Flash no longer a Kiosk solution? Can't run 24/7?

[ingofutz]

I'm a bit panicked here.

I have been using Flash to build applications for 24/7 accessable public kiosk applications. Until recently this seemed to be a good solution, especially with help from programs like Zinc.

A recent situation with a client and one of our programs has revealed a HUGE PROBLEM though. When REPEATIVELY loading and unloading exteral files (swfs, jpgs, etc), Flash Player 8 seems to keep the page file loaded with the data from these files even after they've been unloaded.

Some of our applications load huge files (300mb or so). Some of them may load 100s of jpegs per day, depending on user traffic.

Needless to say, once the page file gets large enough, the app fails.

Am i understanding things correctly? IS THERE A SOLUTION? We have a huge project launching next month! Should I revert everything back to Flash Player 7 because i need a 24/7 app that loads and unloads external files?

This isn't a huge issue for web apps, as they load into a browser for a bit, and then go away when the user leaves the site or closes the browser... But I need an app that runs 24/7... Is Flash no longer a solution for this?

[cancerinform]

Your problem is indeed interesting and seems to be a drawback of the new garbage collector system. I have a similar problem in Flash 9 when I load Flash 8 movies with components.

I keep this open.

May be you should once contact Adobe directly.

[ingofutz]

I have posted the above post on the Adobe forum, an answer I got there (not from adobe directly) was, "use director" ... I hated director, but it's starting to make sense to look at it again.

[cancerinform]

That should not be a solution and I don't think Adobe is going to allow that to be the solution, since their new Flash version and Flex 2 is the hit they want to sell.

[ingofutz]

I hope you're right.

[khidir]

I was create application for kiosk, and it's OK.

Please re-check your unload movie action. Sorry for my english, hope this can help.

I have projector (main.exe). Main.exe called movie01.swf on level1, movie02.swf on level2, .... moviexx.swf on level xx

In actionscripts, at first keyframe, I added action 'unload level1, level2, ...levelxx'
At last keyframe on every movie.swf, I added 'unload movie level1, level2, ...levelxx'

when you wanna upload movie02.swf on level2, don't write unload level2...

That tips working for me.
regards.