AS3 AIR in app loading screen - actionscript-3

I was wondering if someone could share some thoughts about how best to implement an in app loading screen.
I am building a mobile app using Starling and Feathers UI for iOS and Android and some times when a menu item is clicked to go to a new page it takes a few seconds due to the components that are on the stage on the called page. I would like to display a generic 'loading...please wait' screen which will have a message and a loading spinner which will be shown every time a new page is requested.
Thanks

This is how it's actually done, while you're directing your user to the frame, you make the loader MovieClip visible, the loader movie clip is a simple animation, like this:
loader http://www.pockettorah.com/wp-content/app/images/loader.gif
Make a movieclip and in instance name name it loader, and animate it like above
At the top of your code, say loader.visible = false;
In your code, after gotoAndStop/gotoAndPlay or whatever, say loader.visible = true;
There is no real way of displaying this, usually it's just a fake animation that displays while the data is being processed.

Its called a splash screen, it can be a simple jpeg. Adobe help here

Related

cocos2d-x pause game on background with pause screen

I am trying to figure out how to implement a pause screen on background. In my game scene I have a method called pauseGame. I set this up so that the user can click on pause button while playing and menu comes up asking them if they want to resume or go to main menu. Now when the phone goes into the background I want to also call this same function in my game scene so that it will show that menu so that when the user comes back to the app they will be able to resume instead of it automatically starting. I have googled for hours now and tried a few things but the only thing I am able to come up with is to call the directors pause() method from the app delegate. Which is what is happening any way but I need to call the pauseGame method of my game scene. Is there an event that I can listen for in the game scene or is there a way to call my pause from the appdelegate. I just cant seem to find an answer for this one.
App Delegate has this function, void AppDelegate::applicationDidEnterBackground(), which gets called every time app enters background.
You can access current scene by using this,
Director::getInstance()->getRunningScene(); cocos2d-x 3.0
CCDirector::sharedInstance()->getRunningScene(); cocos2d-x 2.x //Not entirely sure of the syntax, pls to check
After right typecasting and importing the appropriate header file, you can call required function from here.
Also,
AppDelegate also has, void AppDelegate::applicationWillEnterForeground(), which gets called every time app enters foreground.

Externally loaded images in AS3 un-clickable?

I'm loading in an external image (a book cover from goodreads.com) into a library viewer AIR app (used on ipad and in-browser) running on Starling (in case you need to know). After it loads, the cover should be clickable to take further action.
This all works fine on ipad and when directly built from FlashDevelop, but when it's viewed in-browser, click events don't do anything on the loaded images. It'll work on my embedded placeholder bitmaps no problem (sitting in a "Book" class extending Sprite).
It seems to be a security problem, but if it was, I'd expect the image to not load at all. But instead it loads but isn't interactive anymore. I've tried various things like:
Add loader and click listener to the Book object
Add loader.content as Bitmap and click listener to the Book
Create a BitmapData and draw the Loader.content, then add the resulting Bitmap (it's blank in-browser, but works perfectly when built from FD)
Add loader and place a transparent sprite on top of it, add listener to the sprite
Has anyone had this problem? Would anyone know a work-around?
Thanks!
This was a sand-box problem.
I think it's intentional; you shouldn't be able to hot-link other site's assets unless given express permission.
I fixed this by only pulling images hosted locally and using crossdomain.xml to make sure there was no lookup issues when www.domain.com and domain.com were different.

How to ENTIRELY remove an flvplayback from stage when going to another flvplayback on another frame?

