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A developer library to enhance Flash ActiveX features |
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What is F-IN-BOX? F-IN-BOX is a Delphi / Builder / VCL component to enhance Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX features. It does not use its own engine to display movies but provide a wrapper around official swflash.ocx/flash.ocx code instead. Thus it is possible to avoid certain Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX limitations. Delphi 3 - Delphi XE2 and Builder 3 - Builder XE2 are supported. Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX 3 - 11 are supported.
Features
Load flash movies directly from any source (no temporary files!). Protect your flash movies.
Load flash movies directly from any source (no temporary files!). Protect your flash movies. It is known fact that the Flash Player ActiveX is able to load movies at certain URLs only. You have to save the movie to a temporary location from your application's resource before you can load it. You'll have to generate a corresponding link that you can pass to the Flash Player ActiveX and then delete the movie after. You'll have to admit that this is extremely inconvenient. Apart from being inconvenient there is a chance you'll fail when you try to create a temporary file if you don't have the appropriate permission or don't have access to a temporary folder. It is definitely not an appropriate approach when security is an issue since your movie can be easily intercepted. There is a solution! F-IN-BOX uses a different approach of swflash.ocx/flash.ocx code loading. It is able to load your movies directly to the ActiveX thereby avoiding the temporary file step. Load flash movies from any TStream descendant (TResourceStream, TMemoryStream, etc.)! The advantages are pretty obvious. And you can also protect your movies from unauthorized access using your favourite software protection application. Using the component you can load any flash movie from any stream object. Just use the LoadMovieFromStream and PutMovieFromStream methods. No temporary files! Load any flash movie on-the-fly from any supported source. For example, you can put one or more flash movies in the resource section of your application and then load it from the exe! That's the portability and power of F-IN-BOX! If you need to play a big SWF or the speed is not very good, read about Streaming feature. Here's an example of how to load a flash movie from a resource:
{$RESOURCE 'res\movie.res'}
...
type
TMainForm = class(TForm)
FlashPlayerControl1: TFlashPlayerControl;
...
end;
...
procedure TMainForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
ResourceStream: TResourceStream;
begin
ResourceStream := TResourceStream.Create(0, 'EmbeddedMovie', 'FLASH');
FlashPlayerControl1.PutMovieFromStream(ResourceStream);
ResourceStream.Free;
end;
#pragma resource "res\\movie.res"
...
class TMainForm : public TForm
{
__published:
void __fastcall FormCreate(TObject *Sender);
...
};
...
void __fastcall TMainForm::FormCreate(TObject *Sender)
{
TResourceStream* ResourceStream = new TResourceStream(0, "EmbeddedMovie", "FLASH");
FlashPlayerControl1->PutMovieFromStream(ResourceStream);
delete ResourceStream;
}
Create flash-enabled applications which are ready to work even when the Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX is not installed!
One of the biggest problem using the Flash Player ActiveX is the mandatory component registration. The common approach is to save swflash.ocx/flash.ocx code to temporary files and then register them. The disadvantages are the same as above mentioned - insufficient permissions to save and register an swflash.ocx/flash.ocx. Now you can forget about these problems! F-IN-BOX is able to use swflash.ocx/flash.ocx from any source. For example, you can put an swflash.ocx/flash.ocx code inside of your application's resources and instruct F-IN-BOX to use it. It is important to note that F-IN-BOX does not use temporary files and swflash.ocx/flash.ocx registration but loads and uses the code directly. No more user management rights problems - no more temporary files and no more component registrations. It is up to you to decide what swflash.ocx/flash.ocx to use - by default already registered component is used. Traditionally, there are many obstacles or annoyances that one will encounter when using Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX in a Delphi / Builder / VCL application. The Application...
