Wow! What a great release – Adobe Flash Player 10.1 / Adobe Flash CS5:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/logged_in/jchurch_flashplayer10.1.html

SOME NEW FLASH 10.1 FEATURES:

1. Multitouch (Goose)
2. Compute Spectrum on the Microphone (Woodpecker)
3. Accelerometer (Penguin)

FOR PENGUIN TILT AND TRANSLATION CLASSES:

We can now get tilt data from Flash rather than requiring external programs providing the data. This is great news!

You can use Penguin to emulate tilt while you develop on a PC then plug the actual tilt data in for play on a device with tilt.

Download Penguin Tilt Emulator for Flash and try it out!

All the best!

Wow! What a great release – Adobe Flash Player 10.1 / Adobe Flash CS5:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/logged_in/jchurch_flashplayer10.1.html

SOME NEW FLASH 10.1 FEATURES:

1. Multitouch (Goose)
2. Compute Spectrum on the Microphone (Woodpecker)
3. Accelerometer (Penguin)

FOR WOODPECKER SOUND ANIMATION CLASSES:

In past versions of Flash, we have only had sound frequency and waveform data for MP3 and FLV’s in Flash. We only had the throughput (similar to volume) for the microphone. In Flash 10.1 we can now animate to frequency and wavelength of microphone input! This is amazing!!

We can now use Woodpecker to:

animate to live bands!
animate to people talking in a room!
animate to live chats!

Download Woodpecker Sound Animation Classes for Flash and try it out!

All the best!

Wow! What a great release – Adobe Flash Player 10.1 / Adobe Flash CS5:

http://www.adobe.com/devnet/logged_in/jchurch_flashplayer10.1.html

SOME NEW FLASH 10.1 FEATURES:

1. Multitouch (Goose)
2. Compute Spectrum on the Microphone (Woodpecker)
3. Accelerometer (Penguin)

FOR GOOSE MULTITOUCH:

The x, y position of each cursor in multitouch will be available in Flash as well as depth if provided. This can be fed into Goose to make use of the Goose events like:

PRESS, PRESS_DOWN, PRESS_UP, PRESS_MOVE
TOUCH, TOUCH_DOWN, TOUCH_UP, TOUCH_MOVE

and Methods like

startFollow(), stopFollow()
startScale(), stopScale()

To get ready for Multitouch, you can use the Goose Emulator on a regular PC to get multitouch data without the need for a multitouch device. The emulator will feed your Goose code for processing. Then when you are ready to move to a multitouch platform, just feed the real data into the same Goose code for processing!

Download Goose Multitouch for Flash

As an alternate to the emulator but still using Goose processing, try the Dodo blob detection ActionScript classes.

All the best!

Robin, the Flash PHP Multiuser set of classes, runs on XAMPP with a modification to the administration procedure. As outlined in the readme.txt file, you do not run the admin page. Instead, you just run the robin.php file directly. Robin will run while the robin.php is running but because the posix family of commands is not available on XAMPP windows, this really makes it a testing environment. If the PHP socket should go down, then there is no effective way to start it again. Cron jobs would have problems in detecting if Robin is already running without the posix_kill command and thus run the risk of multiple sockets.

The Robin zip file readme.txt has been updated to better explain this.

Also added to the zip file is a clarification on how the provided samples work. The samples will not work unless they are compiled (open the FLA files and CTRL ENTER to create SWF files) with your domain updated in the Robin.as file as instructed.

All the best,

Dan Zen

Just added a missing ExitButton class to the Dodo Zip file – thanks Astra!

Ostrich is a set of open source Adobe Flash classes that lets designers and developers easily capture Web cam motion – from even the cheapest of Web cams – and use that motion as a gesture interface or art pieces. For instance, activating buttons or having effects follow your motion, etc.

