Bitmap is a display object which wraps the BitmapData within it. The BitmapData is the array of data used to form the pixels in the image. Now a point to note here is that you can’t use use the BitmapData of one state of a movieclip and expect it to gather all the frames. What it does is it takes a photograph sort of and gets its pixel data value.

Ok so all this may seem like a lot of text. Let’s just jump into flash and figure this out. Let’s start by creating a movie clip with a text field inside of it.

Give this movieclip an instance name of mc and hit f9 to get into the actionscript panel.

Now we begin by declaring our variables and defining their properties.

So now obviously we have a new display object called newBitmap. This has the display object properties and methods attached to it.

Here it is. The image you have just created is indeed a Bitmap. If you scale it or whatever, the image is going to be pixelated. Comparing it to vector graphics or the text you just copied, there is a noticeable difference in quality.

There are of course uses of this to create objects which wont ever scale. I think its really handy. Besides, this is just the first step in many more things you can do with the bitmapdata. I will try and post more about it. It is truly an amazing class. I am going to try and have another post about this in the near future.

Download the source here Bitmap-Data example

The “allow-access-from” has an attribute called secure which very few people use.

Adobe says : 

secure

[HTTPS and Sockets only, optional] When false, allows an HTTPS policy file to grant access to a request coming from an HTTP source. The default for URL policy files is true, providing only HTTPS sources permission. Using false is not recommended. Socket policy files use a default of false.

So a sample would be

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE cross-domain-policy SYSTEM
"http://www.adobe.com/xml/dtds/cross-domain-policy.dtd">

<cross-domain-policy>
	<allow-access-from domain="*.somedomain.com" secure="false"/>
</cross-domain-policy>

The second option which I believe will never give you any problems is using a proxy. This works even when you cannot get a crossdomain file onto the server you are feeding from.

A sample PHP Proxy is as follows:

<?php
$dataURL = "http://www.sowebme.com/murtaza/feed/";
//note that this does not follow redirects.
readfile($dataURL);
?>


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So here is a scenario.

ChildClass.as extends ParentClass.as which requires a string in its constructor.
SO, in this case a super is required from ChildClass to pass in the string value that its base class requires. This is extremely important during events and is really apparent then. I will explain how to use, and manipulate events to your advantage in some other post.

Getting back to super, I also found out, not like its some great accomplishment, that you can run other items from parent, just so long as it does not conflict with the required parameters. So in the above scenario, ChildClass.as can run some other independent functions BEFORE running the super. So what you may ask. But this means you can actually append and modify the value of the super from its parent before you pass the super into the parent. IE, say for example your ParentClass wants to always add ” good bye” to the end of the string to be passed into its constructor, you could have a function that returns that value to your child and then from your child pass it to the constructor. Yeah, I am lost in my own post too!

Luckily, I found a person who made some kind of really really great example. I don’t remember who it was though, as I was searching all over for an example. If you are the owner please contact me for your credits here. Meanwhile, you guys can download the modified super example here.

Download link for super example

Feel free to leave any comments and ask anything you want here.

This is how I’ve done it.

HTML –

<param name=”FlashVars” value=”baseURL=http://www.sowebme.com/murtaza” />
For AC_RunActiveContent.js users, There should be 3 instances where you would place this
For swfObject users, there will be only once.

Flash –
holder mc will get the paramets from FlashVars in stage.loaderInfo.parameters.whatevernameditemhere

But a more robust way to ensure you have it and that you’ve not jumped the gun, use an event to ensure its ready.
An example is as follows:

root.loaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, func);
var parameters:Object=new Object();
function func(e:Event):void {
//Do what you want here
}

Now to load another swf we will be using it to append to the current url we are already loading. So the above code will now look like

root.loaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, func);
var parameters:Object=new Object();
var loader:Loader=new Loader();
function func(e:Event):void {
loader.load(new URLRequest(“loadme.swf?baseURL=”+root.loaderInfo.parameters.baseURL));
loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, swfLoaded);
addChild(loader);
}
function swfLoaded(e:Event):void {
//More code here
}

So that about sums up how you can use flashVars and pass them along. Note one thing though. If you are using classes, you can use stage.loaderInfo instead of root.loaderInfo

You can download the source file for passing flash vars

Have fun and please post your comments!

var request:String =
“javascript: window.open(‘http://www.sowebme.com/murtaza’,'win’,'height=400,width=600,toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes’); void(0)”;

var url:URLRequest = new URLRequest(request);

navigateToURL(url, “_self”);

Within your HTML housing the flash, you are going to need the parameter “AllowScriptAccess” set to “always”.

Feel free to download the working files here:
New Window Example

Apart from work or work related activities,  I enjoy playing soccer, bowling, watching movies and traveling. I shall be blogging about any of the above and probably more. So do read and follow my blog.

Thanks

Murtuza