TF-IN-BOX to the rescue. It solves these problems and more! By default, the component will use the swflash.ocx/flash.ocx that's already installed on the system. The component can alternatively use any swflash.ocx/flash.ocx that you would like to provide it with using any supported source. An example of this how you can embed the flash.ocx into the resource section of your application's exe file and then load it at runtime. Using this method, your application will work even if Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX doesn't exist on the target system. Just use FlashPlayerControl.LoadFlashOCXCodeFromStream method! With F-IN-BOX, hassling around with Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX installation issues are a thing the past! It's so easy to do! There are even demos provided which come complete with source code to prove it! Here's an example of how to load swflash.ocx/flash.ocx code from a resource:
{$RESOURCE 'res\flash.res'}
...
var
FlashCodeStream: TResourceStream;
initialization
FlashCodeStream := TResourceStream.Create(0, 'FlashOCXCode', 'BIN');
FlashPlayerControl.LoadFlashOCXCodeFromStream(FlashCodeStream);
FlashCodeStream.Free;
#pragma resource "res\\flash_ocx.res"
...
WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE, HINSTANCE, LPSTR, int)
{
...
Application->Initialize();
TResourceStream* FlashCodeStream = new TResourceStream(0, "FlashOCXCode", "BIN");
Flashplayercontrol::LoadFlashOCXCodeFromStream(FlashCodeStream);
delete FlashCodeStream;
...
}
Here's an example of how to load swflash.ocx/flash.ocx code from a file:
var
FlashCodeStream: TFileStream;
initialization
FlashCodeStream := TFileStream.Create('flash.ocx', fmOpenRead or fmShareDenyNone);
FlashPlayerControl.LoadFlashOCXCodeFromStream(FlashCodeStream);
FlashCodeStream.Free;
WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE, HINSTANCE, LPSTR, int)
{
...
Application->Initialize();
TFileStream* FlashCodeStream =
new TFileStream("flash.ocx", fmOpenRead | fmShareDenyNone);
Flashplayercontrol::LoadFlashOCXCodeFromStream(FlashCodeStream);
delete FlashCodeStream;
...
}
Transparency is fully supported!
Using FlashPlayerControl you are able to create applications based on transparent flash movies. You can create applications with translucency non-rectangle forms (windows). Use Flash to make applications with modern user interface, make a business logic using Delphi or Builder C++. Use TTransparentFlashPlayerControl Component to work with transparency.
Please note that form transparency is supported only under Win2k (or higher), 16 / 32 bpp display mode. To check if the transparency is supported use global function IsFormTransparentAvailable:
if Not IsFormTransparentAvailable then
begin
ShowMessage('Translucency based on Flash is not available');
end;
if (!Flashplayercontrol::IsFormTransparentAvailable())
{
ShowMessage("Translucency based on Flash is not available");
}
Ability to play Flash Video (FLV) from stream
Using FlashPlayerControl you are able to play Flash Video (FLV) from external files, URL or directly from a TStream. When TFlashPlayerControl loads Flash Video no temporary files are created everything runs directly from memory. You can encrypt your video and put into application's resource - TFlashPlayerControl loads FLV without ever saving or extracting the file to disk. If you need to play a big FLV or the speed is not very good, read about Streaming feature. To play Flash Video from stream you should create flash movie that loads Flash Video from "private" URL (http://FLV/FlashVideo.flv). Flash Movie uses the following code to load Flash Video (put this in under a button in your Swf Flash Movie):
var netConn:NetConnection = new NetConnection();
netConn.connect(null);
var netStream:NetStream = new NetStream(netConn);
my_video.attachVideo(netStream);
netStream.setBufferTime(0);
netStream.play("http://FLV/FlashVideo.flv");
When Flash tries to load Flash Video from http://FLV/FlashVideo.flv, TFlashPlayerControl provides content of FLV. Use global procedure SetGlobalOnLoadExternalResourceHandler to set handle the external resources and provide them to Flash. See the code:
type
TMainForm = class(TForm)
procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
...
private
procedure OnGlobalLoadExternalResource(const URL: String; Stream: TStream);
...
end;
...
procedure TMainForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
begin
SetGlobalOnLoadExternalResourceHandler(OnGlobalLoadExternalResource);
end;
...
procedure TMainForm.OnGlobalLoadExternalResource(const URL: String; Stream: TStream);
var
ResourceStream: TResourceStream;
begin
if URL = 'http://FLV/FlashVideo.flv' then
begin
ResourceStream := TResourceStream.Create(0, 'FlashVideo', 'FLV');
ResourceStream.SaveToStream(Stream);
ResourceStream.Free;
end;
end;
class TMainForm : public TForm
{
__published:
void __fastcall FormCreate(TObject *Sender);
...
private:
void __fastcall OnGlobalLoadExternalResource(const AnsiString URL,
Classes::TStream* Stream);
...