Please see the videos available in the video link above that show Ostrich in use and discus the ActionScript code. The code section provides a quick look at the code which is something like below:

// make an OstrichCamera object  myCamera = new OstrichCamera(); addChild(myCamera);  // make an OstrichCursor object (there are more parameters available) myCursor = new OstrichCursor(myCamera);  addChild(myCursor); 

That’s it. Now a cursor follows video motion. This is really cool technology and has been around at least as long as Toronto’s David Rokeby premiered his very nervous system back in the 80’s of making music with gestures. Toronto’s Gesture Tek is a world leader in gesture technologies with patents also stemming back to the 80’s. The technique of using difference blend modes on successive Web cam frames was shown by Grant Skinner in Flash 8 a few years back at an FITC conference in Toronto. Many thanks to these pioneers. Various modifications and additions have been made in the Ostrich classes so enjoy!

Dodo lets Flash designers and developers easily detect blobs in a Web cam – for instance, light objects on dark backgrounds as seen above or dark objects on light backgrounds. These can be used for multitouch applications. A multitouch example using Dodo and Goose at http://gooseflash.wordpress.com is provided.

Please see the Video link for an introduction video and a look through the code. You can also see sample code behind the Code link.

What a magical feeling to move and resize pictures on the screen with a couple flashlights shining through a black plastic duotang cover All the best in using the code. Any thoughts are welcome.

Please add your link at left if you use the code and it would be great if you get around to donating through Karmatja!

Inventor Dan Zen will give a talk Wed July 8th from 7-9 at the Mobile Developers and Designers group in Toronto.

Here is a link to the facebook meet for the Mobile Developers and Designers event.

FITC / Rich Media Institute
156 Augusta Avenue
Toronto, ON

Ostrich, the seventh in a series of advanced interface open source solutions will launch in August after Inventor Dan Zen goes to Hawaii to recover from the launching of six previous sites available at Flash Feathers – http://flashfeathers.wordpress.com and also linked to at right.

So have a look around – we look forward to bringing you Ostrich soon!

Fairy follows the fingers of Dan Zen - do you see the Ostrich?

FLASH FEATHERS

• ROBIN – multiuser chat and realtime game classes with Flash and PHP
• FALCON – easy data transfer between Flash and server scripts
• HUMMINGBIRD – parallax effect with mouse movement for 3D menus
• GOOSE – multitouch emulator and processor with just Flash and Browsers
• PENGUIN – tilt emulator and processor for tilt and translation apps
• WOODPECKER – sound frequency and wave animation for MP3 and FLV
• GOOSE – motion capture so a cursor follows your Web cam motion
• DODO – blob detection to provide blobs anywhere there is Web cam motion

Each Flash Feather has its own Blog with the name of the bird followed by flash then .wordpress.com. The exception is Penguin which is plural – penguinsflash.wordpress.com.

http:// BIRDNAME flash.wordpress.com

TOUR
Each site has:

• an ABOUT page, a CODE example page and a VIDEO tutorial page at the top
• an introduction in the top left column
• a Download section at left with a link to the zip file(s)
• a Donate area (Karmatja) which links through to paypal
• a Friends section at the left to add your site if you use the Flash Feather
• news about the specific Flash Feather in the blog area
• links to all the Flash Feathers at the right
• an aggregate news feed of all Flash Feathers at bottom right

ZIP FILE
The zip files come with:

• readme.txt file with information about installing classes
• a samples folder with example FLA and AS files
• an icons Flash file with neat little icon components
• a com/ folder that holds the packages and classes needed

FRIENDS AND DONATIONS
Please let us know if you use any of the Flash Feathers and we will add you to the Friends area at left. If you use the Flash Feathers for a commercial venture or would care to donate that would be super!

All the best and we hope you build exciting things!

Dan Zen

Dodo, the eighth in a series of advanced interface open source solutions will launch in August after Inventor Dan Zen goes to Hawaii to recover from the launching of six previous sites available at Flash Feathers – http://flashfeathers.wordpress.com and also linked to at right.

So have a look around – we look forward to bringing you Dodo soon!

