SWF::Movie(3pm)

NAME

SWF::Movie - SWF Movie class

SYNOPSIS

        use SWF::Movie;
        $m = new SWF::Movie();
        $m = SWF::Movie::newSWFMovieWithVersion(8);

DESCRIPTION

SWF::Movie is the root object of your flashfile. It contains all your other objects you want in your movie. Ming supports many Flash4, Flash5 F6,7,8,9.. features.

The SWF::Movie object contains information like the flashversion, the size, the frames per second, the background color. Except that, the SWF::Movie behaves like a SWF::MovieClip. It only cannot be added to another SWF::Movie or SWF::MovieClip.

Notice: The version of your flashmovie can be set by the object SWF. See SWF for more details.

METHODS

$m = new SWF::Movie(): Creates a Movie object.

$m = newSWFMovieWithVersion(version): Creates a Movie object with version value (e.g. 8) set.

$displayItem=$m->add($SWFObject)

Add an instance of a SWF-object to your current frame. The returnvalue is a SWF::DisplayItem.

        Some possible SWF-objects are:
        SWF::Action
        SWF::MovieClip
        SWF::Shape
        SWF::Sound
        SWF::Text
        SWF::TextField
        SWF::Bitmap
        SWF::PrebuiltClip
        $m->add($shape); # possible, but not more accessible for us
        $shape_1 = m->add($shape); # good instance

$m->addExport($block, $name)

Prepare linkage to Action script code.

        $m->addExport($mc, 'mc');
        # and later inside action script....:
        $ac = new SWF::Action("_root.attachMovie('mc','mc1',11);");

$m->writeExports(): Export prepared names to Action script.

remove($displayItem)

Removes the given SWF::DisplayItem instance from the current and following frames of the main timeline.

        $m->remove($shape_i);

nextFrame()

Finish a frame of the main timeline. New added objects will be added in the next frame.

        $m->nextFrame();

setNumberOfFrames($frames) =item setFrames($frames)

Preset the number of frames of the main timeline. n not used frames before finishing the movie will filled with n nextFrame() statements. If you inserted more nextFrame() commands than you set with setFrames() the setFrames() will be ignored.

        $m->setFrames(100);

$m->setBackground($red,$green,$blue)

Set the background in red, green, blue values. Possible value are 0..255 or hexvalues 0x0..0xff.

        $m-setBackground(0xff,0x99,0x00); # orange bg
        $m-setBackground(0,200,255)       # green bg

A transparency level isn't available I asume. (In Flash MX/F6?). A transparent background can be set in the HTML-code for Internet Explorer. Please inform the Authors if that is available for nonIE-browsers.

$m->namedAnchor($label): This function adds a named anchor to the movie.

$m->setDimension(x,y)

Set the dimension in pixel.

        #ToDo:
        #min: (0.0,0.0)   # ;-)
        #max: (?,?)
        #default: (0.0?,0.0?)
        #Behavior when values <min: ming sets it to min
        #Behavior when values >max: ming sets it to max
        $m->setDimension(200,100);
        $m->setDimension(123.45,67.89);

$m->setRate(int)

Set the playing speed in frames/second.

        #ToDo:
        #min: 0
        #max: ?
        #default: ?
        #Behavior when value <min: ming sets it to min
        #Behavior when value >max: ming sets it to max
        $m->setRate(30);

$m->protect(): A feature that prevents only flashnewbies from importing your movie into Macromedias Flash authoring tools. It cannot protect your content from being loaded by other flashmovies, deleting of the protection with a hexeditor or disassembling with tools.

$m->setSoundStream($soundstream, [$skip])

Puts an SWF::SoundStream object as streaming sound into the main timeline. The optional skip parameter describes the time in seconds to be skiped.

        $m->setSoundStream($soundstream);

$m->streamMp3($filename)

Simplifies the setSoundStream(). You only need the filename.

        $m->streamMp3("iloveyou.mp3");

Hint: If you want to reuse this sound/mp3 later in this movie, create a reusable SWF::SoundStream object and then put it into setSoundstream().

$soundinstance = $m->startSound($sound)

Play a prepared SWF::Sound object into the main timeline. Returns an object of SWF::SoundInstance.

        $sound = new SWF::Sound("loveyoutoo.mp3", SWF_SOUND_MP3_COMPRESSED );  
        $si = $m->startSound($sound);

$m->stopSound($sound): Stop playing sound.

$m->labelFrame($string)

Gives the current frame a label that can be used by actionscript as anchor. Then you don't have to count your nextFrame() lines anymore. :-)

        $m->labelFrame("win");
        #ToDo:
        #max characters of a label??? 
        #What happen if we put there a big string?? 
        #Which characters are allowed??