}
...
void __fastcall TMainForm::FormCreate(TObject *Sender)
{
SetGlobalOnLoadExternalResourceHandler(OnGlobalLoadExternalResource);
}
...
void __fastcall TMainForm::OnGlobalLoadExternalResource(
const AnsiString URL,
Classes::TStream* Stream)
{
if (URL == "http://FLV/FlashVideo.flv")
{
TResourceStream* ResourceStream =
new TResourceStream(0, "FlashVideo", "FLV");
ResourceStream->SaveToStream(Stream);
delete ResourceStream;
}
}
Enable/disable flash sounds
Using the component you can turn on/off all sounds in all loaded flash movies.
procedure TMainForm.Mute;
begin
if FlashPlayerControl.GetAudioEnabled then
FlashPlayerControl.SetAudioEnabled(False);
end;
void __fastcall TMainForm::Mute()
{
if (Flashplayercontrol::GetAudioEnabled())
Flashplayercontrol::SetAudioEnabled(false);
}
Adjust audio volume
You can set sound volume. Use the global procedure FlashPlayerControl.SetAudioVolume with a value 0 - 100 to set audio volume. Use FlashPlayerControl.GetAudioVolume to get current audio volume.
FlashPlayerControl.SetAudioVolume(TrackBarSoundVolume.Position);
Flashplayercontrol::SetAudioVolume(TrackBarSoundVolume->Position);
Get a snap image of the current flash movie frame
You can get a bitmap image from the current frame of a flash movie. It means you are able create applications that can coverts Flash movies to a series of bitmaps, JPEGs and others. Also you can build generated images to make an AVI video for example.
procedure TMainForm.ButtonSaveAsBitmapClick(Sender: TObject);
var
Bitmap: TBitmap;
Picture: TPicture;
begin
Picture := TPicture.Create;
Bitmap := FlashPlayerControl1.CreateFrameBitmap;
Picture.Bitmap := Bitmap;
Picture.SaveToFile('Frame.bmp');
Bitmap.Free;
Picture.Free;
end;
void __fastcall TMainForm::ButtonSaveAsBitmapClick(TObject *Sender)
{
TPicture* Picture = new TPicture;
Graphics::TBitmap* Bitmap = FlashPlayerControl1->CreateFrameBitmap();
Picture->Bitmap = Bitmap;
Picture->SaveToFile("Frame.bmp");
delete Bitmap;
delete Picture;
}
Write code which is compatible with any version of Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10).
One of the problem with Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX programming is that you have to control what version of Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX you are using. For example, the property "Stacking" exists only in Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX 5 but doesn't exist in later revisions. TFlashPlayerControl automatically detects what Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX version is being used and prevents failure if access to non existant properties/methods is attempted. Applications using TFlashPlayerControl are not only compatible with Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, but are also "smart" about how Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX control is used. This makes your application more robust which can result in fewer technical support issues. Back to top | Ask a question
Flash External API
FlashPlayerControl supports External API. You can call functions of a movie and a movie is able to get data from an application synchronously (instead of fscommand).