I'm trying to create an EXE projector using flash 5.5 AS3 where I have a few videos (FLVs) to show (their location is right next to the exe file in the same directory) - each load in a different frame, and all of those videos should also have a full screen option to them. Those are original videos that people WILL want to watch in full screen. It's essential for the experience...
The problem(s) I currently have (after fixing the sound that didn't stop after going to a different video) are hard to describe, but I'll try really hard.
Ok, so when I click the full screen button on a video and watch it in full screen, I will eventually want to exit the full screen, so I click on the same icon at the bottom to exit full screen (or ESC button, it's the same) and then click the navigation button to go to the SECOND FLV's frame to watch the other video. After watching the second video in full screen and then exiting full screen, flash takes me to the FIRST video's frame and that is a big problem. Also, now the button that takes me BACK to the second video's frame won't work. It's like flash is stuck.
I use the Components --> FLVPlayback 2.5 from the componant menu (I don't really know AS3 programming) and I fix its properties in the component parameters.
Also, I don't think that any of the followings are the reason for the bug, but I use these 3 scripts to stop all sound when navigating away from one frame (with an FLVplayback) to
another frame with another FLVplayback:
MyFLV.stop();
SoundMixer.stopAll();
MyFLV.addEventListener(Event.REMOVED_FROM_STAGE,xyz);
function xyz(e:Event):void{
MyFLV.stop();
}
I've found these online where people asked help for the sound bug I described.
The third script was suppose to remove the FLVplayback from the stage before going to another frame, but it works only when NOT GETTING INTO FULL SCREEN. I need something that will COMPLETELY remove the previous video from the stage so after exiting the SECOND viewed video, flash won't take me to a video that from some reason is still in its memory. I have something like 30 videos in my project and I need to remove each and every one of them off of the stage before navigating to the next frame to open a new FLVPlayback.
I tried to add a link to a demo I made with the problem so you can look at it, but it triggered a "oops, something went wrong" error, probably anti spam mechanism...
I would recommend using only one frame and only one flvplayback instance. Otherwise you have to deal with weird bugs like the one you are getting (usually caused by misplaced or forgotten code). Of course, using only one frame requires using more code, but with the number of hard-fixes it looks like you were making for the bugs, you may end up with less code.
Don't worry, I'll walk you through everything!
Reasons to use code (as opposed to multiple frames):
Easier to keep track of:
Know where all your code is so you can easily find and fix any problems.
Make changes more easily
You want to switch an existing video? edit a file reference and you are done.
Want to add a video? no more dragging a new flvplayback instance onto a new frame just add some very simple code and a button and you're done.
More customization
Reasons to use multiple frames (and multiple flvplayback instances):
easier to place visually
Some people find it easier when they have an actual movieclip that they can visually place on the stage
Less code
Here we go:
//import flv library
import fl.video.*;
This allows you to use ActionScript to manipulate the flv player
//video playback code-----------------------//
var myVideo:FLVPlayback = new FLVPlayback();
this creates an instance of FLVPlayback called myVideo (referenced from now on in the code as myVideo)
this next chunk shows many of the customizable features of the flv player. It is not necessary to include them.
//places the video player on stage at x,y
myVideo.x = 115;
myVideo.y = -10;
//uses SkinOverPlayFullscreen.swf for controls
myVideo.skin = "SkinOverPlayFullscreen.swf";
//color of controls
myVideo.skinBackgroundColor = 0x333333;
//hide controls and time it takes controls to fade and reappear (milliseconds)
myVideo.skinAutoHide=true;
myVideo.skinFadeTime=300;
//add the player to the stage
addChild(myVideo);
And now comes the important part. I have made buttons and added them to the stage. I gave each of the buttons a different instance name (box1_btn, box2_btn, and box3_btn). When someone clicks on a button, an "event" will occur.
//button listener code-------------------------//
//when button 1 is clicked throw button 1 event
box1_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clicked1);
//when button 2 is clicked throw button 2 event
box2_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clicked2);
//when button 3 is clicked throw button 3 event
box3_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, clicked3);
//play different videos for different buttons---------//
//when button 1 event is thrown
function clicked1($e:MouseEvent):void
{
//play video 1.flv
myVideo.source = "1.flv";
}
//when button 2 event is thrown
function clicked2($e:MouseEvent):void
{
//play video 2.flv
myVideo.source = "2.flv";
}
//when button 3 event is thrown
function clicked3($e:MouseEvent):void
{
//play video 3.flv
myVideo.source = "3.flv";
}
This code will not have any sounds that keep playing because two videos cannot play at the same time in one instance of the player. Nor will it have any mess-ups when you come out of fullscreen because there is only one frame for the video to go back to.
Some possible problems you may run into:
It doesn't work at all:
Make sure you have added an instance of FLVPlayback to the library by adding an instance to the stage from the components menu (window>>components or ctrl+F7) and then deleting it from the stage (it should still appear in the library).
The playback buttons I want aren't showing up:
There is a great explanation of how to use As3 to manipulate FLVPlayback here:
http://www.republicofcode.com/tutorials/flash/as3flvplayback/
find the section about "Applying a Skin to the FLVPlayback Component" and follow it to use an adobe playback skin. If you want to make your own unique skin I would recommend opening and editing one of the pre-made skins. I found mine in
C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Flash CS6\Common\Configuration\FLVPlayback Skins\FLA\ActionScript 3.0
I hope this helps!
Below would be simplest way to unload the FLVPlayback
removeChild(MyFLV);
it works fine for me
flvPlayBack.stop();
removeChild(flvPlayBack);
stops the sound and removes the playback.

ActionScript 3 Best place to bind events

I am writing a small Flash game using air for android and have encountered a slight issue.
The game has 3 screens (excluding the game screen) which are main menu, load game & create new game. On the load game and create new game screens I want to add a button which take the user back to the main menu.
I know how to add event listeners to buttons but I am wondering where do I bind the event listener for back to main menu, binding in the constructor of my main class produces an error at run time and binding after going to the frame is knocking out the other buttons when back at the main screen.
At present the app is across multiple frames (probably a better structure to this instead of loading a single frame with each menu), I am new to actionscript so I am not entirely certain on best practices for this sort of thing.
Thanks.
I recommend you to use only one frame in your Fla, then use a Document Class. In that main Class, you should place all your display objects using ActionScript.
I hope you know how to instantiate Class as library clips.

AS3 - how to start all over again a flash movie

This may be very simple, but I have no idea how to do this.
I created a photo gallery in AS3, everything is on one keyframe. In this photo gallery I have a link to home. My goal is, when someone clicks the "home" link I want everything to start over. Any ideas on how to do this in AS3?
Appreaciate it.
L.
call flash player container
usually the HTML page and use JavaScript to reload the flash player
flash.external.ExternalInterface.call(jsFuncRestart);
jsFuncRestart is a JavaScript function in the HTML file
and now in the js function just create a new object and replace the current flash object
with the new one
You probably animate everything with as3, right? Then just make a reset function that puts all the images back to their original place and start the animation all over.