Not really blob detection but nice and blobby

FLASH FEATHERS

• ROBIN – multiuser chat and realtime game classes with Flash and PHP
• FALCON – easy data transfer between Flash and server scripts
• HUMMINGBIRD – parallax effect with mouse movement for 3D menus
• GOOSE – multitouch emulator and processor with just Flash and Browsers
• PENGUIN – tilt emulator and processor for tilt and translation apps
• WOODPECKER – sound frequency and wave animation for MP3 and FLV
• GOOSE – motion capture so a cursor follows your Web cam motion
• DODO – blob detection to provide blobs anywhere there is Web cam motion

Each Flash Feather has its own Blog with the name of the bird followed by flash then .wordpress.com. The exception is Penguin which is plural – penguinsflash.wordpress.com.

http:// BIRDNAME flash.wordpress.com

TOUR
Each site has:

• an ABOUT page, a CODE example page and a VIDEO tutorial page at the top
• an introduction in the top left column
• a Download section at left with a link to the zip file(s)
• a Donate area (Karmatja) which links through to paypal
• a Friends section at the left to add your site if you use the Flash Feather
• news about the specific Flash Feather in the blog area
• links to all the Flash Feathers at the right
• an aggregate news feed of all Flash Feathers at bottom right

ZIP FILE
The zip files come with:

• readme.txt file with information about installing classes
• a samples folder with example FLA and AS files
• an icons Flash file with neat little icon components
• a com/ folder that holds the packages and classes needed

FRIENDS AND DONATIONS
Please let us know if you use any of the Flash Feathers and we will add you to the Friends area at left. If you use the Flash Feathers for a commercial venture or would care to donate that would be super!

All the best and we hope you build exciting things!

Dan Zen

Falcon Flash at http://falconflash.wordpress.com was the first of the Flash Feather series of advanced interface classes in Flash to launch about a year ago. With over one thousand downloads we are pleased that it has been helpful. It really is a simple wrapper class for the five data classes in Flash. It lets you easily read text and XML or send variables to and from server scripts like PHP.

var myFalcon:Falcon = new Falcon("yourfile.php or .xml or .txt");
myFalcon.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, getData);
function getData(e:Event) { trace (myFalcon.data.yourVariable); // or just myFalcon.data for XML or txt
}

Flash Feathers is located at http://flashfeathers.wordpress.com and through the links at the right. Flash Feathers features the following open source solutions:

FLASH FEATHERS

• ROBIN – multiuser chat and realtime game classes with Flash and PHP
• FALCON – easy data transfer between Flash and server scripts
• HUMMINGBIRD – parallax effect with mouse movement for 3D menus
• GOOSE – multitouch emulator and processor with just Flash and Browsers
• PENGUIN – tilt emulator and processor for tilt and translation apps
• WOODPECKER – sound frequency and wave animation for MP3 and FLV
• GOOSE – motion capture so a cursor follows your Web cam motion
• DODO – blob detection to provide blobs anywhere there is Web cam motion

The Falcon Download ZIP file at left has been adjusted to match the other ZIP file formats. There is a standard way to install all the Flash Feathers classes as detailed in the readme.txt file and the various class files and goes like follows:

INSTALLATION

• create a classes/ folder somewhere generic on your harddrive
• add the classes folder to your Flash Class Path – in the Flash Menu:
  
• choose Edit > Preferences > ActionScript – ActionScript 3 Settings
• use the + sign for the source path box to add the path to your classes/ folder
• put the provided com/ folder in your classes/ folder

This way your classes from Flash Feathers will all work together along with other people’s distributed classes. DO NOT add the com/ folder to your class path in the Flash preferences! Read above if this is not clear.

Please have a look at the VIDEO page and the sample CODE page for more information about Falcon. You can download the code through the link at the left on http://falconflash.wordpress.com.

FRIENDS AND DONATIONS
Please let us know if you use Falcon and we will add you to the Friends area at left. If you use Falcon for a commercial venture and would care to donate that would be super!

FEATHERS
Falcon is one of a selection of open source solutions called Flash Feathers available at http://flashfeathers.wordpress.com.

