Write mathematical equation in flash - actionscript-3

I am working on a math quiz using flash CS3 with ActionScript 3.0
I have the source document in Microsoft Word. They have all been typed in equation nicely.
I cannot copy them straight into flash document.
I do not want to printscreen those equation. There a lot of fraction,index and symbols.
Is there a way so that I can copy the equations straight into flash?
Is there something like, install plug in so that flash can read it?

You should consider using LaTeX2SWF library instead of trying to import Microsoft Equation directly.
Example here
If you can't download it, you can try something like this
You should also convert all of your Math Equations from Microsoft format to LaTeX. There are a lot of automated programs and plugins, like this, but there are lots of others

Related

Running Flash (AS3) code in Haxe

I am starting out developing in Haxe in combination with OpenFl, and am in a situation where I need to be able to run Flash/AS3 code in a Haxe program which is being compiled to Flash anyway.
I know I could use the command lime build -as3 as3source/ and then edit that code and manually insert the AS3 code I need to run, but I would prefer not doing that if I can.
Is there any way to do this?
You can compile your AS3 code into a separate swf or swc and then use -swf-lib to use it from Haxe.
You can always write a build script which enters the code in combination with the command for you, if you just want to avoid doing it manually, but I belive that´s the kind of answer you want.
I just find build script very usefull.
You may want to look at this article, some major options are described there (including tools for converting AS3 code to Haxe and technique with -swf-lib).

Best Flash Engine for Vector Graphics?

Hi can anyone give me a link to a flash library that can use vector images or merge with flash profressional cs6 movieclips?
Vector images made in Illustrator or Flash Pro CS6?
Would cs6 profressional native be enough to make a 'optimized' game? using less memory etc.
I'm looking for a flash game engine that I can still code for like FlashDevelop and Flashpunk but can do vector graphics as well.
First of all, a few things to be aware of:
Flash supports vector graphics. This is implemented in the base code of the language, and thus you will be able to use vector graphics no matter what you are doing (though some prebuilt engines will require raster images instead for various reasons)
FlashDevelop is in IDE, or Integrated Development Environment, which means that it is a tool, like notepad or microsoft word, but in which you type your code. It is not a game engine.
As it seems you've discovered, Flashpunk is designed for raster graphics, not vector graphics.
How "optomized" your game ultimately turns out is a result of you, not the tools you are using. If you use art assets with thousands of vertices in your vector graphics there is no code base in the world that will save your game from being unoptimized. So yes, you can make a fully optimized game using just Flash CS6
Flash CS6 is really two things in one: Content creation tool (for making or grouping art assets) and an Actionscript Integrated Development Environment.
Keeping all this in mind, you can indeed develop content in flash, then export that content from flash to FlashDevelop. The prefered way to do this is SWC importing. Basically, you build a .fla file in Flash with all your graphics and sound, assign a class name to each flash DisplayObject in your library you want to use in FlashDevelop, go into publish settings in flash and enable .swc output, and publish. Then import it in FlashBuilder and you can simply call
this.addChild(new graphic001())
Within a class you have written in flash builder (one that extends DisplayObjectContainer, of course).
A good example tutorial can be found: Here
To answer your original question though, just in case I'm wrong and you are ready for this (or the next guy to view this question is), I'd recommend using the Citrus Engine. Nape physics engine is pretty easy to work with and once you're feeling confident with the traditional displayList format you can begin using the starling framework without having to switch to a different engine. However I would like to point out that I really don't think you're quite ready to do this quite yet. It may be best for you to work through a couple of "make a game" flash tutorials first, such as this one.

How to generate SWF from FLA using command line on Ubuntu Server?

