fabuloos' Flash fallback

This project is a part of the fabuloos' project.

This Flash fallback implement the HTML5's media specification (well, not completely for the moment). It is used in the fabuloos-js project with its associated renderer.

How to build

In order to compile, you need to install some dependencies:

1. Apache Flex SDK is used to compile the ActionScript files to SWF. Download the binaries for your platform and extract the file in the tools folder. You may have to adjust the directory in the build.xml file. You should have a tools/flex-sdk-4.xx.xxx containing a lot of files.
2. playerglobal.swc is necessary for the compiler. You may have to dig a little in the page to find the right file. Just put the downloaded file in tools and rename it to playerglobal.swc.
3. OSMF.swc is a precompiled version of the Open Source Media Framework. Grab the last version and place it in the tools folder.
4. Apache Ant must be installed on your system. It may be already installed, try launching ant -v in a terminal console before making anything foolish.

When all the dependencies are installed, simply launch ant in a terminal console.
It will build the sources and create a FabFlashRenderer.swf file in the build folder.

How to test

Since FabFlashRenderer use ExternalInterface, you need to use it via a webserver.
After configuring your favorite webserver to serve the folder of this project, simply browse to it. The index.html file contain the basic markup to embed the Flash object.

The player embed a Console.as file which allows you to call JavaScript's console.* functions. You may want to disable console logging while compiling for production. Just have a look at Console.as on line 9.

It is also recommended to install a Flash player content debugger.

Interface

Here are the methods exposed by the player:

• load() — Launch the loading of a resource.
• pause() — Pause the playback (duh!).
• _play() — Launch the playback (play is a reserved word in ActiveX).
• bind() — Ask the player to listen for an event type.
• unbind() — Ask the player to stop listening for an event type.
• get() — Retrieve a property's value.
• set() — Set a property's value. The value may be corrected (calling set("autoplay", 1) will set the autoplay value to true).

The player will try to call these JavaScript methods:

• ready() — The player finished loading and doing its internal stuffs.
• trigger() — The player want to trigger an event (e.g. trigger("playing")).

These two methods will be called on the “bridge” ; the renderer who created the <object>. By default the bridge is set to :

Renderer.FabFlashRenderer.instances[" <object>'s id "];

So, if you want to test that the player call ready() or trigger() you will have to add this kind of code in your JavaScript:

var
	renderer = {
		ready: function() {
			console.log("Now ready");
		},
		trigger: function(event) {
			console.log("Triggering " + event);
		}
	},
	Renderer = {
		FabFlashRenderer: {
			instances: {
				flash: renderer
			}
		}
	};