Dan Zen

-09-

Flash Feathers is a collection of advanced interface classes in Flash. Classes are what objects are made from in Object Oriented code. So in other words, we have a bunch of code that lets your Flash games and applications do extra stuff. On average, the Flash Feathers code you will have to use is about 5-10 lines of ActionScript per feature. So the code is helpful for designers and developers will find it exciting too!

You only need to add 5-10 lines of Flash ActionScript!

Here is a summary of the Flash Feathers open source solutions:

FLASH FEATHERS

• ROBIN – multiuser chat and realtime game classes with Flash and PHP
• FALCON – easy data transfer between Flash and server scripts
• HUMMINGBIRD – parallax effect with mouse movement for 3D menus
• GOOSE – multitouch emulator and processor with just Flash and Browsers
• PENGUIN – tilt emulator and processor for tilt and translation apps
• WOODPECKER – sound frequency and wave animation for MP3 and FLV
• OSTRICH – motion capture so a cursor follows your Web cam motion
• DODO – blob detection to provide blobs anywhere there is Web cam motion

Each Flash Feather has its own Blog with the name of the bird followed by flash then .wordpress.com. The exception is Penguin which is plural – penguinsflash.wordpress.com.

http:// BIRDNAME flash.wordpress.com

TOUR
Each site has:

• an ABOUT page, a CODE example page and a VIDEO tutorial page at the top
• an introduction in the top left column
• a Download section at left with a link to the zip file(s)
• a Donate area (Karmatja) which links through to paypal
• a Friends section at the left to add your site if you use the Flash Feather
• news about the specific Flash Feather in the blog area
• links to all the Flash Feathers at the right
• an aggregate news feed of all Flash Feathers at bottom right

ZIP FILE
The zip files come with:

• readme.txt file with information about installing classes
• a samples folder with example FLA and AS files
• an icons Flash file with neat little icon components
• a com/ folder that holds the packages and classes needed

FRIENDS AND DONATIONS
Please let us know if you use any of the Flash Feathers and we will add you to the Friends area at left. If you use the Flash Feathers for a commercial venture or would care to donate that would be super!

All the best and we hope you build exciting things!

Dan Zen

-09-

Goose lets you build multitouch games and applications in Flash. It provides an online emulator system that supplies your Flash application with multitouch data in the form of manyML – a simple XML language (see http://manyml.wordpress.com). You use two or more computers – for example the machine you are testing on and a laptop. The mouse cursors represent fingers in your application.

Goose also provides a multitouch processing class to handle multiple cursor touching, pressing, dragging and resizing.

GOOSE STEPS

1. Create your Flash application with a document class
2. Connect to GooseData to receive multitouch data
3. Connect to Goose and send it the data from GooseData
4. Go to the Mouse Node Web pages from two or more computers
5. Each mouse acts like a finger in your application!
6. Alternatively, send Goose real multitouch data (device or blobs)
7. Use Goose events to capture press information from any touch
8. Use Goose methods to drag and resize just like multitouch apps!

An advantage of the Goose system is that it lets you work with multitouch without a multitouch device or blob detection table. All you need is your regular computer and a spare computer such as a laptop. Each mouse represents a touch.

Develop and test your multitouch applications with just Flash and a browser!

The online Goose Multitouch Emulator Mouse Nodes are powered by Robin – the Multiuser System that is also part of Flash Feathers. You are welcome and perhaps encouraged to use your own version of Robin if you get heavily into production with Goose.

GOOSE FEATURES

• Reads either Goose Emulator data or real multitouch data
• Capture any TOUCH, TOUCH_DOWN, TOUCH_UP, TOUCH_MOVE
• Capture any PRESS, PRESS_DOWN, PRESS_UP, PRESS_MOVE on an clip
• Capture PICK_UP and PUT_DOWN on items – receive cursor information
• Move clips using DRAG_LOCKED, DRAG_OVERRIDE, DRAG_AVERAGE
• Scale clips using REGISTRATION_CENTER, AVERAGE or POINT

Please have a look at the VIDEO page and the sample CODE page for more information about Goose. You can download the code through the link at the left on http://gooseflash.wordpress.com.