Call an ActionScript function from an application Register your function using ExternalInterface.addCallback:
import flash.external.*;
ExternalInterface.addCallback("CallMeFromApplication", this, InternalFunction);
function InternalFunction(str: String): String {
TextArea1.text = str;
return "The function was called successfully";
}
Use method CallFunction:
var
Response: WideString;
begin
Response :=
FlashPlayerControl1.CallFunction(
'<invoke name="CallMeFromApplication" returntype="xml">
<arguments>
<string>Some text for TFlashPlayerControl</string>
</arguments>
</invoke>');
ShowMessage(Format('The function returned: %s', [ Response ] ));
end;
WideString Response =
FlashPlayerControl1->CallFunction("<invoke name=\"CallMeFromApplication\""
"returntype=\"xml\"><arguments><string>"
"Some text for F-IN-BOX"
"</string></arguments></invoke>");
ShowMessage("The function returned: " + Response);
Call an application function from a flash script Use flash.external.ExternalInterface.call:
on (click) {
_root.TextArea1.text = flash.external.ExternalInterface.call("SomeFunction");
}
Handle the event OnFlashCall:
procedure TMainForm.FlashPlayerControl1FlashCall(ASender: TObject;
const request: WideString);
begin
FlashPlayerControl1.SetReturnValue('<string>Current time is: ' +
TimeToStr(Time) +
'</string>');
end;
void __fastcall TMainForm::FlashPlayerControl1FlashCall(TObject *ASender,
const WideString request)
{
FlashPlayerControl1->SetReturnValue("<string>Current time is: " +
TimeToStr(Time()) +
"</string>");
}
Streaming
Streaming is an ability to load the content in the asynchronous mode. If you load a movie using LoadMovieFromStream, the movie is loaded into LoadMovieFromStream. If your movie is large, it may take some time. Another example: you have encoded an SWF/FLV file and want to load it into the player. If you use LoadMovieFromStream, the player will play the file only after all of the data is decoded . That's why the ability to provide content in the asynchronous mode is important. Remarks:
There are few use cases:
Loading a movie in the asynchronous mode
Use LoadMovieUsingStream or PutMovieUsingStream. Remarks:
MovieStream: TStream;
begin
FlashPlayerControl1.LoadMovieUsingStream(0, MovieStream);
ContentProviderThread :=
TContentProviderThread.Create(MovieStream);
end;
...
TContentProviderThread = class(TThread)
private
FMovieStream: TStream;
FBuffer: TMemoryStream;
...
end;
...
procedure TContentProviderThread.DoWrite;
var
nWrittenBytes: integer;
begin
nWrittenBytes := FMovieStream.Write(FBuffer.Memory^, FBuffer.Size);
if nWrittenBytes = 0 then
// Write returns 0, if loading was cancelled by some reason
FStop := true;
end;
...
procedure TContentProviderThread.Execute;
begin
while not FStop do
begin
// preparing buffer
PrepareBuffer;
if FBuffer.Size > 0 then
// always call DoWrite using Synchronize!
Synchronize(DoWrite);
end;
// free the stream after providing all amount of data!
FMovieStream.Free;
end;
TStream* MovieStream;
FlashPlayerControl1->LoadMovieUsingStream(0, MovieStream);
TContentProviderThread* ContentProviderThread =
new TContentProviderThread(MovieStream);
...
class TContentProviderThread : public TThread
{
private:
TStream* FMovieStream;
TMemoryStream* FBuffer;
...
};
...
void __fastcall TContentProviderThread::DoWrite()
{
int nWrittenBytes = FMovieStream->Write(FBuffer->Memory, FBuffer->Size);
if (0 == nWrittenBytes)
FStop = true;
}
...
void __fastcall TContentProviderThread::Execute()
{
while (!FStop)
{
// preparing buffer
PrepareBuffer();
if (FBuffer->Size > 0)
Synchronize(DoWrite);
}
// free the stream after providing all amount of data!
FMovieStream->Free();
}
Loading an external resource (*.flv - flash video, *.swf, *.jpg, *.mp3) by full path (i.e. beginning with http://) in the asynchronous mode
Instruction:
Remarks:
var
MovieStream: TStream;
begin
// set global handler
SetGlobalOnLoadExternalResourceHandlerEx(ContentProvider);
FlashPlayerControl1.LoadMovieFromStream(0, MovieStream); // load movie
...
procedure TMainForm.ContentProvider(const URL: string;
Stream: TStream;
out bHandled: Boolean);
var
ContentProviderThread: TContentProviderThread;
begin
if URL = 'http://FLV/FlashVideo.flv' then
begin
ContentProviderThread := TContentProviderThread.Create(Stream);
bHandled := true;
end;
end;
...
TContentProviderThread = class(TThread)
private
FResourceStream: TStream;
FBuffer: TMemoryStream;
...
end;
...
procedure TContentProviderThread.DoWrite;
var
nWrittenBytes: integer;
begin
nWrittenBytes := FResourceStream.Write(FBuffer.Memory^, FBuffer.Size);
if nWrittenBytes = 0 then
// Write returns 0, if loading was cancelled by some reason
FStop := true;
end;
...
procedure TContentProviderThread.Execute;
begin
while not FStop do
begin
// preparing buffer
PrepareBuffer;
if FBuffer.Size > 0 then
// always call DoWrite using Synchronize!
