Professional Flash Lite Mobile Development

INTRODUCTION xvii

CHAPTER 1: FLASH IS MOBILE

Mobile Devices 1

The Mobile Ecosystem 2

Participants 2

Recommended Reading 4

Engaging Experiences That Work on Small Screens 4

What Is Flash Lite? 5

Past, Present, and Future 5

The Open Screen Project 6

Multiple Devices and Platforms 7

OEMs Supporting Flash Lite Player Development 7

Types of Flash Lite Mobile Content 7

Flash Lite Architecture 8

Flash Lite Player 3.x Features 9

Summary 12

CHAPTER 2: GETTING STARTED

Developing for Flash Devices 13

What You Will Need 14

Using Device Central 15

What Are Device Sets? 15

Using the Online and Local Libraries 16

Understanding Device Profiles 16

Creating Device Sets 17

Comparing Device Profile Information 18

Creating New Flash Mobile Documents 21

Creating a “Hello World” Example 23

Using the Emulator in Device Central 26

Memory and Device CPU 27

Testing on Mobile Devices 30

Devices with Flash Lite Pre-Installed 31

Remote Devices 31

Summary 31

CHAPTER 3: OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING FOR FLASH LITE DEVELOPMENT

AS2 Revisited 33

Object-Oriented Programming for Flash Lite 35

Why OOP? 35

An OOP Example for Mobile 35

Mobile Device Considerations 47

Using fscommands to Communicate with the Device 47

Using Device Capabilities 60

System.capabilities 61

Events and Event Listeners 64

Using the EventDispatcher Class 64

Keys, Buttons, and Touch Input 68

Using the Key Class 68

Using the ExtendedKey Class 71

Handling Touch Interaction 72

Summary 74

CHAPTER 4: UI COMPONENTS

Sony Ericsson and Forum Nokia Component Libraries 76

Using Text 77

Using Buttons 77

UI Component States 78

Using the Component Inspector 78

Using Soft Keys 82

Using Status Bar 83

Using Title 84

Using Check Boxes 84

Using Radio Buttons 87

Using Lists 90

Creating a Single Row List 90

Using Modal Dialogues 96

Using Visual Indicators 98

The Progress Indicator 98

The Wait Indicator 100

Using Sliders 100

Using Scrollable Areas 102

Using the Scrollable Area Component 102

Using the Scrollable Text Component 103

Using Notification 104

Summary 105

CHAPTER 5: PUREMVC ACTIONSCRIPT 2.0 FRAMEWORK

Design Patterns and Development Frameworks 107

Time for a Development Framework 107

Design Patterns Used in PureMVC 109

PureMVC Key Concepts Explained 111

The Facade 111

Notifications and the Observer 114

Commands and the Controller 116

Mediators and The View 119

Proxies and the Model 125

Building a PureMVC Example 126

Creating a Model for the Example app 128

Creating the Example App’s Controller 132

Exploring the View 134

Viewing the Application in Device Central 136

Summary 136

CHAPTER 6: CREATING A TV LISTINGS APPLICATION

The Concept 139

TV Genius Search Engine API 140

Mandatory Search Parameters 140

Optional Search Parameters 140

Response Format for an API Call 141

Functional Requirements 142

Building the Application 142

The .fla File 143

Defining ApplicationFacade 143

Creating a Model for the TV Listings Application 144

Using XML Data 149

Creating the TV Listings Application’s Controller 158

Exploring the View 165

Viewing the Application in Device Central 174

Security Considerations: Loading Data 175

The crossdomain.xml File 176

Setting the Sandbox Type 176

Setting the Playback Security 176

Summary 177

CHAPTER 7: CREATING A MEDIA CONSOLE

The Core Media Classes 179

Using NetConnection 179

Using NetStream 180

Using the Video Object 184

Using the Sound Object 185

Streaming Audio and Video 190

Streaming FLV Video 190

Streaming MP3 Audio 191

System.capabilities Revisited 192

Building the Application 192

The .fla File 192

Defining ApplicationFacade 193

