Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1 Authoring Guidelines

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First Edition: June 2004
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CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Using Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Installing the Flash MX Professional 2004 7.0.1 update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Installing the FlashLite1_1.dll (FlashLite1_1.dmg on the Mac) file . . . . . . . . . . 8
Installing the FlashLite1_1.xml file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Installing the configuration file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Supported Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
CHAPTER 2: Optimizing Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Navigation and key events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Fonts and text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Device fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Alias text support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Alias Text button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Alias text rendered in Flash MX Professional 2004 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Pixel fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
ActionScript and properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Network access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
SWF file size and memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Performance optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Bitmap graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Bitmap versus vector graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Vector graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Optimizing ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Device speed and frames per second . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Development checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
CHAPTER 3: Working with Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Audio formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Event sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Streaming sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Embedding sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Compound sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
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Adding a Sound Bundle File to a Flash document . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
CHAPTER 4: ActionScript Enhancements for Flash Lite 1.1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
New ActionScript functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
FSCommand() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
FSCommand2() . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Platform capabilities and variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
_capCompoundSound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
_capEmail. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
_capMMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
_capSMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
_capStreamSound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
$version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
_capMFi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
_capMIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
_capSMAF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
_capLoadData . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
_cap4WayKeyAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
New ActionScript properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
scroll. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
maxscroll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
CHAPTER 5: New FSCommand and FSCommand2 commands . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
General commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
URL Encoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Unescape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Input text fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
SetInputTextType(). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Controlling Flash playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Key configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Player operation commands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Platform integration commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Date and time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Volume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Vibrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Network information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Device user settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Device and player identification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
CHAPTER 6: Creating Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Flash Lite 1.1 publish settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Manually change settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Creating a publish profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Creating a simple movie for Flash Lite 1.1 (no sound). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Adding sound to your Flash Lite 1.1 application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
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Contents

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CHAPTER 7: Testing Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Testing considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Using the optional configuration file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
CHAPTER 8: Development Kit Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
CHAPTER 9: Resources and Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Let us know about your application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Web resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Discussion groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
APPENDIX A: Supported ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
APPENDIX B: Supported ActionScript Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
APPENDIX C: Warning and Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Flash authoring tool warning and error messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Contents
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Contents

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CHAPTER 1
Introduction
Macromedia Flash Lite Authoring Guidelines for covers tips, techniques, and sample code for
developing Macromedia Flash content for mobile phones using Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1.
Running Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1 on mobile phones allows users to view and interact with a
wide range of Flash content, such as games, informational guides, and dynamically updated
applications.
In addition to the information described in this guide, the developer kit includes numerous
examples and sample code to help clarify some of the ideas and concepts presented.
Using Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1
Macromedia Flash Player is broadly distributed on a variety of platforms, from Windows,
Macintosh, and UNIX-based desktop computers, to mobile phones, PDAs, and set-top boxes.
The Macromedia Flash Player application is approximately 500 KB, depending on the CPU. This
and its runtime memory requirements make it too large for most mobile phones. Therefore,
Macromedia created a new version of Flash Player called Macromedia Flash Lite, designed for
consumer devices, including mobile phones. For a new generation of mobile phones, an updated
version has been created, Flash Lite 1.1.
Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1 for the mobile phones lets Flash designers, developers, and content
providers quickly create engaging content for mobile phones using the ActionScript scripting
language, drawing tools, and templates.
Getting started
To create content for mobile phones, you must have the following items on your computer:
• The latest version of Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 (7.0.1)
• The new FlashLite1_1.dll (FlashLite1_1.dmg on the Mac) file for testing Flash applications in
the Flash Lite 1.1 authoring environment
• The new FlashLite1_1.xml file for publishing Flash Lite 1.1 SWF files
• The DevicesMsg.cfg configuration file for customizing the features that are supported in
Flash Lite 1.1.
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Installing the Flash MX Professional 2004 7.0.1 update
To export Flash Lite 1.1 contents for mobile phones correctly, you need to have the latest version
of Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 (7.0.1). You can download the updater program
from the Macromedia website: www.macromedia.com/support/flash/downloads.html.
Installing the FlashLite1_1.dll (FlashLite1_1.dmg on the Mac) file
The FlashLite1_1.dll (FlashLite1_1 on the Mac) file is part of the Flash Lite 1.1 Authoring
Updater. This DLL is to be used to test content when you select Test Movie to validate your
content. This new DLL is used when Flash Lite 1.1 is selected as the Flash version to publish to
(using the publish setting interface). Copy the appropriate file to the following location:
• Windows:
C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash MX 2004\language\Configuration\Players
• Mac OS X:
Macintosh HD::Applications:Macromedia Flash MX 2004:Configuration:Players
Installing the FlashLite1_1.xml file
To author content using the FSCommand and the new FSCommand2 ActionScript, copy the
FlashLite1_1.xml file, which is available in the Installs folder of the CDK, into the following
location:
• Windows:
C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash MX 2004\language\Configuration\Players
• Mac OS X:
Macintosh HD::Applications:Macromedia Flash MX 2004:Configuration:Players
Installing the configuration file
The Flash Lite 1.1 Test Movie command allows users to customize the features that are supported
in Flash Player. From the Flash Lite 1.1 Authoring Updater, copy the DeviceMsg.cfg
configuration file into the following location:
• Windows 2000/ WindowsXP:
C:\Documents and Settings\user name\Local Settings\Application Data\Macromedia\
Flash MX 2004\language\Configuration\
• Windows 98(SE):
C:\Windows\Profiles\user name\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash MX 2004\
language\Configuration\
• Macintosh:
Macintosh HD::Users:user name:Library:Application Support:Macromedia:Flash MX 2004:
language:Configuration:
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Chapter 1: Introduction