FRIENDS AND DONATIONS
Please let us know if you use Goose and we will add you to the Friends area at left. If you use Goose for a commercial venture and would care to donate that would be super!

FEATHERS
Goose is one of a selection of open source solutions called Flash Feathers available at http://flashfeathers.wordpress.com.

Dan Zen

-09-

Penguin Tilt Emulator in one of its modes

Penguin lets you make tilt games and applications in Flash. Penguin comes with the Penguin Tilt Emulator that has a mobile device emulator so you can tilt, turn and translate a device. This leaves tilt data (TiltML) on your machine. Penguin reads the tilt data and provides an easy way to get at Roll, Pitch, Yaw, Forward, Right and Down data.

Penguin Tilt Emulator controlling animation

Visit http://penguinsflash.wordpress.com and download the zip at the left. There are full instructions on how to install the classes and examples on how to use them. See the CODE page and the VIDEO pages for an introduction and to see the samples in action.

FRIENDS AND DONATIONS
Please let us know if you use Penguin and we will add you to the Friends area at left. If you use Penguin for a commercial venture and would care to donate that would be super!

FEATHERS
Penguin is one of a selection of open source solutions called Flash Feathers available at http://flashfeathers.wordpress.com.

Dan Zen

-09-

WoodPecker is an open source Flash package of classes that lets you animate to sound frequency or wave form of MP3 or FLV sounds. You can easily make a frequency bars for instance (bass mid treble) or make visualizations to sound. Multiple clips supported.

Visit http://woodpeckerflash.wordpress.com and download the zip at the left. There are full instructions on how to install the classes and examples on how to use them. See the CODE page and the VIDEO pages for an introduction and to see the samples in action.

FRIENDS AND DONATIONS
Please let us know if you use WoodPecker and we will add you to the Friends area at left. If you use WoodPecker for a commercial venture and would care to donate that would be super!

FEATHERS
WoodPecker is one of a selection of open source solutions called Flash Feathers available at http://flashfeathers.wordpress.com.

Dan Zen

-09-

HummingBird is a free open source Flash Class that lets you easily make a MovieClip hover as you move your mouse around. This shows a 3D parallax effect when your clip has nested clips with different z properties set.

HummingBird is available at http://hummingbirdflash.wordpress.com and is part of a series of advanced open source interface classes by inventor Dan Zen called Flash Feathers at http://flashfeathers.wordpress.com. Have a look over the sample CODE and VIDEO.

SETUP

• Make a holder MovieClip on the stage
• Add other MovieClips, TextFields, etc.
• Set their z depth property in the properties pannel
• Increase the scale of your clips if you need to
• Make a new HummingBird object
• Pass the holder clip and movement parameters

That’s it! The holder clip will float around as you move your mouse. Very handy

FRIENDS AND DONATIONS
Please let us know if you use HummingBird and we will add you to the Friends area at left. If you use Robin for a commercial venture and would care to donate that would be super!

FEATHERS
HummingBird is one of a selection of open source solutions called Flash Feathers available at http://flashfeathers.wordpress.com.

Dan Zen

-09-

Robin lets you code flexible Flash real time applications like multiuser games, shared whiteboards and chats. Robin is a custom AS3 class for Adobe Flash combined with a turnkey PHP socket system. Please see the VIDEO and the sample CODE.

You only need to code in Flash ActionScript

Robin works on a simple principle. You save properties such as your x and y position and you get to read other people’s properties such as their x and y positions.

FEATURES

• Any number of application names
• Unlimited users or specify how many people per “room”
• History data for new people joining your application
• Shared unique data available as an array
• Optionally let new users fill in for users who have left
• Get the latest updated property values at any time

If you are familiar with the Flash Media Server, the “latest property value” works like a shared remote object.

Robin’s strength is that, unlike a shared remote object in the Flash Media Server, you have control of everyone’s unique properties simply through an array. So if you are saving a name property in a chat, you can access everyone else’s name property as:

["Dan Zen", "Colin Moock", "Nonoba", "AMFPHP" "RED5"]

When people update their text, an event is triggered and this array is updated.

