Of course, this presented a new problem: I needed to know and inform the user of whether they had installed the application required to open the document they’d selected, and Flash just wasn’t up to the job on its own. Everything was working fine, until the client decided to add features to the project, which included opening multiple document types.
There were several sections of the application that needed to open PDF files, and I included a link to the Adobe Acrobat Reader that was included on the CD-ROM. I was recently working on a project for a CD-ROM application, and decided to create the interface in Flash. Using Flash to check whether there is a registered file-handling application for a given file that you’re trying to open is, to my mind, extremely difficult - if not impossible - without third party or bespoke integration tools. You are building an application in Flash that needs to open several different file types (spreadsheets, PDFs, presentations, executables etc), but in order to make the application as smooth as possible, you need to check for the existence of applications that handle the types of files you are trying to open, and act accordingly. The article source files can be downloaded by clicking here. The information presented in this article should give you the inspiration to explore the possibilities of Flash and Director integration, and give you a taste of what you can achieve with a little imagination and flair. In this article, we’ll look at how, by integrating Flash and Director, we can query the operating system on which the application runs, return information and make decisions based on that data. But there are times when Flash on its own just doesn’t cut the mustard, and needs a little more horsepower to accomplish the desired effect. When you are looking to create educational reference material, presentations, CD-ROMs or complicated applications, Flash will (depending on the complexity of the project) usually fulfil the needs of the brief.
Yet, there comes a time when you may need a little more control of system-related functions such as being able to detect the operating system the user is using, launching external programs, detecting default file handling applications and controlling system windows - especially when creating distributed applications. You can even integrate your Flash applications with any application server that uses URL-encoded or XML data.There are no two ways about it: Flash MX 2004 is a powerful development environment for creating fun and engaging applications.
Code formatting, code hinting, and an ActionScript debugger can aid in developing dynamic, data-driven Internet applications. ActionScript Editor is now customizable, allowing you to configure text display properties (font, size, and color), syntax coloring, and toolbox panel content. In addition, Flash's ActionScript environment has undergone significant improvement. You'll also find new graphic design capabilities such as Bezier curves, transformation tools, and pixel-level snap control. You can edit, manipulate, and animate video objects or use scripting to make your videos interactive. In addition to animation and vector graphics tools, Flash now includes video support for MPEG, digital video, MOV, and AVI formats. Already a powerful tool for creating rich Internet content, Flash has evolved into a robust environment for developing online advertising, electronic learning courses, user interfaces for enterprise applications, and multimedia content.