Flash MX2 Tools: JSFLCreator and FLPCreator

I've been working on some new tools, mainly to migrate and test projects that were done in Flash MX. The tools are JSFLCreator, which you can see at work above, and FLPCreator, which does the same but for Flash Project files. Basically what these tools do, they are going through a specified directory recursively, find all the files that match a certain pattern ( let's say we use [ "*.fla" ] to find all the Flash source files ) and create a so-called "build" file that can be launched by double-clicking on it. Then Flash MX 2004 will happily publish all these files, so you don't have to do that manually.

FLPCreator will do the same, except it will publish an Flash Project File containing all your files ( there is an Coldfusion version that does the same thing ). Both tools are using the new Extensibility layer of Flash, which in my opinion is a really powerfull addition to the IDE. I will post the tools, when they are ready, and if people are interested i'll post the sourcecode too. Both tools are written in C# and require the .NET framework to run. Note that both tools are commandline tools, so they can be called from other tools such as (N)Ant, thus opening a whole new set of features ( yes, Nant supports a recursive task, but i wanted it to run for Ant too, which doesn't have a built-in recursive method, you need to plug in a scripting-engine for that ).

The Flash Community is already researching the possibilities of this new Extensibility layer, for instance someone made the JSAPI documentation available ( which isn't documented yet by MM unfortunately ) and Keith Peters and Todd Yard are working on a book called "Extending Flash MX 2004" which will cover the ins and outs of the new architecture.

On a sidenote, within a few hours i'll be catching my plane to London, to present at the MMUG Event, if you are around, step by for an awesome evening.

Comments

[Garry Rowland]

Good Morning;

I like the idea of your program but have a few questions. I've been looking for a way to recurse a directory and import all images inot Flash MX, convert them to swf then export back to the same directory.

I don't know if I'm understanding your program but it seems to be doing a similar thing as I would like.

Am I close or is this something that can be done with your program?

Garry

[Owen van Dijk]

Hello Gary,

Sorry, that's not what JSFLCreator does, only thing is does is create a JSFL file which can be used to 'batch' publish all the FLA files in a specific directory. I believe the thing you want can be created though with JSFL. You should email Guy ( FlashGuru ) on this one, he is pretty comfortable with JSFL.

Regards,

Owen