MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004-FLASH JAVASCRIPT DICTIONARY User manual

Flash Lite User Guide

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Acknowledgments
Director: Erick Vera
Producer: Barbara Nelson, Stephanie Gowin
Writing: Paul Goldman
Editing: Lisa Stanziano
Print Design and Production: Adam Barnett
Second Edition: August 2003
(T2 Front_body)Macromedia, Inc.
600 Townsend St.
San Francisco, CA 94103

3
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
About using Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 to author Flash Lite content 5
CHAPTER 2: Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Flash Lite features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Navigation and key events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Text and fonts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
ActionScript functions and properties. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Flash Lite sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
CHAPTER 3: Developing Content for Flash Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Testing Flash Lite compatible content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Tutorial I—Creating a simple movie for Flash Lite (no sound) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Flash Lite sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
APPENDIX A: Warning/Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

4 Contents

5
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Macromedia has created a new Flash Player version, called Macromedia®Flash™Lite, that runs on
a new class of consumer mobile devices. This format is designed to run optimally on devices with
limited resources (memory, processor speed, display area). Content created for Flash Lite is most
similar to Flash Player 4 content, with the primary exception of how sound is incorporated and
played.
This user guide describes tools and guidelines for authors creating content for Macromedia Flash
Lite. The next section describes in detail the considerations authors should have when creating
Flash content that is run in mobile devices versus standard desktop and notebook devices.
About using Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 to author
Flash Lite content
With Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004, you can author, preview, publish, and validate
content for Flash Lite.
Flash MX Professional 2004 uses two versions of the Flash Player for authoring: the Flash MX
Professional 2004 test movie player and the stand-alone player. Whenever you select the Control
> Test Movie or Control > Test Scene menu commands in Flash MX Professional 2004, the test
movie player is started. You can use the stand-alone player to view an existing Flash SWF movie
after it has been published. Once you have set the publish settings for Flash Lite, you can preview
SWF files using the test movie player and additional information, warning, and error messages
will be displayed to let you know if there is any violation of Flash Lite rules and syntax. This helps
you determine how to make the content Flash Lite compatible.

6 Chapter 1: Introduction

7
CHAPTER 2
Getting Started
Flash Lite features
This section describes, at a high level, the features and restrictions for authoring a Flash Lite
compatible movie. For different target devices there may be further feature restrictions or
enhancements. Please consult the appropriate authoring guidelines document for details.
Navigation and key events
Macromedia Flash Lite reserves certain keys for navigation. The exact keys depend on the specific
device. Consult the appropriate authoring guidelines document for details.
You can use ActionScript to retrieve input from other device keys. Again, the exact keys depend
on the device. Consult your authoring guidelines document for details.
Text and fonts
Macromedia Flash Lite generally includes support for both device and embedded fonts. You can
use embedded fonts to give you more control over the design of the movie, but this will increase
the overall SWF file size. Using device text is generally limited to a single font style and size,
depending on the device, but helps keep the SWF file size small.
For dynamic and input text fields, special text formatting is limited to justification (left, center,
right) and color. The formatting options kerning and spacing, bold, and italic styles are not
supported.
Flash Lite supports only single-line input text fields; there is no support for line-wrapping. Text is
not edited in place, but in a separate page. Both Latin1-based and Shift-JIS character sets are
supported, depending on the device.
Because most mobile devices do not support mouse-based navigation, it is not meaningful to set
input text fields as selectable.

8 Chapter 2: Getting Started
ActionScript functions and properties
Macromedia does not guarantee that all Flash 4 ActionScript and properties will run on all
devices. Consult the appropriate authoring guidelines document for details.
The following general restrictions apply to using ActionScript when authoring for Flash Lite:
•You use the add command to concatenate strings.
•Button mouse events such as dragOver,dragOut, and releaseOutside cannot be used to
trigger ActionScript attached to buttons. However, in addition to keypress events, the
following events: press, release, rollOver, rollOut, can be used to trigger ActionScript
when attached to buttons and accessed through key-based or focus-based navigation.
•Draggable movie clips (for example: startDrag, stopDrag, and _dropTarget properties) are
not supported.
•URL encoding must be done manually using ActionScript. The escape() ActionScript
function is not a Flash 4 function and is not available in Flash Lite.
•You use the eq operator to compare strings, and the == operator for numeric comparison.
•The fscommand() ActionScript function is partially supported. See your device’s authoring
guidelines document for details.
•Key events can only be attached to specific keys, depending on the device.
•The MaxScroll and Scroll text-scrolling properties are not supported.
•The default Quality level for Flash Lite during playback is medium and there is no support for
bitmap smoothing.
•Sound functionality is limited to event sound.
•There is no synchronized audio (only event sound) so the _soundBuffTime property isn’t
supported.
Flash Lite sound
Macromedia Flash Lite does not support the standard Flash audio formats—Raw, ADPCM, and
MP3. Instead, it supports MIDI and MFi (Melody Format for i-mode).
Only event sounds are supported. Looping of sounds is not supported.
See Chapter 3, “Developing Content for Flash Lite,” on page 9 for more information on
developing with sound in Flash Lite.

9
CHAPTER 3
Developing Content for Flash Lite
This chapter describes the process of developing content for Flash Lite and the issues to be aware
of when authoring Flash Lite compatible movies. The following tutorials are provided to help you
accomplish the following tasks:
•Creating a simple Flash Lite compatible movie (no sound)
•Using the Device Sound feature in Flash MX Professional 2004 for simple sound substitution
To author for Flash Lite (general process):
1Launch Flash MX Professional 2004.
2Configure Flash MX Professional 2004 to author for Flash Lite:
■Select File > Publish Settings and click the Flash tab. The Publish Settings dialog box
appears:

10 Chapter 3: Developing Content for Flash Lite
■In the Version pop-up menu, select Flash Lite 1.0.
■Click OK.
After setting the Publish Settings to Flash Lite 1.0, you can see what Flash Lite ActionScript is
supported in the Actions window.
Open the Actions window (Window > Actions), click Index in the left pane and scroll down.
ActionScript not supported in Flash Lite is highlighted in yellow. If you move your mouse over
the highlighted text, a tooltip message appears letting you know what Flash version supports
this ActionScript.
Note: Highlighted ActionScript in the Actions panel provides guidelines on what is supported in
Flash Lite. Refer to your device’s authoring guidelines for complete details.
Example of supported and unsupported (highlighted yellow) Flash Lite ActionScript
3Create your movie.
If you want to use event sound, see “Flash Lite sound” on page 12.
Note: Do not use unsupported Flash Lite ActionScript. Consult your device’s authoring guidelines
document for detailed information on supported, unsupported, or partially supported ActionScript.
4Select Control > Test Movie or Control > Test Scene to start the test movie player and test the
movie. For more details on testing, see “Testing Flash Lite compatible content” on page 11.
An Output window appears containing Flash Lite information, error, and warning messages.
Carefully study all of the messages. Make changes as necessary and repeat this step.
5Publish your finished movie (File > Publish) and close Macromedia Flash MX Professional
2004.
The resulting SWF file is now ready to be uploaded to a distribution server for the consumer to
view on the targeted device.