Robin has a host of other methods and properties but really, it just takes a couple lines of code to make use of its power. Three samples are provided in the download:

• a sample chat showing the history multi-room features
• a multiuser game with avatars under unique control
• a shared ball where anyone can move the ball

There is no back end PHP coding

You just set up PHP and set your Server address in the setUp.php file. There is a simple admin system that lets you start your socket server. All the tricky code has been written to provide real time data to the Robin Flash class. We suggest that you start Robin with a cron job although precautions are in place to restart the socket server should it stop. Details are provided in the readme.txt in the Download ZIP.

FRIENDS AND DONATIONS
Please let us know if you use Robin and we will add you to the Friends area at left. If you use Robin for a commercial venture and would care to donate that would be super!

FEATHERS
Robin is one of a selection of open source solutions called Flash Feathers available at http://flashfeathers.wordpress.com.

Dan Zen

-09-

Hi folks… we are currently putting together the Flash Feathers Blogs one at a time over the next few weeks. So our little birds are jumping out of the nests or waddling after their mothers at the moment. It should all come together soon

Dan Zen

Here is a list of keywords that have been used to find Falcon – Flash AS3 Data Class.

Click the Falcon press release link to find out more about how Falcon can help you get data in and out of Flash. Here is a post that shows a simple example of sending variables back and forth between Flash and PHP. Please see the examples link above for more examples. Hope it helps!

 

Click here to download a simple example of passing multiple variables from Flash to PHP using the Falcon Class. This has always been available with the Falcon class but the original variables example uses the FalconProvider class – and has the added complexities of a database (MySQL) and a DataGrid component in Flash.

This zip has the very basics of passing variables between Flash and the server.

This zip also removes all the examples provided in the main Falcon ZIP which may make it easier for some to organize themselves ;-) If you want XML, Text, DataGrids or lists, etc. then get the original ZIP.

-09-

We have had a few questions about sending multiple variables from Flash to PHP and from PHP to Flash. You can certainly send multiple variables as outlined below:

TO SEND MULTIPLE VARIABLES FROM FLASH TO PHP:

make an object that holds the variables you want to send as properties and pass that object to Falcon as the third parameter:

var myObject = new Object();
myObject.text1 = yourText1.text;
myObject.text2 = yourText2.text;
myObject.text3 = yourText3.text;

var myFalcon:Falcon=new Falcon("http://localhost/serverscript.php", Falcon.VARIABLES, myObject);

Then you can collect these in PHP as $_POST["text1"], etc.

TO SEND MULTIPLE VARIABLES FROM PHP TO FLASH

You must echo only the variables in cgi format so that is url encoded format as follows:

var1=value1&var2=value2&var3=value3, etc.

In practice, in PHP it looks like this:

$var1 = "some text that might have bad & or = etc.";
$var2 = "some other info";
$var3 = 22;

echo "var1=".urlencode($var1)."&var2=".urlencode($var2)."&var3=".urlencode($var3);

This should be the only line that PHP echoes. You should not have any line returns before the start of PHP or after the end of PHP.

In Flash, you would retrieve these variables with Falcon in the COMPLETE event method like so:

trace (e.target.data.var1, e.target.data.var2, e.target.data.var3);

You can use the variables however you want ;-)

Falcon! What a grand code name ;-).

Here is the Falcon ZIP file with instructions and samples.

Falcon is a custom class that wraps the Adobe Flash ActionScript 3 five data classes normally used to access a server script or system such as PHP, Perl, Ruby, ASP, etc. and then of course on to databases like MySQL, SQL Server, etc. It makes it so that you do not have to worry about the URLVariables, URLRequest, URLRequestMethod, URLLoader and URLLoaderDataFormat code.

You pass the following parameters to the Falcon AS3 data class:

• the URL to your server script, text, binary data or XML File
• an optional type of data – Falcon.VARIABLES, TEXT, BINARY or XML_DATA
• an optional data object that holds variables to send to the server

You set an Event.COMPLETE listener to call a function. The event object’s target has three properties. A Boolean error property, a data property and if you use the FalconProvider class there is a dataProvider property:

1. The error property (eventObject.target.error) will be true if connection to the server fails and false if it succeeds.

