[Resolved] [Resolved] [Resolved] [Resolved] [Resolved] [Resolved] [Resolved] [Resolved] [Resolved] [

I thought i'd post a Frequently Asked Questions about Macs and Flash, as there's a regular flow of already-answered queries coming in...


<p align="center">Things to make sure of before you post:
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| 1. Check the version of the Flash Player/Plugin you are using. |
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</p>

Answered Questions
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<a href="#1">1. How do I burn a Macintosh compatible CD with autorun for my projector?</a>

<a href="#2">2. How do I burn a PC compatible CD with autorun?</a>

<a href="#3">3. How do I burn an Autorun Hybrid CD (cross-platform compatible)?</a>

<a href="#4">4. My PC code won't work on a Mac</a>

<a href="#5">5. How do I open a document with an FS Command?</a>

<a href="#6">6. What is a HQX file?</a>

<a href="#7">7. I have the right version Flash Player/Plugin, why doesn't my movie work?</a>

<a href="#8">8. How can I make my windows open the correct size on a Mac?</a>

<a href="#9">9. I'm a PC Users, how can I burn a Macintosh CD that autoruns?</a>



-------------------------------------------

<a name="1"></a>Q1. How do I burn a Macintosh compatible CD with autorun for my projector?

A. You need a copy of Toast for Mac, this CD burning software will let you do this.

First, create a disk image/partition for your CD, choose "create temporary partition" from the Utilities menu.
Copy your files onto the temporary partition.
Next, go back into toast and choose "Mac volume" from the Other menu. Click the select button, then click your temporary partition in the list. Finally, click the Autostart checkbox, choose your projector (on your temporary partition).

[These instructions are for Toast 5, but the same applies to Toast 4, just some menus/menu items are in different places]

<a name="2"></a>Q2. How do I burn a PC compatible CD with autorun?

A. For PCs you need to create a file called "Autorun.inf".

First of all though, you should download BBEdit lite from http://www.barebonessoftware.com/ (it's free) to create the file, SimpleText won't work.
In BBEdit create a new file, it should look like this:

[autorun]
start=projector.exe

Where projector.exe is the name of your PC projector.
Next, across the top of your window you will see an icon that looks like a small file, click this icon and choose DOS from the list.
Finally save your file as Autorun.inf.
Next, in Toast choose ISO 9660 as the format (assuming this is a PC only disc). Add the files you want burnt onto the CD including the autorun file. It should be in the top level of the CD, not in a folder.

An additional option is the icon attribute, e.g.

[autorun]
start=projector.exe
icon=someicon.ico

This file is the icon used for the CD, icon files must be in Windows icon format. You can't just use a GIF or JPEG. Iconographer http://www.mscape.com/ can produce Windows icon files on a Mac.

<a name="3"></a>Q3. How do I burn an Autorun Hybrid CD (cross-platform compatible)?

A. The above two answers apply to this question.
However, you will have to choose "Custom Hybrid" from the Other Menu, and then for each side of the disc use the same methods as described above.

As a side-note, if you create a temporary partition, copy all your files that both Macs and PCs will use onto this. Then, when choosing you PC data in Toast, choose the files on the partition that you already selected for the mac.
Toast will then write these files only once, but they will be visible on both platforms, saving space on the CD (and time burning). Files that are only for PC, should not be copied onto the partition when you select them, they will then only show up on the PC side, and not the Mac.

<a name="4"></a>Q4. My PC code won't work on a Mac

A. The simple answer is yes it will
Usually the problem is the version of the player/plugin you are using.
It is Very Unlikely that you have written something that Flash can only do on a PC, all the documented functions of Flash work on a Mac. The purpose of Flash was to be cross-platform...
Unless, you are attempting to do something on a Mac that they cannot do, namely:
• Run/open an EXE file, this is a PC application. It cannot run on a Mac.
• Write variables to a file on the Hard Disk. Flash for mac does not have this capability. Until someone writes a 3rd party application that can handle data passed to it from flash, you cannot do this.

<a name="5"></a>Q5. How do I open a document with an FS Command?

