as3 external swf classes loaded - actionscript-3

I have external swf (ext.swf) that is loaded in my FlashDevelop as3 project.
When I make check (objectsList[0] is Class1) I am getting false even though
the objectsList[0] element is Class1. The Class1 is in the ext.swf
But when I write command like (objectListInExternalSwf[0] is Class1) in external
swf and then use that swf in my project and make check (objectsList[0] is Class1)
I get true.
My question is: do I have to use all the classes in my external swf so the compiler
have to put them in the swf so they can be used in other projects where the swf is loaded as external?

By default, when you load an SWF, its content will be placed into a separate ApplicationDomain. So even if you have the same class, Flash will consider it as different.
To share the same class definition, you have to be in the same ApplicationDomain (or inherit from the same) :
var l : Loader = new Loader;
l.load( new URLRequest("foo.swf"),
new LoaderContext(false, new ApplicationDomain(ApplicationDomain.currentDomain));

Related

Flash AS3 unload loaded SWF completely

how do i absolutely and completely unload a loaded SWF.
Here's the case. I have two different SWF, both have the same movieClips in the library with the same name and instance...but...both have different shape. So basically both are different but the names.
So i loaded the first.swf into the main.swf, in the first.swf contains button that order the loaded in the main.swf to unloadAndStop() and load the second.swf. But somehow the objects in the second.swf take the shape in the first.swf.
I hit the wall with this. How do i completely unload the first.swf
Thx guys
Try to load child swfs (first.swf and second.swf) into child application domains of the current application domain (Usage C in this Article Working with application domains, you can also find code sample from this article below). With this technique you'll get:
separate classes (all classes) of first.swf and second.swf from each other
unload all the class definitions for garbage collection after unloading swf
AS3 from the article:
var appDomainC:ApplicationDomain = new ApplicationDomain(ApplicationDomain.currentDomain);
var contextC:LoaderContext = new LoaderContext(false, appDomainC);
var loaderC:Loader = new Loader();
loaderC.load(new URLRequest("module3.swf"), contextC);

Link symbol from loaded swf to custom class dynamically

I have a project where I load an external file with asset symbols (assets.swf) into the main swf and then add the symbols to the display when needed. I want the classes associated with each symbol to be linked to a custom class at runtime in the document class. I'd really like to avoid defining the custom classes in the assets fla through the symbol properties.
In AS2, this was possible with Object.registerClass as below:
Object.registerClass("assetID",AssetClass);
this.attachMovie("assetID", "asset_mc", 0);
So the symbol was independent of the class it is linked to at runtime.
In AS3, I'm seeing references to registerClassAlias but there is very little reliable documentation of it available online.
Does anyone know of a way of doing what I'd like to do with registerClassAlias or any other way?
thanks!!!
matt
First, you need to load your asset symbol and keep a reference to the loader.
assetsLoader.load(new URLRequest("assets.swf"));
When the loading is done you can retrieve your assets within the loaded SWF ApplicationDomain.
var assetClass:Class = assetsLoader.contentLoaderInfo.applicationDomain.getDefinition("MyAssetClass") as Class;
var asset:* = new assetClass();
Note: MyAssetClass should be defined inside assets.swf!
If you want further informations, you can read this article.