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Supported Devices
For details about mobile phones that support Flash Lite functionality, see the Macromedia
Developer Center web site at www.macromedia.com/devnet/devices/.
Supported Devices
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10
Chapter 1: Introduction

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Document Outline

• Contents
• Introduction
  • Using Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1
  • Getting started
    • Installing the Flash MX Professional 2004 7.0.1 update
    • Installing the FlashLite1_1.dll (FlashLite1_1.dmg on the Mac) file
    • Installing the FlashLite1_1.xml file
    • Installing the configuration file
  • Supported Devices
• Optimizing Content
  • Navigation and key events
  • Fonts and text
    • Device fonts
    • Alias text support
    • Alias Text button
    • Alias text rendered in Flash MX Professional 2004
  • Pixel fonts
  • ActionScript and properties
  • Sound
  • Network access
  • SWF file size and memory
  • Performance optimization
    • Animation
    • Bitmap graphics
    • Bitmap versus vector graphics
    • Vector graphics
    • Optimizing ActionScript
  • Device speed and frames per second
  • Development checklist
• Working with Sound
  • Audio formats
  • Event sound
  • Streaming sound
  • Embedding sound
  • Compound sound
  • Adding a Sound Bundle File to a Flash document
• ActionScript Enhancements for Flash Lite 1.1
  • New ActionScript functions
    • FSCommand()
    • FSCommand2()
  • Platform capabilities and variables
    • _capCompoundSound
    • _capEmail
    • _capMMS
    • _capSMS
    • _capStreamSound
    • $version
    • _capMFi
    • _capMIDI
    • _capSMAF
    • _capLoadData
    • _cap4WayKeyAS
  • New ActionScript properties
    • scroll
    • maxscroll
• New FSCommand and FSCommand2 commands
  • General commands
    • URL Encoding
    • Escape
    • Unescape
    • Input text fields
    • SetInputTextType()
  • Controlling Flash playback
    • Display
      • FullScreen()
      • SetQuality()
    • Key configuration
      • SetSoftKeys()
      • ResetSoftKeys()
  • Player operation commands
    • GetFreePlayerMemory()
    • GetTotalPlayerMemory()
    • Launch()
    • Quit()
  • Platform integration commands
    • Date and time
      • GetDateDay()
      • GetDateMonth()
      • GetDateWeekday()
      • GetDateYear()
      • GetLocaleLongDate()
      • GetLocaleShortDate()
      • GetLocaleTime()
      • GetTimeHours()
      • GetTimeMinutes()
      • GetTimeSeconds()
      • GetTimeZoneOffset()
    • Volume
      • GetMaxVolumeLevel()
      • GetVolumeLevel()
    • Vibrate
      • StartVibrate()
      • StopVibrate()
    • Power
      • GetBatteryLevel()
      • GetMaxBatteryLevel()
      • GetPowerSource()
    • Network information
      • GetMaxSignalLevel()
      • GetNetworkConnectStatus()
      • GetNetworkName()
      • GetNetworkRequestStatus()
      • GetNetworkStatus()
      • GetSignalLevel()
    • Device user settings
      • GetLanguage()
    • Device and player identification
      • GetDeviceID()
      • GetPlatform()
      • GetDevice()
• Creating Content
  • Flash Lite 1.1 publish settings
    • Manually change settings
    • Creating a publish profile
  • Creating a simple movie for Flash Lite 1.1 (no sound)
  • Adding sound to your Flash Lite 1.1 application
• Testing Content
  • Testing considerations
  • Using the optional configuration file
• Development Kit Examples
• Resources and Support
  • Let us know about your application
  • Web resources
  • Books
  • Discussion groups
• Supported ActionScript
• Supported ActionScript Properties
• Warning and Error Messages
  • Flash authoring tool warning and error messages

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