Importing a swc into Flex Builder for pure actionscript projects

I have previously written a post about the potential bug which seems to occur when importing multiple swcs into Flex Builder 3 for pure actionscript projects. Despite this I cannot express how handy it is to be able to import swcs into Flex Builder; for one reason because it renders the Flash IDE even more redundant (which is a good thing).

Whilst talking to a friend who has recently started using Flex Builder for AS projects I discovered that he hadn’t as yet used the method of importing swcs to gain access to graphics, sounds, animations, etc which have been created in Flash IDE.

So far he has been using the Loader class to import the swf at runtime and then to gain access to the individual items in the fla/swf library. There are obvious advantages to this method, for example loading the swf at runtime avoids the increased file size of your project which you will incur from importing the swc which will add the graphics/sounds at compile time.

However for smaller projects where file size isn’t an issue or for importing the fundamental graphical elements which will be re-used throughout the project a swc is a quick and easy solution.

Firstly when creating you or a designer is creating the graphical elements in the flash library you can also add a class path to each movieclip or asset in the library.

1) Right click on the assets in the library and click Linkage…..

2) Tick the checkbox marked Export for Actionscript

3) Enter a class path which relates to the path structure of your application into the Class text field e.g. uk.co.ultravioletdesign.graphics.ThisAsset - nb If you just put a simply identifier/class name without a full class/package path (e.g. ThisAsset) the item will be available throughout your application which sounds useful but is the same as making classes public which if avoidable is good practice and good for application performance.

This also enables you to organise your assets in the Flash library into convenient packages. For example putting all sound assets in uk.co.ultravioletdesign.assets.sounds and all graphics into uk.co.ultravioletdesign.assets.graphics. You don’t need to worry about creating the equivalent folders and packages within Flex Builder because they will be discreetly generated when the swc is imported.

4) Go to Publish Settings (File > Publish Settings) and then click the Flash tab. Providing the Fla is AS3 the checkbox Export SWC will be available. Check it!

5) Now once the movie is published a .swc file will be snuggling up next to your .swf which you can promptly delete (if you feel the need).

In Flex Builder:

6) Right click on your Actionscript project in the Flex Navigator window and click properties. Click on Actionscript Build Path and then on the Library path tab.

7) Click on the Add SWC button and browse to your newly generated .swc file.

Flex now adds your library assets to your project and these are made available within classes using the import directive:

import uk.co.ultravioletdesign.graphics.ThisAsset;


var thisAsset : ThisAsset = new ThisAsset();

Using this method in my experience has been invaluable and a massive timesaver. Despite this it is very useful to have the knowledge to be able to import assets from swfs at runtime. There is very handy for other strategies and techniques such as the importing fonts at runtime. This article by Chris Rebstock has been very valuable.

This post was written by Gareth on September 26, 2008 at 12:20 pm

One World, One Browser?

We are currently working on some CSS for a client who requested the site be created to ‘Level Triple-A Conformance to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0’. For those who wish to know this is a guideline by the W3C and conformance to Priority 1, Priority 2, and Priority 3:

‘Conformance to these Guidelines will help make the Web more accessible to users with disabilities and will benefit all users.’

The site contains quite a bit of complexity and rich content and we have also built an interactive Flash component in AS3 for part of the site which requires alternative content.

We like to think we are pretty good at CSS and have built the site with all the pre-requisites. The only trouble is that when it came to releasing a test version of the site to the client, he was using Internet Explorer 6 (at the time of posting this accounts for 25% of all web browsers so not to be ignored).

We have spent the day painstakingly going through the site page by page to make it look and function just as it does in Internet Explorer 7, Firefox (of course) and Safari.

This got us thinking about starting a campaign: “One World, One Browser”

(and of course let it be Firefox)

You may well say that this is dictatorial, anti-competitive, unimaginative even. But after tonight, who cares.

JOIN US. WE ARE ONE.

PS: More info on Accessibility on W3C here

This post was written by Kirsten on September 23, 2008 at 8:31 pm

Issues using multiple swcs in Flex Builder 3.0

As most of the Flash development here is now pure object-oriented in AS3 my IDE of choice is now Flex Builder 3.0 for all ActionScript projects. We left behind Flash IDE for the same reasons as most: it’s text editor is inadequate and the code visualisation for pure object-oriented projects is not sufficient; it also enables us to bring in line our development tools with other languages such as Java. Let’s face it, the Flash timeline IDE was never going to cut it as a serious development model!

An aspect of not developing in Flash that I had to adjust to was coping without a convenient library of graphical assets to drag into my application. There are various ways of importing or loading graphical assets into a 100% code application which nearly all involve and temporary return to Flash IDE. My preferred method is to create my graphical assets in Flash IDE, giving each of them linkage names relevant to the class/package structure of my application. I then publish a swc and import this into my ActionScript project within Flex Builder (project Properties > ActionScript Build Path > Library path > AddSWC).

So far everything works like a dream. All of my graphical assets are appearing within code hinting in Flex and are totally accessible. During a large scale project I decided to try to segregate my graphical assets into different swcs to help me organise my assets. This alone did not present any problems however I occasionally needed to go back into Flash to change or add a graphic to a swc. On exporting the amended swc, I returned to Flex Builder and found that all of the graphics contained in this swc where missing from the project. I tried renaming the swc and re-exporting it in Flash and also removing it in Flex Builder and adding it again. The only solution to this problem was to create and entirely new Flash file and copy all the graphical assets from the old (broken) fla file into the new one and re-export it again.

In a later project the same issue occurred again and this time it only began when I added more than one swc. That is essentially the solution I came to however it does not by any means explain the problem in the first place. Anyone who can fill in the gaps please feel free.

This post was written by Gareth on September 1, 2008 at 4:56 pm