Loading and using SWF files

I'm new to AS3, and am trying to understand how externally loaded SWFs work in AS3. Since Flash 4/5, it was common to have one main SWF file in a Flash web project, and then load other SWF files into it, often for various "sections" of a website or web project. In the main file, we'd have masks animating the container movieclip(in which external sections/SWF files were loaded) and have animations and transitions play as the section finished loading and the loaded content was displayed.
In AS3, I've used the Loader class to load and display the external file, my main problem is in communicating with the loaded content, call it's functions, or call root functions from it.
In AS2, we could use someMovieClip.loadMovie("ExternalContent.swf") and the ExternalContent file would load inside someMovieClip. You could access functions on the "External.swf" main timeline using someMovieClip.function();. And inside the "ExternalContent.swf", we could use _root.function() to access functions in the main file ExternalContent was being loaded into. Doing this in AS3 seems bizarre and neurotic, and I feel like I'm missing something fairly basic here.
//Loading in ExternalContent.swf into the sprite
//ExternalContent has a movieclip called "boxes" on it's main timeline
//boxes has a boxesPrompt() function in it's timeline.
var sprite:Sprite = new Sprite();
addChild(sprite);
var loader:Loader = new Loader();
loader.load(new URLRequest("ExternalContent.swf"));
loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,onLoaded);
function onLoaded(event:Event):void
{
sprite.addChild(event.target.content);
sprite.boxes.boxesPrompt();
//Flash gives the following compiler error at the above
//Scene 1, Layer 'Layer 1', Frame 1, Line 21 1119: Access of possibly undefined property boxes through a reference with static type flash.display:Sprite.
//But when I comment out sprite.boxes.boxesPrompt() and use this, it works:
event.target.content.boxes.boxesPrompt()
}
The boxesPrompt() function inside the "ExternalContent.swf" just traces it's parent, grand-parent, and great grand-parent - trace(this.parent.parent.parent);. And when I call that function inside the onLoaded event-handler using "event.target.content.boxes.boxesPrompt()", it shows that the Boxes object(which was on the main timeline of External.SWF), has a parent movieclip, a grand-parent sprite, and a great grand-parent object mainTimeline.
I thought re-parenting the loaded content into the sprite would allow me to access the loaded content as easily as loadMovie() used to be - accessing loaded content like it was present directly inside the clip it was loaded in. But that doesn't work at all.
So to rephrase, my question is:
How do I communicate from the main "loader" SWF file, with the content that's loaded in. I don't want to communicate using event.target.content.{etc} because then I'd only be able to address the loaded content inside the Loader's event.complete event handler.
How do I "re-parent" loaded content, so I can place it inside some movieclip/sprite on the main timeline of the loader file, rather than using some really long convoluted way.
How to communicate from inside the loaded content, to the main/loader file. Previously, we'd use _root.functionName() to do stuff like play some animation transitioning from the current externally loaded "section" to another section. How'd I go about doing that.
AS2 & AS3 is vastly different. But you will have to swallow the fact that AS3 has been developed as an improvement over AS2. So any transition you make, is also for the better.
For eg : The _root in AS2 allowed global objects & variables to accessed & changed anywhere, which is a bad practice & leads to non maintainable code in a project.
Having said that, let me address your questions:
If you are able to get access to the loaded content with
event.target.content... you should save it inside a,say class
variable & may access it later elsewhere in the class.
You must understand that you will be able to access the content only
after loading it, so have to wait for it to complete anyway &
event.complete handler is probably your best bet.
I doubt if you can pick random content from a loaded swf & re-parent it into the current swf.As explained you might not have a long convoluted way.
Accessing the parent could be done in many ways. You can use .parent or actually call a function from the parent swf passing its reference to the child.
var sprite;
addChild(sprite);
var loader:Loader = new Loader();
loader.load(new URLRequest("ExternalContent.swf"));
loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE,onLoaded);
function onLoaded(event:Event):void
{
sprite = event.target.content;
//This should work
sprite.boxes.boxesPrompt();
}
See this example for more info.

AS3 Problem in loading external SWF into Loader

I have main application that loads external swf's through the Loader Component. But some swf's that are working well on their own don't load into the main app. When I tried to load one of that swf's from fla of main app it gave error that it's looking for some classes. By the name of this classes it looks like it were parts of loaded swf but as swf that is already compiled and working well why is it looking for this class when it's trying to be loaded by the main app?
I didn't find anything that would refer to this kind of issue. Any help will be highly appreciated.
It seems like you got an application domain collision. This can happen if you got conflicting class names in each SWF (e.g swf1 has a class named Main, swf2 has a class named Main as well).
To fix that, load the SWFs into a new application domain:
loader.load(new URLRequest("g.swf"), new LoaderContext(false, new ApplicationDomain(ApplicationDomain.currentDomain)));
If it's not that, you most likely have some code on the first frame of the movie that executes on initialisation of the SWF (See if you get Event.INIT before you get Event.COMPLETE).
This can be easily fixed by removing the code from the frame.
Just for checking I made fla file that contained only Loader component and code of loading:
var loader:Loader = new Loader();
addChild(loader);
loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, loadingFunc);
loader.load(new URLRequest("g.swf"));
function loadingFunc(event:Event):void{
var li:LoaderInfo = event.target as LoaderInfo;
var mc:MovieClip = MovieClip(li.content)
}
This code is from the testing file.
But even this way it still looking for some class that seems to be one of external loaded swf.
The error is such:
TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.
at src::Dedo()
at src::Main()
I have no such classes in my main app. So it could be only classes from external swf.

Make mask visible in ActionScript 3.0

I have Loader object containing loaded swf. I don't know how the shape of this swf looks like - it's not necessarily rectangular.
I want to add some light reflection on it. I need to mask this reflection with Loader, but in the same time I need this Loader to be visible.
I don't want to load swf twice, because it may contain some dynamic, script-generated content, which can produce different results in each Loader.
And that's quite a problem, isn't it? Any ideas?
Image: http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/12e6b9cd63.jpg
you could add your instance of the loaded swf to the stage, and for the reflection use he same movieclip/sprite and draw it to a new BitmapData. do the transformations needed and then add to stage.
Or imagine the following situation, instead of having the swf that is loaded adding it's own graphics to library you could do this from the loading application, so for instance, give the instance name of MyDisplayObject to the movieclip in the loaded swf and export to actionscript. After you load the swf you could use the following code to access the library, so you can add this object number of times you need, in you case 2.
here is the code (from adobe live docs)
function initHandler(e:Event) {
var applicationDomain:ApplicationDomain = e.target.applicationDomain; // e.target is the loaderInfo object
var testClip:Class=applicationDomain.getDefinition("testClip") as Class;
var clip = new testClip();
addChild(clip);
var reflection = new testClip();
addChild(reflection);
reflection.y= 100;
}
Hope this get's you on the right track.