2. The data property (eventObject.target.data) holds the variables, text, binary or XML that comes back from the server:

• Variables – if your server script sends age=23 and you ask for data.age then you get 23
• Text – for example from a text file just use myTextField.text = data;
• Binary – this is your binary feed (actually untested but should work)
• XML – this a Flash XML object representing the XML from the server

3. Note there are two classes you can use – Falcon and FalconProvider. In FalconProvider, the dataProvider property (eventObject.target.dataProvider) is provided in the variables case when the variables come back in some sort of sequence like name1, age1, name2, age2, etc. FalconProvider automatically provides a DataProvider object with columns of name, age, etc. You can use this for a DataGrid or if you use label1, data1, label2, data2 then you can use it for a List or ComboBox. You must have a component that uses the DataProvider (DataGrid, List, etc.) in the library of your FLA if you use the FalconProvider class.

4. Please note that if you use the default Falcon.VARIABLES, then your server script such as PHP must return at least one key/value pair – in the following format variable=value&variable2=value. So in a simple example – status=complete. You cannot have any lines above your <?PHP either otherwise the new line characters cause problems.

5. If you want to avoid caching issues, put a random number on the end of your script call like so: somefile.php?rand=”+Math.random().

Falcon was created by Inventor Dan Zen. You may use the code as you wish and if possible a credit link to this site will help make the world an easier place ;-). If you are interested in learning to make classes like this or other aspects of interactive multimedia please visit the Sheridan Interactive Multimedia blog for information about its one year post grad college program. Thank you to all at Adobe for such great tools and for our wonderful Flash user group, FITO in Toronto.

-30-

Update: In the last update, an old version of the XML example was accidentally used. The new ZIP includes the correction. Thanks to one of our users for letting us know about the bug. It turns out that the parameters were being passed in the wrong order and thus the XML coming back was being treated as a String rather than XML.

Falcon is an Adobe Flash ActionScript CS3 Class that wraps up the native data classes to send and receive variables to a text, XML file or server script like PHP connected to DataBases like MySQL, etc. When using Falcon, you will not have to use URLVariables, URLRequest, URLRequestMethod, URLLoader and URLLoaderDataFormat.

We have just updated Falcon to remove the automatic DataProvider feature because that required a component with a DataProvider to be placed in the FLA. We have instead, additionally provided a FalconProvider class that is the same as Faclon but has the automatic DataProvider feature. Use the FalconProvider class when you have sequenced variables to be put into a DataGrid, ComboBox, List, TileList, etc.

Use Falcon when you want to load in text, XML or if you want to send or receive variables from a server script. We have been using Falcon for a while now and it is so easy – a few lines of code rather than fifteen. Enjoy.

BASIC XML USAGE (See examples above for reading a text file or variables, etc.)

For a fast usage of what is in the zip file. Just grab the Falcon.as file and put it in the same directory as your FLA. Then to read in a text file this is what you do. The XML is just as easy – the variables, require a server script so is a little more work – see the examples link for more:

XML EXAMPLE (AS)

package falcon{
	import flash.display.MovieClip;
	import flash.events.Event;
	import flash.text.TextField;
	public class FalconXML extends MovieClip {
 public function FalconXML() {
 var myFalcon:Falcon=new Falcon("sample.xml", Falcon.XML_DATA);
 myFalcon.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,getData);
 }
 private function getData(e:Event) {
 if (e.target.error) {
 myText.text = "sorry, error connecting to XML file";
 } else {
 myText.text = e.target.data.text; 
 myText.appendText("\n\n"); // new lines
 myText.appendText(e.target.data.author);
 myText.appendText("\n"); 
 myText.appendText(e.target.data.location.@city);
 myText.appendText(", "); 
 myText.appendText(e.target.data.location.@country);
 }
 }
	}
}