Synchronize(DoWrite);
end;
// free the stream after providing all amount of data!
FResourceStream.Free;
end;
TStream* MovieStream;
FlashPlayerControl1->LoadMovieUsingStream(0, MovieStream);
TContentProviderThread* ContentProviderThread =
new TContentProviderThread(MovieStream);
...
class TContentProviderThread : public TThread
{
private:
TStream* FResourceStream;
TMemoryStream* FBuffer;
...
};
...
void __fastcall TContentProviderThread::DoWrite()
{
int nWrittenBytes = FResourceStream->Write(FBuffer->Memory, FBuffer->Size);
if (0 == nWrittenBytes)
FStop = true;
}
...
void __fastcall TContentProviderThread::Execute()
{
while (!FStop)
{
// preparing buffer
PrepareBuffer();
if (FBuffer->Size > 0)
Synchronize(DoWrite);
}
// free the stream after providing all amount of data!
FResourceStream->Free();
}
A movie is loaded using LoadMovieFromStream, PutMovieFromStream, LoadMovieUsingStream or PutMovieUsingStream. A movie loads an external resource (*.swf, *.jpg, *.mp3, but except *.flv - flash video) by relative path (i.e. something like "images/image1.jpg"). You should provide the resource in the asynchronous mode
In this case you should handle the event OnLoadExternalResourceEx. Remarks:
Here is an example how to provide content of an image:
procedure TMainForm.FlashPlayerControl1LoadExternalResourceEx(
ASender: TObject;
const URL: String;
Stream: TStream;
var bHandled: Boolean);
var
ContentProviderThread: TContentProviderThread;
begin
if URL = 'images/embedded_image1.jpg' then
begin
ContentProviderThread := TContentProviderThread.Create(Stream);
bHandled := true;
end;
end;
...
TContentProviderThread = class(TThread)
private
FResourceStream: TStream;
FBuffer: TMemoryStream;
...
end;
...
procedure TContentProviderThread.DoWrite;
var
nWrittenBytes: integer;
begin
nWrittenBytes := FResourceStream.Write(FBuffer.Memory^, FBuffer.Size);
if nWrittenBytes = 0 then
// Write returns 0, if loading was cancelled by some reason
FStop := true;
end;
...
procedure TContentProviderThread.Execute;
begin
while not FStop do
begin
// preparing buffer
PrepareBuffer;
if FBuffer.Size > 0 then
// always call DoWrite using Synchronize!
Synchronize(DoWrite);
end;
// free the stream after providing all amount of data!
FResourceStream.Free;
end;
// Sometimes Builder C++ creates event handler with bool bHandled
// instead of bool& bHandled. If it happened, change bool
// to bool& in a header file and in a source file
void __fastcall TMainForm::FlashPlayerControl1LoadExternalResourceEx(
TObject *ASender,
const AnsiString URL,
TStream *Stream,
bool& bHandled)
{
if (URL == "images/embedded_image1.jpg")
{
TContentProviderThread* ContentProviderThread =
new TContentProviderThread(Stream);
bHandled = true;
}
}
...
class TContentProviderThread : public TThread
{
private:
TStream* FResourceStream;
TMemoryStream* FBuffer;
...
};
...
void __fastcall TContentProviderThread::DoWrite()
{
int nWrittenBytes = FResourceStream->Write(FBuffer->Memory, FBuffer->Size);
if (0 == nWrittenBytes)
FStop = true;
}
...
void __fastcall TContentProviderThread::Execute()
{
while (!FStop)
{
// preparing buffer
PrepareBuffer();
if (FBuffer->Size > 0)
Synchronize(DoWrite);
}
// free the stream after providing all amount of data!
FResourceStream->Free();
}
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Copyright © 2004 – 2012 Softanics. All rights reserved. F-IN-BOX ® is a trademark of Softanics and Artem A. Razin Delphi is a trademark of Embarcadero Technologies, Inc.. Macromedia and Shockwave Flash are trademarks of Adobe, Inc. |