MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-GETTING STARTED WITH FLASH LITE User manual

Getting Started with Flash Lite

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Acknowledgments
Project Management: Mary Leigh Burke
Writing: Tim Statler
Managing Editor: Rosana Francescato
Editing: Linda Adler, Geta Carson
Production Management: Patrice O’Neill, Kristin Conradi, Yuko Yagi
Media Design and Production: Adam Barnett, Aaron Begley, Paul Benkman. John Francis, Geeta Karmarkar, Masayo Noda,
Paul Rangel, Arena Reed, Mario Reynoso
Special thanks to Lisa Friendly, Bonnie Loo, Erick Vera, the beta testers, and the entire Flash Lite engineering and QA teams.
First Edition: September 2005
Macromedia, Inc.
601 Townsend St.
San Francisco, CA 94103

3
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
What’s new in Flash Lite authoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Guide to instructional media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Additional resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Typographical conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Chapter 1: Flash Lite Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
About Flash Lite technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Flash Lite 1.x availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
About Flash Lite content types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Workflow for authoring Flash Lite applications (Flash
Professional Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Flash Lite authoring features in Flash Professional 8 (Flash
Professional Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Using Flash Lite document templates (Flash Professional Only) . . . . 16
Hello World Flash Lite application (Flash Professional Only) . . . . . . . 18
About the stand-alone Flash Lite player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Chapter 2: Creating a Flash Lite Application (Flash
Professional Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Café application overview (Flash Professional Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Viewing the completed application (Flash Professional Only) . . . . . . 26
Creating the application (Flash Professional Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

4Contents

5
Introduction
This manual provides an introduction to Macromedia Flash Lite and the
authoring features in Macromedia Flash Professional 8 for Flash Lite
developers.
What’s new in Flash Lite
authoring
Flash Professional 8 includes the following new features to help developers
create Flash Lite applications:
Flash Lite emulator The Flash Lite emulator lets you preview your
content as it will function on an actual device. The emulator can configure
itself to mimic the features available on any supported device. The
emulator also provides debugging information that alerts you to potential
problems and incompatibilities on the target device.
Device Settings dialog box You use the Device Settings dialog box to
select your test devices and Flash Lite content type. When you test your
content in the Flash Lite emulator, you can choose the test device you want
the emulator to mimic.
Device document templates Flash Professional 8 includes document
templates to let you quickly start creating content for specific devices and
content types.

6Introduction
Guide to instructional media
The Flash Lite documentation package includes the following media to
help you learn how to create Flash Lite applications:
■Getting Started with Flash Lite provides an overview of Flash Lite
technology and developing Flash Lite content for mobile devices. It
also includes a step-by-step tutorial for creating a Flash Lite
application.
■Developing Flash Lite Applications is a comprehensive guide to creating
Flash Lite content, and includes instructions for testing your
applications in the integrated Flash Lite emulator.
■Flash Lite 1.x ActionScript Language Reference describes all the
ActionScript language features available to Flash Lite developers, and
provides example code.
■Learning Flash Lite 1.x ActionScript complements the language
reference and provides additional code examples and an introduction to
writing Flash 4 ActionScript, upon which Flash Lite 1.x ActionScript
is based.
■The Flash Lite sample applications demonstrate key concepts and best
practices discussed or mentioned in the written documentation.
Additional resources
For the latest information on developing Flash Lite applications, plus
advice from expert users, advanced topics, examples, tips, and other
updates, see the Mobile and Devices Developer Center at
www.macromedia.com/devnet/devices/.
For TechNotes, documentation updates, and links to additional resources
in the Flash Lite developer community, see the Macromedia Flash Lite
Support Center at www.macromedia.com/support/flashlite/.

Typographical conventions 7
Typographical conventions
The following typographical conventions are used in this book:
■Italic font indicates a value that should be replaced (for example, in a
folder path).
■Code font indicates ActionScript code.
■Code font italic indicates an ActionScript parameter.
■Bold font indicates a verbatim entry.
■Double quotation marks ("") in code examples indicate delimited
strings. However, programmers can also use single quotation marks.

8Introduction

9
1
CHAPTER 1
Flash Lite Overview
This chapter contains the following topics:
About Flash Lite technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Flash Lite 1.x availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
About Flash Lite content types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Workflow for authoring Flash Lite applications (Flash
Professional Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Flash Lite authoring features in Flash Professional 8 (Flash
Professional Only). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Using Flash Lite document templates (Flash Professional Only) 16
Hello World Flash Lite application (Flash Professional Only) . . . 18
About the stand-alone Flash Lite player. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
About Flash Lite technology
Macromedia Flash Lite is a version of Macromedia Flash Player designed
for mobile phones. It balances Flash features and capabilities with the
processing power and configurations of today’s mass market mobile
phones. There are currently two versions of Flash Lite: Flash Lite 1.0 and
Flash Lite 1.1. Flash Lite consists of the following features:
The core rendering engine The rendering engine handles all vector and
bitmap rendering.
ActionScript interpreter Flash Lite supports the version of the
ActionScript language used in Flash Player 4, including many mobile-
specific commands, such as getting time and date information from the
device. This hybrid of Flash Player 4 ActionScript and commands with
properties specific to Flash Lite is collectively called Flash Lite 1.x
ActionScript.

10 Flash Lite Overview
For more information about Flash Lite 1.x ActionScript, see Flash Lite 1.x
ActionScript Language Reference and Learning Flash Lite 1.x ActionScript.
Text and fonts Flash Lite supports static, dynamic, and input text fields.
You can use fonts that are available on the device or embed font data in
your published SWF file. For more information about using text and fonts
in Flash Lite, see Chapter 2, “Working with Text and Fonts” in Developing
Flash Lite Applications.
Sound Flash Lite 1.0 and Flash Lite 1.1 both support device audio
formats (such as MIDI or MFi). Flash Lite 1.1 also supports standard Flash
audio. For more information about working with sound in Flash Lite, see
Chapter 3, “Working with Sound” in Developing Flash Lite Applications.
Network connectivity Flash Lite 1.1 supports the ability to load external
data and SWF files, as well as commands and properties for getting
connectivity and HTTP request status information.
Device and platform integration Flash Lite provides access to several
system features and commands, such as the ability to initiate phone calls
and short message service (SMS) messages, get platform capability
information, and get user input using the device’s standard input
dialog box.
Flash Lite 1.x availability
Flash Lite 1.0 and Flash Lite 1.1 are supported on a variety of mobile
devices that are available in a number of different geographic regions and
markets. Some of these devices are available globally, while others are
available only in specific geographic regions or from specific mobile
operators. Some devices come with Flash Lite pre-installed from the device
manufacturer or mobile operator, while on others it can be installed
after purchase.
For the most current list of devices that support Flash Lite, see the
Supported Devices page located at www.macromedia.com/mobile/
supported_devices/.