XML EXAMPLE (XML)

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<sample>
	<text><![CDATA[Hello there from <XML>]]></text>
	<author>Dan Zen</author>
	<location country="Canada" city="Dundas" />
</sample>

Update: A technical description that you probably will not need to know – please do not be frightened if you are a designer reading this. Ignore it. In the zip file, there is a sample PHP page for the DataProvider example. The PHP sets an id that is auto incrementing in MySQL. We used ” for the value and some versions of MySQL give an error because the data type in the table is an integer. So we have just removed the id and its ” value from the query because it is not needed anyway as the id is auto incrementing. So… a minor update but might have caught some. The change has been made in the ZIP file.

Falcon is an Adobe Flash ActionScript CS3 Class that wraps up the native data classes to send and receive variables to a text, XML file or server script like PHP connected to DataBases like MySQL, etc. When using Falcon, you will not have to use URLVariables, URLRequest, URLRequestMethod, URLLoader and URLLoaderDataFormat.

We have just updated Falcon to remove the automatic DataProvider feature because that required a component with a DataProvider to be placed in the FLA. We have instead, additionally provided a FalconProvider class that is the same as Faclon but has the automatic DataProvider feature. Use the FalconProvider class when you have sequenced variables to be put into a DataGrid, ComboBox, List, TileList, etc.

Use Falcon when you want to load in text, XML or if you want to send or receive variables from a server script. We have been using Falcon for a while now and it is so easy – a few lines of code rather than fifteen. Enjoy.

BASIC USAGE

For a fast usage of what is in the zip file. Just grab the Falcon.as file and put it in the same directory as your FLA. Then to read in a text file this is what you do. The XML is just as easy – the variables, require a server script so is a little more work – see the examples link for more:

// in your constructor for instance…
var myFalcon:Falcon=new Falcon(“sample.txt”, Falcon.TEXT);
myFalcon.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,getData);

// in the body of your class make the event method:
private function getData(e:Event) {
if (e.target.error) {
trace (“sorry, error accessing text file”);
} else {
trace (e.target.data); // this is your text data!
}
}

Falcon is an Adobe Flash ActionScript CS3 Class that wraps up the native data classes to send and receive variables to a text, XML file or server script like PHP connected to DataBases like MySQL, etc. When using Falcon, you will not have to use URLVariables, URLRequest, URLRequestMethod, URLLoader and URLLoaderDataFormat.

We have just updated Falcon to remove the automatic DataProvider feature because that required a component with a DataProvider to be placed in the FLA. We have instead, additionally provided a FalconProvider class that is the same as Faclon but has the automatic DataProvider feature. Use the FalconProvider class when you have sequenced variables to be put into a DataGrid, ComboBox, List, TileList, etc.

Use Falcon when you want to load in text, XML or if you want to send or receive variables from a server script. We have been using Falcon for a while now and it is so easy – a few lines of code rather than fifteen. Enjoy.

BASIC USAGE

For a fast usage of what is in the zip file. Just grab the Falcon.as file and put it in the same directory as your FLA. Then to read in a text file this is what you do. The XML is just as easy – the variables, require a server script so is a little more work – see the examples link for more:

// in your constructor for instance…
var myFalcon:Falcon=new Falcon("sample.txt", Falcon.TEXT);
myFalcon.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,getData);
 
// in the body of your class make the event method:
private function getData(e:Event) {
if (e.target.error) {
trace ("sorry, error accessing text file");
} else {
trace (e.target.data); // this is your text data!
}
}

Did not realize it but the current version of Falcon requires you to put at least one component that uses a DataProvider. To get around this, we will have to split up the class into two classes. One if you want to use the DataProvider option and one if you do not. We will get to the change as soon as we can – tomorrow probably and then update this message and of course the ZIP file. Until then, you can comment out the DataProvider lines in the Falcon.as file in three places where it says DataProvider – the last being a bunch of code near the bottom.

Above is an icon that you can use on your site if you would like to link to Falcon. Please let us know if you do and we will add you to our Friends of Falcon listing.