I have a situation where I need to generate SWF from the FLA that user uploads on to the server. We use python and bash scripts, and work on Ubuntu Server 10.04 (64bit), any help on how to generate the SWF would be a great help.
Thanks.
Flash needs Flash IDE for compilation.
You probably can compile code using flex AS3 compiler on linux, but if there are graphical elements in Flash, you cannot compile them.
However, we had a similar situation, which we fixed by installing Flash in a MAC OS X Snow Leopard(10.6) and then wrote some php, some shell script, some applescript and made a command line compilation mechanism for AS3.
Mac OS X is a unix based os, so the command line is similar to any other unix. it comes with built in php, so you don't have to install anything.
Basically using script we dynamically generate something called .jsfl file. the jsfl contains the details of the .fla that needs to be compiled. these jsfl files can be executed by Flash IDE. so we invoke the flash IDE and pass on the generated .jsfl file. (http://gskinner.com/blog/archives/2004/08/jsfl_fla_batch.html)
This gskinner process works in windows also, but using mac we can make it command line. so that users can just ssh to the mac and execute the command to build the file.
FLA file format has changed significantly in the latest version of Flash. New FLAs are archives containing source files and assets, so you might be able to write a script unpacking a FLA and assembling an SWF from it. Prior versions of FLA contained proprietary format, not documented and there were no tools to process it in an automatic fashion, not on Linux for certain.
Depending on ActionScript version and your requirement to resource handling (by resources I mean images, fonts, sound tracks, videos etc) there are several options available:
Flex SDK, the material found in the blog post #ntidote refers to is somewhat dated, but it's OK / should work. You would need to consult MXMLC usage documentation to find out all available options (and some new required ones, not covered in the blog post). This is what you can do, if your goal is to compile AS3. This does not include video transcoding and you might find it challenging to embed vector graphics. MXMLC is, however, capable of compiling a large subset of SVG. It can also compile FXG - a new interchange graphic format that can describe vector shapes and text.
ActionScript 2 can also be compiled, but Flex doesn't offer a compiler for that. There is a very good, in fact a much better than the one written by Adobe, compiler for AS2: http://tech.motion-twin.com/mtasc.html .
There are other tools that are capable of generating SWFs - all depends on what exactly you need to do. Here's a good collection of different utilities: http://www.swftools.org/
Haxe is a whole other programming language that can compile to SWF. It also has its own linkers and ways of managing resources. http://haxe.org/
There is this project, which allows you to compile complex vector graphics and even animations from XML descriptions: http://code.google.com/p/hxswfml/

What are some good ways to Save/Load files in AS3?

I am writing a game in ActionScript3 using Flixel as a base. I have been unable to find a good method for saving and loading files from the player's local hard drive. I know Flixel has a way to save game data to...I think...cookies that the player doesn't really have access to, and I want to avoid this.
I first learned programming in Java, and one thing I've seen a lot of is scanning (Scanner) and printing (PrintWriter) lines of strings to/from text files. Something like this for AS3 would be my ideal, but if there are other methods I'm open.
Does AS3 have anything in its basic library that can do this task well? Are there libraries I can download and include that do this well/better?
If your game is going to run on a webpage your options are limited. Due to security concerns Flash is limited to reading and writing files specifically selected by the user.
Should you be using Air to make a standalone game, you will have regular access to the filesystem and can write files much like with Java.
If not, you will be pretty much stuck with Flash cookie equivalent, SharedObject.

Interactive ActionScript interpreter?

Is there some sort of interactive ActionScript interpreter? Similar to Firebug's JavaScript command line or Python's interactive shell?
Try AS3Eval Library - it is AS3 compiler implemented in AS3. It has simple interactive shell.
There's also Frontal:
http://code.google.com/p/frontal/
It has an ActionScript interpreter built into it. It's based on the ECMA 2.62 (JavaScript) standard so it's not full AS3 and doesn't support things like packages and classes but it's still extremely handy.
As I mentioned, the interpreter is part of a larger library implementing the Frontal language but if you were so inclined you could pretty easily just rip out the interpreter.
Or you could just use it in Frontal. And if you did then you do get a console that allows you to run ActionScript in a primitive shell. For example, go to the Frontal website. (I can't post the link because my reputation is low but it's frontalcode + com.) Right-click and choose "View Frontal Source..." This will open the Frontal console. At the bottom of the console, click "command line." This is your "shell."
Try something like this say:
5 + 4 * 10
or
movie.alpha = 0.5
Actionscript is a compiled language and the compiled byte code is executed by the Flash Player Virtual Machine. There are a number of tools out there that will create Actionscript byte code based on Actionscript source code. I'm not aware of the existance of any tools that will intrepet AS byte code and execute it other than Adobe Flash Player.
Although I do not say it's not possible, I haven't seen nor heard of any tools that gives you an interactive shell for Actionscript.
flash-console project does exactly that. They have a demo and an online help.
Special commands start by a slash like /help
Variables can be stored and accessed via $some_name
/ changes current scope to the last returned value.
The project is meant to be integrated in your project.