Macromedia Flash ActiveX

[Cmp]

And a second question:

Does anyone know of a Macromedia Flash Player ActiveX
control for windows CE .NET? I need to add a Flash Player
Control on an application on CF.

I downloaded the Flash Player for Windows Mobile 2003
(not what I' m looking for, but useful for testing). But
for the life of me can't see how I could incorporate that
in a VB application. The player is a setup program for
PPC and there is nothing to install on the development
desktop.

Thanks i advance,

looking forward to any comments and hints. I am early in
the project and I really need to know if what I have in
mind (combine IE & Flash within a host application) is
doable. I know it is for the desktop (I have done it
before) but I am really new in device programming and I
might be way off reality.

 

[Yechezkal Gutfreund]

Why are you not asking these questions on macromedia.flash.handhelds? I am
probably on of the very few rare birds who subscribes to both these places.

Ant Mobile: http://www.antmobile.com/ makes a component that allows allows
IE and embedded HTML embedded flash.

But you really have to probably rethink how you want to talk to Flash. It
does not have a real API exposed as an activeX control. Instead you probably
will want to talk to it via .loadVars() or better xml sockets from your CF
application.

 

[Cmp]

Thanks for the reply.

I did try the macromedia newsgroup but I got no help.

My plan is after finding a way to put the flash player
control on a VB form to use fscommand to direct the movie
and the same way to get input back from the movie.

Are you suggesting to build my application independently
from the Flash player as a console application, start the
player and communicate through an xml socket? Is this
doable on WinCE?

I did check antmobile. I saw that they offer a eMbedded
Visual C++ 3.0 appWizard that loads flash through a Web
Browser Control. Now, I know that the Flash Player for
PocketPC works only as a plugin on the Browser. So if I
want to start a Flash movie, I have to use the WebBrowser
to load the control to open a movie (unless I pay $500
for the stand alone player). Can I still communicate with
the movie within the browser? Is there really no way to
host the Flash Player within another application besides
the Web Browser?

Anyway, I will be reposting on macromedia forum

Thanks for any extra help you could give me

-----Original Message-----
Why are you not asking these questions on

macromedia.flash.handhelds? I am

 

[Yechezkal Gutfreund]

I can't know all the requirements of your app, and what you want to do. But
I am telling you that C# CF applications communicating bi-directionally with
async event driven handling between CF and Flash As is a snap (if you
learn/know both languages).

 

[cmp]

Thank you very much for taking the time to help me in my
problems. Naturally it would be meaningless to point out
details on my app. However, and taking advantage of you
good will, I would like to ask you two things:

1. What exactly do you mean with "async event driven
handling"? Do you mean communication via XML sockets? If
not where in the documentation should I look for it (C#
or ActionScript)?

2. Should I try it first on the desktop (not compact
framework). Will it work on the CF?

I am not familiar with C# or AS (ActionScript I
pressume), language but that is not an issue - I learn
really-really fast.

Thanks again,

cmp

P.S. One more quick one: Do you know of any Flash Players
available on Win CE.NET 4.2 (not Windows mobile). My
target platform is not Pocket PC but a similar device
running Win CE .NET 4.2. I have emailed bsquare.com but
they don't seem to want to take the time to reply to me.

 

[Paul G. Tobey [eMVP]]

Macromedia has a player for Windows CE.NET (remember that PPC2003 *is*
Windows CE.NET 4.2, basically). However, there is a cost associated with it
and I'm not sure they license it for single installations.

By the way, you can't use an ActiveX control in your .NET CF application
without an additional third-party component to allow that. Odyssey Software
has such a component, but there's no way to do anything with an ActiveX
directly from managed code on Windows CE, otherwise.

Paul T.

 

[Yechezkal Gutfreund]

You would send text .onData() or xml .onXml() via the xmlsocket (which is a
TCP connection). You don't have to use port 80.

 

[cmp]

Thanks for the tips.

You' ve been a great help. From Monday I'll be able to
run Flash on a PPC. Then I'll be able to test the socket
communication and Odyssey CFCOM. Unfortunately, Flash
Player cannot run on the Visual Studio emulator.

After that, I'll start a new topic on combining a VB app
in the background (handling key-press events) with the
Flash plugin in a web browser in the forground (receiving
the key-press events and affecting the interface)

As for Flash on Win CE, I have heard from many people
that the PPC version will not work on CE .NET 4.2. In
addition, Macromedia does not license binaries but source
code for WinCE. Which will probably make it very
expensive.