Using flash in extendscript UI

[Chuck Uebele]

I'm trying to learn how to make a flash element in a photoshop UI.  I've managed to get one loaded and shown, but I can't seem to get extend script to send the swf file a function.

my fla file is a simple box that I'm trying to move with a button in the UI.  I made it so if you click on the box it moves, and that works, but I can't get it to move with the button in the extendscript UI.

My fla code is:

import flash.events.*

import flash.display.*

import flash.external.ExternalInterface

myBox2.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,moveBox,false,0,true);

function moveBox(event:MouseEvent){

myBox2.x += 5;

}

ExternalInterface.addCallback("moveBox3",moveBox3);

function moveBox3(n){

myBox2.x += n;

};

My Extendscript code is:

#target photoshop

var res =

"dialog { \

fp: FlashPlayer { preferredSize: [550, 400] }, \

btn: Button {text: 'move box'}\

}";

var w = new Window (res,"Flash test");

w.margins = [0,0,0,0];

w.onShow = function () {

var mySWFFile =  app.path + '/Presets/Scripts/flashtest.swf'

var movieToPlay = new File (mySWFFile);

try {

this.fp.loadMovie (movieToPlay);

this.fp.playMovie ();

}

catch(e){alert(e)}

}

w.btn.onClick = function(){

w.fp.invokePlayerFunction("moveBox3,10");

}

w.show()

Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

[Michael_L_Hale]

This is just a guess because I use Flex. With Flex data sent back and forth is sent as strings. In your moveBox3 function you might have to do something like this

myBox2.x += new uint( n );

[Michael_L_Hale]

A quick look at the tools guide leads to another suggestion. The guide says that the callback function takes 3 arguments (methodName:String, instance:Object, method:Function) and you only have two

Try

ExternalInterface.addCallback("moveBox3", this, moveBox3);

[Chuck Uebele]

Thanks, Mike.  With just flash, they say you can pass numbers, arrays, strings, etc.  I did try using "this" in the code, but I got an error stating argument mismatch and an implicit coercion error.  My this referred to the main timeline, while Adobe's sample referred to a scene.  Might have to look into this more, but their code looked pretty simple, so not really sure why it didn't work like Adobe's sample script.

[Michael_L_Hale]

They were just quesses, as I said I don't use Flash.

With Flex the moveBox3 function would be more like this

public function moveBox3(n:Number):void{

myBox2.x += n;

}

[Chuck Uebele]

Just found one issue.  adobe's sample is ActionScript 2 and I'm writing ActionScript 3.  so have to find a new sample.

[Chuck Uebele]

Finally got it working.  I redid my FLA file and used a doc class for the script rather than putting it on the first frame of the FLA file.  Works great now.

[maxweel]

I'm getting a Security Error within Flash when adding the callback using ExternalInterface.addCallback.

I did try to allow the localhost using Security.allowDomain("*")

Could you post your updated Flash and Extendscript code?

[Chuck Uebele]

I can't seem to find my fla file.  Might have been lost in computer upgrades.  Two things:  there are two methods for using flash. One is if your using flash builder, and the other is if your are writing ActionScript 3 code.  The method with flashbuilder, I haven't been able to get to work.  Also I've only used this with the swf and jsx files in the same folder, so I've never run across a security issue with the sandbox.  Not sure how to resolve that.  I'll see if I have the fla file on my home computer.  At work right now.

[maxweel]

I was just about to write you, you beat me to it.

I got it to work but honestly I'm not sure how ... At some point I created a cfg file in Flash's FlashPlayerTrust folder and shortly afterwards the security issue disappeared. I need to check whether this actually made a difference or not.

I didn't have any issue getting it to work with a Flash Builder swf BTW, I only got this error with Flash. And both my jsx and swf files were in the same directory.

In the end there wasn't anything wrong with the code itself.

[Chuck Uebele]

Yes, you have to have the cfg file in the trust folder!