Flash 7 player in Java

[taylorius]

Hi all,

I have developed a Flash 7 compatible virtual machine in java 1.1.
This will allow java developers to use Macromedia Flex, or Flash MX to
make great looking front ends, graphical animations etc directly within
their java application.

The core technology is all there, but I obviously want to release it in
its most useful form to java developers. I would be interested to know
what people might want from such a system, i.e. how do people think it
should interface with a normal java application. Here are a couple of
the questions that I am considering, but I am interested to hear
people's thoughts on all aspects of this idea.

Currently java classes can be accessed from actionscript by their
implementing a simple "ASObject" interface, which allows access to
public methods of the class. Is this the most useful way of connecting
native, backend java classes with the Flash VM?

Should the UI run directly as a java application, or should it be
invoked by the application on demand. If the latter, how should it
present itself?


I greatly appreciate your comments and advice on this, and look forward
to (hopefully) doing things the right way!

Regards

Matt

 

[Daniel Dyer]

I have developed a Flash 7 compatible virtual machine in java 1.1.
This will allow java developers to use Macromedia Flex, or Flash MX to
make great looking front ends, graphical animations etc directly within
their java application.

Sorry, I don't have any answers to your questions, but I am interested in
your software. Do you have a website where I can learn more? If not,
could you post again when the software is available? How is the
performance?

Thanks,

Dan.

 

[Chris Uppal]

Should the UI run directly as a java application, or should it be
invoked by the application on demand. If the latter, how should it
present itself?

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you completely, but wouldn't it be more useful if
the UI were a component that could be used as part of Java applications ? Say
as a Swing components, or fitting in with JMF (somehow -- I don't know JMF).

Sounds interesting, anyway.

-- chris

 

[Roedy Green]

Currently java classes can be accessed from actionscript by their
implementing a simple "ASObject" interface, which allows access to
public methods of the class. Is this the most useful way of connecting
native, backend java classes with the Flash VM?

Should the UI run directly as a java application, or should it be
invoked by the application on demand. If the latter, how should it
present itself?

Generally the most convenient is if the it is just a Java class with
public methods you do everything with. It will then load only if
needed. It should come bundled in a jar that can be either linked in
the jar class-path or put in the ext directory.

You want to be able to instantiate separate flashes and deal with them
independently if possible. So you want a constructor or public static
factory to get that object to deal with each flash.

 

[Rogan Dawes]

Hi all,

I have developed a Flash 7 compatible virtual machine in java 1.1.
This will allow java developers to use Macromedia Flex, or Flash MX to
make great looking front ends, graphical animations etc directly within
their java application.

The core technology is all there, but I obviously want to release it in
its most useful form to java developers. I would be interested to know
what people might want from such a system, i.e. how do people think it
should interface with a normal java application. Here are a couple of
the questions that I am considering, but I am interested to hear
people's thoughts on all aspects of this idea.

Currently java classes can be accessed from actionscript by their
implementing a simple "ASObject" interface, which allows access to
public methods of the class. Is this the most useful way of connecting
native, backend java classes with the Flash VM?

Probably not, since it limits the methods that can be invoked, and the
parameters that can be passed to them. (Unless the ASObject interface
performs some kind of reflection on the objects?)

Ideally, you should allow the Flash UI to call arbitrary methods on any
objects that are exposed.

You probably want to take a look at other scripting languages such as
BeanScriptingFramework (BSF), BeanShell, Jython, etc to see how they do
this.

Should the UI run directly as a java application, or should it be
invoked by the application on demand. If the latter, how should it
present itself?

I'd suggest that it should appear as a subclass of JComponent, with
appropriate methods exposed to the creator/invoker, so that it can be
placed within an existing Java JFrame or JPanel.

Alternatively, if the objective is to eliminate Swing completely, and
you have implemented your own UI from scratch, I guess you'd want to
have it appear as a new application when the setVisible(true) method is
invoked. Much like a new JFrame . . .

I greatly appreciate your comments and advice on this, and look forward
to (hopefully) doing things the right way!

Regards

Matt

More details would be appreciated. Got a website?

Thanks

Rogan

 

[taylorius]

Hi all,

Many thanks for people's replies. It seems there should be a few
options for integration, both as a top level application, and as a
sub-component (through awt or swing) of a larger app. The only issue
with the second of those options, is that a flash .swf file is really a
program in it's own right, with control flow, and a timeline etc, I
suppose the author would just have to design the swf part of the app to
behave in the right way!


The flash player currently runs as an applet, and examples may be seen
on http://www.holomatix.com

Most of the demos on there are rather 3D - centric, as Blaze 3D studio
is aimed at merging high quality realtime 3d and flash. The IBM
anyplace kiosk in the showcase has a decent amount of flash in it
though, and of course the player can play any swf up to flash 7.

We're considering releasing the player in a form suitable to be used by
developers, so this discussion is really testing the waters a little,
to see whether there would be much interest, and as I mentioned
previously, what form it should take.


I look forward to your replies


Regards

Matt

 

[Tex]

I looked at examples on your site, http://www.holomatix.com, and like 'um.

I would like the ability to add a Flash Player to a Java 1.1 Panel which I
size and position w/i my Java Applet Window along other 1.1 panels
containing my own controls. I would like my application logic in java with
the ability to download and play different swf files based upon user actions
on my Java controls.

Would your player release allow that? If so, any time frame for next step?
How would I get docs to see how hard/easy to add to my applets?

--tex

 

[Chris Williams]

I'm going to jump in here late just to echo what Roedy Green has said...
being able to reference a Flash movie as an object within a Java (e.g.
Swing) application would be just phenomonenal. I can think of a million
applications for such functionality.

The stuff you have going on at your site is great... I'd love to see more!

I'll watch with interest...

All the best,

Chris.

 

[Chris Williams]

I'm going to jump in here late just to echo what Roedy Green has said...
being able to reference a Flash movie as an object within a Java (e.g.
Swing) application would be just phenomonenal. I can think of a million
applications for such functionality.

The stuff you have going on at your site is great... I'd love to see more!

I'll watch with interest...

All the best,

Chris.

 

[Chris Williams]

I'm going to jump in here late just to echo what Roedy Green has said...
being able to reference a Flash movie as an object within a Java (e.g.
Swing) application would be just phenomonenal. I can think of a million
applications for such functionality.

The stuff you have going on at your site is great... I'd love to see more!

I'll watch with interest...

All the best,

Chris.

 

[Chris Williams]

I'm going to jump in here late just to echo what Roedy Green has said...
being able to reference a Flash movie as an object within a Java (e.g.
Swing) application would be just phenomonenal. I can think of a million
applications for such functionality.

The stuff you have going on at your site is great... I'd love to see more!

I'll watch with interest...

All the best,

Chris.