Creating a Model for the Media Console 196

Creating the Media Console’s Controller 218

Exploring the View’s Mediators 224

Viewing the Application in Device Central 238

Summary 239

CHAPTER 8: CREATING AN IMAGE VIEWER CLIENT

The Challenges 241

Supported Images 242

Loading Multiple Images 242

Memory Considerations 243

Handling Image Sizes 243

Components Used in the Image Viewer 243

MovieClipLoader 244

The SharedObject Class 254

Building the Application 255

The .fla File 256

Defining ApplicationFacade 256

Creating a Model for the Image Viewer 258

Exploring the View 268

Creating the Image Viewer’s Controller 275

Viewing the Application in Device Central 283

Summary 283

CHAPTER 9: CREATING A TWITTER CLIENT

Exploring the Twitter API 286

Twitter Fundamentals 286

Twitter API Methods 288

The SWX Format 292

What Is SWX? 292

User Timeline 294

Building the Application 298

The .fla File 299

Defining ApplicationFacade 299

Creating a Model for the Twitter Client 300

Creating the Twitter Client’s Controller 316

Exploring the View 322

Viewing the Application in Device Central 336

Summary 336

CHAPTER 10: USING NOKIA’S S60 PLATFORM SERVICES API

S60 Platform Services Overview 337

Download and Install the Library 338

How to Use the API Methods 338

Using AppManager 343

API Features 343

Using Calendar 347

API Features 347

Using Contacts 353

API Features 353

Using Landmarks 360

API Features 360

Using Location 365

API Features 365

Using Messaging 369

API Features 370

Using Media Management 378

API Features 378

Other S60 Platform Services 383

ActionScript Sensor Service API 383

ActionScript Logging Service API 384

ActionScript SystemInfo Service API 384

Summary 384

CHAPTER 11: CREATING A WEATHER CLIENT

Google APIs 385

Using Google Weather API 385

Weather Conditions 388

Forecast_Information 388

Using Google Map API 390

Wireframes and Design 397

Building the Application 398

The .fla File 399

Defining ApplicationFacade 399

Creating a Model for the Weather Client 400

Creating the Weather Client’s Controller 421

Exploring the View 426

Viewing the Application in Device Central 436

Summary 437

CHAPTER 12: USING SONY ERICSSON’S PROJECT CAPUCHIN PLATFORM SERVICES API

Project Capuchin Platform Services Overview 440

Project Capuchin API Services 440

How to Use the API methods 441

Using Accelerometer 441

API Features 441

Testing the API in Device Central 446

Using Bluetooth 448

API Features 448

Using Calendar 454

API Features 454

Using Contacts 457

API Features 458

Using File 461

API Features 461

Using I18n 465

API Features 465

Using Messaging 470

API Features 470

Using Persistency 471

API Features 471

Using Radio 475

API Features 475

Other Project Capuchin Services 483

Location 483

Multimedia 483

Summary 484

CHAPTER 13: PACKAGING FLASH LITE APPLICATIONS FOR DISTRIBUTION

Packaging Content 485

Packaging for Different Platforms 486

Using Swf2Jar 486

Creating a .jar File 487

Creating a .sis File 489

Obtaining a Unique Identifier (UID) 489

Creating the Package (PKG) File 491

Using makesis.exe 496

Application Signing 496

Certificates 497

Untrusted Content 497

Using makekeys.sis 498

Using signsis.exe 499

Signing for Windows Mobile 500

Signing for Symbian S60 500

Signing for Java 500

Signing Programs 501

Publishing to Aggregators 501

Application Icons 501

Using mifconv.exe 502

Using epocrc.exe 503

Nokia Flash Packaging Tool 505

Introducing Ovi from Nokia 506

The Ovi Store 506

Introducing PlayNow Arena from Sony Ericsson 507

Sony Ericsson Content Submission 507

Summary 508

APPENDIX: FLASH LITE 3.X ACTIONSCRIPT 2.0 QUICK

REFERENCE: FROM ARRAY TO XMLSOCKET 509

INDEX 537