$m->setScriptLimits($maxRecursion, $timeout): Set limits for resource usage, related to action script. Setting timeout will protect your computer from too long loops and stack overflow. So endless scripts like "while (1){};" will be interrupted after timeout seconds. The default recursion depth is 265, the default timeout is 15 seconds.

$m->defineScene($offset, $name): Define scenes for the movies' main timeline using integer value for frame offset and name of the scene.

$m->setNetworkAccess($flag): Sets network / fileaccess policy. If the flag is set to 0 a localy loaded movie will be unable to access the network but is allowed to access local files. If the flag ist set to 1 a localy loaded movie will be unable to access local files but is allowed to access the network. For SWF >= 8: default is 0,

$m->addMetadata($xml): Adds Metadata to the movie: this function inserts a metadata-tag into the movie. Only one metadata-tag can be set to a movie. Metadata is specified as an XML string.

$m->assignSymbol($character, $name): Assigns a symbolic name for a SWF::Character object. Such classes are available for usage in other SWF files and can be referenced from inside the current movie. To assign a symbol to the root movie use NULL as character value.

$m->setTabIndex($depth, $index): Sets tab index for specified depth level.

$fontchar = $m->addFont($font)

Adds a font to a movie. An object of SWF::FontCharacter class returned.

        $font = new SWF::Font('Arial.fdb');                                                                                                                                                                              
        $fch  = $m->addFont($font);

$fontchar = $m->importFont($file, $name)

Imports a font from an other SWFFile. An object of SWF::FontCharacter class returned.

        $fch = $m->importFont('textField.swf', 'Arial337a');

$m->importCharacter($url, $name): Not yet documented (ToDo!)

$result = $m->replace($item, $block)

This method replaces a displayable character with a new one. Returns 0 on success , -1 else.

        $dispitem = $movie->add($shape1);
        $movie->nextFrame();
        print $movie->replace($dispitem, $shape2);
        $movie->nextFrame();

$written = $m->xs_output([$compresslevel])

$written = $m->output([$compresslevel])

Writes the SWF::Movie to stdout. This is normally used for webservers/cgi-scripts. Don't forget to send the "Content-Type:"-lines before writing out the movie.

The parameter compresslevel is optional. compresslevel between 0 and 9. Higher values will be interpreted as 9. Values smaller 0 mean no compression. By default the SWF::Movie will be send without compression. Notice: compression available since Flash MX(Flash 6). Ming does not check this for you if you write flash4 or flash5 movies.

Unlike xs_output() the output() method prepared for using via webservers (but not limited to webservers).

Both methods return number of bytes written.

$written = $m->save($filename [, $compresslevel]): Method saves the SWF::Movie to a file and returns the number of bytes written. The parameter compresslevel is optional. compresslevel between 0 and 9. Higher values will be interpreted as 9. Values smaller 0 mean no compression. By default the SWF::Movie will be saved without compression. Notice: compression available since Flash MX(Flash 6). Ming does not check this for you if you write flash4 or flash5 movies.

EXAMPLE

3 examples: a regular minimal SWF::Movie, one with all methods and a more interesting.

minimal empty example

        #!/usr/bin/perl -w
        use SWF::Movie;
        $m = new SWF::Movie();
        $m->nextFrame();
        $m->save("emptyminimal.swf");

full empty examples

        #!/usr/bin/perl -w
        use SWF::Movie;
        $m = new SWF::Movie();
        $m->setVersion(4);
        $m->setBackground(0xff,0xcc,0x0);
        $m->setDimension(200,100);
        $m->protect();
        $m->setRate(30);
        $m->setFrames(10); # ming fills it automatic with frames
        $m->nextFrame()
        $m->save("empty.swf");

streaming example

        #!/usr/bin/perl -w
        use SWF("Shape");
        SWF::setVersion(6);
        $m = new SWF::Movie();
        $m->setBackground(0xff,0xcc,0x0);
        $m->setDimension(200,100);
        $m->setFrames(10);
        $m->streamMp3("forever.mp3");
        $s= new SWF::Shape();
        $s->setLine(40,0xff,0xff,0);
        $s->setRightFill(0xff,0,0); 
        $s->drawLine(50,0);
        $s->drawLine(0,20);
        $s->drawLineTo(0,0);
        $s_1= $m->add($s);
        $s_2= $m->add($s);
        $s_1->move(50,40);
        $s_2->move(10,40);
        for($i=1;$i<5;$i++) {
                $m->nextFrame();
                $s_2->move(0,10);
        }
        $m->nextFrame();
        print "Content-type: application/x-shockwave-flash\n\n";
        $m->output(9); # with compression level 9 (since flash6)

AUTHOR

Soheil Seyfaie (soheil at users.sourceforge.net), Albrecht Kleine and developers of ming.sourceforge.net