Flash lite doesn't support embedded movies, what's with iRiver's U10?
when will flash lite support unicode??
Flash on Blackberries???? Issues, suggestions.....
how will new phones be added to the emulator?
How to sort out the different default font in different firmwares between same mobile phone(Identical hardware), I tried one sample flash file in vodafone 902SH in Japanese domestic model & Traditional Chinese Hong Kong model, it shows me different look and it evens can't read in Hong Kong model, really bad in TEXT.
are there any DRM facilities for content?
Can you call native (e.g., Symbian) APIs from FlashLite?

describe how MIDI files are encapsulated and then played. Is this broadcast?
what is the best way to sell ringtones created with flash?. what about FlashLite being used for ringtones and screensavers?
will predictive text ever be a feature of flash lite?
is there any plan to develope a shockwave player for mobiles
can you capture any session variables for the handset ie. the phone number?
when will flash lite support unicode
how about zinc v2 for pockepc packager
when will flash lite support chinese character as device font?