Flash Player Java Edition Bugs?

[Paul F. Snively]

Hi folks!


I'm a software developer attempting to integrate the Flash Player Java

Edition into my Java code. In order to do this I needed an implementation of

the AppletContext and AppletStub interfaces, which I got from Gamelan. I

modified the code slightly to accomplish a few goals:


1) Extends Panel rather than Frame, because I want my movies to live in a

window instead of being one.

2) Removed Frame-specific code.

3) Added property getters and setters, no-argument constructor, and

addActionListener/removeActionListener methods, and wrote URLEditor.java and

FlashPlayerBeanInfo to make my wrapper a JavaBean for the sake of

(hopefully) easy integration into JavaBean editors such as Visual Cafe. Also

attempted to add serialization/deserialization support, but Macromedia's

applet isn't serializable.

4) Implemented showDocument(URL url) method, which attempts to take a "URL"

of the form "ActionEvent:ID=ACTION_PERFORMED&Command=whatever" and construct

the appropriate ActionEvent from it, sending it to all registered

ActionListeners. The point here is that the Flash author should be able to

embed these special URL's in their Flash movies and trigger arbitrary Java

code in the embedding software this way, using the standard ActionEvent

"command" mechanism to select which action to take.


Now here's the kicker:


When I create the appropriate manifest file and use jar to create my

FlashPlayer.jar, the resulting jar loads into BeanBox fine, and if I select

it from the palette and click in the designer window, up comes a Flash

movie--but so far, the only movie that I've pointed my player to that's

played successfully is Macromedia's own

<http://www.macromedia.com/uber.swf>! If I edit my code so that the default

movie is anything else, the player typically throws a NullPointerException,

although the exact misbehavior seems to have some randomness.


I'm including FlashPlayer.java, URLEditor.java, and FlashPlayerBeanInfo.java

in the hopes that some other Java programmer out there--preferably whoever

wrote Macromedia's applet!--will be able to lend a hand in tracking down

this bug. This is having a serious impact on me, as a client has the

expectation that their standalone Java program will play Flash movies!


Many thanks,

Paul Snively

<

psnivelyrdoor [dot] com (mailto:psnivelyrdoor [dot] com)

>

FlashPlayer.java

FlashPlayerBeanInfo.java

URLEditor.java