Flash

Draft

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Definition

Adobe Flash, or simply Flash, refers to both the Adobe Flash Player, and to the Adobe Flash Professional multimedia authoring program. [..] The player features support for vector and raster graphics, a scripting language called ActionScript and bi-directional streaming of audio and video. (Wikipedia, , retrieved 19:32, 12 July 2007 (MEST)).

See also:

• SVG and Microsoft Silverlight (new MS attempt to have its own "flash")
• Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium installation
• Flash CS3 desktop tutorial.

Related file formats and extensions

Copyright notice: The table below has been copied more or less as it from Wikipedia's Macromedia Flash article on 19:32, 12 July 2007 (MEST). It's contents are available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Ext.	Explanation
.swf	.swf files are completed, compiled and published files that cannot be edited with Adobe Flash. However, many '.swf decompilers' do exist. Attempting to import .swf files using Flash allows it to retrieve some assets from the .swf, but not all.
.fla	.fla files contain source material for the Flash application. Flash authoring software can edit FLA files and compile them into .swf files.
.as	.as files contain ActionScript Wikipedia:source code in simple source files. FLA files can also contain Actionscript code directly, but separate external .as files often emerge for structural reasons, or to expose the code to versioning applications. They sometimes use the extension .actionscript
.swd	.swd files are temporary debugging files used during Flash development. Once finished developing a Flash project these files are not needed and can be removed.
.asc	.asc files contain Server-Side ActionScript, which is used to develop efficient and flexible client-server Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX applications.
.flv	.flv files are Flash video files, as created by Adobe Flash, Wikipedia:ffmpeg, Wikipedia:Sorenson Squeeze, or Wikipedia:On2 Flix. It's container format that uses (mostly) Wikipedia:H.263 for video and Wikipedia:MP3 for audio.
.swc	.swc files are used for distributing components; they contain a compiled clip, the component's ActionScript class file, and other files that describe the component.
.jsfl	.jsfl files are used to add functionality in the Flash Authoring environment; they contain Javascript code and access the Flash Javascript API.
.swt	.swt files are 'templatized' forms of .swf files, used by Wikipedia:Macromedia Generator
.flp	.flp files are XML files used to reference all the document files contained in a Flash Project. Flash Projects allow the user to group multiple, related files together to assist in Flash project organization, compilation and build.
.spl	.spl files are Wikipedia:FutureSplash documents.
.aso	.aso files are cache files used during Flash development, containing compiled ActionScript byte code. An ASO file is recreated when a change in its corresponding class files is detected. Occasionally the Flash IDE does not recognize that a recompile is necessary, and these cache files must be deleted manually. They are located in %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash8\en\Configuration\Classes\aso on Win32 / Flash8.
.avi	AVI file is a video file, standing for Audio Video Interleave. Flash includes several compression codecs, including some from Radius.
.gif	A GIF image; either a single static frame or multi-frame animation.
.png	A PortableNetworkGraphic image.

Software

• Adobe (Flash player download)

• Adobe Flash CS3 Professional. The commercial authoring tool.

• OsFlash has a large comprehensive list of links to Open Source Flash projects, both those hosted on OSFlash and elsewhere. Of particular interest are tools that generate flash in various ways.

Links

General

• Waldron, Rick (2006-08-27). The Flash History. Flashmagazine
• Adobe Flash (Wikipedia)
• Flash Kit Index of Tutorials

(lots of outdated ones too).

Adobe

• Adobe Flash Player
• Adobe Flash Developer Center

(includes some tutorials)

Tutorials

(to sort out, no endorsements here)

• Wikivid Flash Video Tutorials (mostly Flash 8, CS3 is similar).
  • Wikivid creates video-courses made up of links to free video tutorials from around the web. Only managed to look at them with IE (probably some codec issue on Ubuntu, and some configuration issue for Win/Firefox)

• cbtcafe flash tutorials

• Flashkit.com (A Flash Developer Resource Site)

• Getting Started with ActionScript 3.0 in Adobe Flash CS3

• Adobe Flash CS3 Professional What's New Review by Diane Cipollo.

• Find "Adobe Flash CS3" on YouTube.

• Flash Tutorial at webworksite (For Flash 5, but still useful).

• Flash Valley

Reusable code

Indexes

• at HotScripts.com

Free (need more)

• Flashcomponents (dead site ?)
• Flash-DB
• Adobe Exchange beta (some commercial).
• Flashkit.com (in particular movies and buttons).

Commercial (I only want to have 5-6, the best at some point and not a long list ...)

• Oh my Flash
• Flash Valley (some free)
• Flashloaded

Books

(no idea if they are any good)

• Adobe Creative Team (2007). Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Classroom in a Book. ISBN 0321499824

• Anderson, Andy (2007). Adobe Flash CS3 Professional On Demand. ISBN 0789736926 592 pages.

• Finkelstein Ellen and Gurdy Leete (2007). Flash CS3 For Dummies. ISBN 0470121009, 408 pages.

• Gerantabee, Fred (August ? 2007). Dynamic Learning: Flash CS3 Professional. ISBN 10 0-596-51058-6

• Veer, E.A. Vander and Chris Grover (2007). Flash CS3: The Missing Manual. ISBN 0596510446 - 527 pages. - O'Reilly page (From reviews on the web, this looks like the most suitable one for starters. The example files can be found on the Missing CD-ROM page. Daniel K. Schneider bought this and I think it's ok, can be used as a textbook, if you agree to cover topics by topics v.s a more project-oriented approach.)

• Morris David (2007). Creating a Web Site with Flash CS3 Professional: Visual QuickProject Guide. ISBN 0321503007

• Moock, Colin, Essential ActionScript 3.0. ISBN 0-596-52694-6. (From reviews on the web, this seems to be best action script 3.0 book)