A. You can't directly, you need to use applescript

You can only open applications from the standalone Flash Player, being able to do this throught the plugin would be an immense security breach...

Flash player for macintosh can't open documents directly, but it can execute applications with an FS Command.
e.g. fscommand (exec, myapplication);

If you need to open a document specifically, the best way to do this is to create a custom applescript and compile it as an application which flash can then launch.
Copy the following code into Script Editor, found in the Applescript folder in your Apple Extras folder.

Code:

---

--set the name of the file to open
property fileName : "thedocument.pdf"
--get the path to the containing folder
set myPath to (path to me as string)
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ":"
set the parentFolder to ¬
        ((text items 1 thru -2 of myPath) & "") as string
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
-- find the flash file
try
        set targetFile to alias (the parentFolder & fileName)
on error
        --ie if there's no  file here by this name, it will quit.
        return quit
end try
tell application "Finder"
        open file targetFile
end tell

---

In the second line of the code there is a variable declared called fileName, you need to change the value between the double quotes to the name of your document.
Then choose Save As in Script Editor.
Change the dropdown menu to read "Application" and set the checkboxes so that "Never show splash screen" is checked and "Stay open" is unchecked.
Save your script as a useful name, then put it in the folder with the document you want to open.

Finally, in your flash file enter the fscommand (as shown above) and use the name of your script as the name of the application.

<a name="6"></a>Q6. What is a HQX file?

A. HQX is a form of file encoding, NOT a Mac executable (exe).

Mac files come with two "forks" one holds the data, the other the resources for the file (it's icon, type, creator etc).

hqx is used to store the resources and the data forks of mac files in one file as other filesystems (dos, unix) don't support two forks for a file, so the resource fork gets deleted. .

This can result in file corruption, for example, applications are no longer recognised as applications by macintoshes as they have no resource fork with the information that they are an application.

The PC equivalent is having the suffix (.exe for example) deleted. You then have no way of telling what the file is.

So, a file can be hqx encoded, sent via PCs or Unix machines to another Mac, unencoded and used without any problems as the resource fork with the information about the file has been retained.


<a name="7"></a>Q7. I have the right version Flash Player/Plugin, why doesn't my movie work?

A. You need to increase the memory allocated to the application.

Select the application that is running the flash movie (e.g. Flash Player, Internet Explorer etc.) in the Finder.
Go to the File menu and choose "Get Info".
An information window for the selected application appears, choose memory from the dropdown menu.
Increase the "Preferred Size" box by 1000.
e.g. 800KB --> 1800KB
Depending on the size of your movie, it may need more, but keep the order of magnitude you increase by in the thousands initially.

<a name="8"></a>Q8. How can I make my windows open the correct size on a Mac?

A. Use a piece of JavaScript to adjust the window size for different platfoms.

--Adjust the sizes and window attributes to your taste--

Put this in the Head of your html document:

function platformCheck(){
if (navigator.platform == "Win32"){
window.open('mypage.htm','pagename','toolbar=yes,s crollbars=no,status=yes,width=800,height=600')
} else {
window.open('mypage.htm','pagename','toolbar=yes,s crollbars=no,status=yes,width=785,height=587')
}
}

You can then call the function from somewhere in your html; for example an image that says "Go to Flash site" would have the code placed in it's tag:
< img src="image.jpg" onclick="platformCheck();" alt="Go to Flash site" >< / img >

Or you could resize a window as it loads, using this function in the head of the document:

function resizeMe() {
if (navigator.platform == "Win32"){
self.resizeTo(800,600)
} else {
self.resizeTo(785,587)
}
}

And then in the Body tag of the page:
< Body onload="resizeMe();" >

[Javascript 1.2 or higher is required for this (that's version 4+ browsers, it should work but JavaScript is a really non-cross-browser thing...) so don't rely on it too much, the weird spacing of the tags is to stop them being parsed by the board] - SJT


<a name="9"></a>Q9. I'm a PC User, how can I burn a Macintosh CD that autoruns?

A. Use CDEveryWhere, a Java application that creates cross platform disc images.

You can get CDEveryWhere here: http://www.cdeverywhere.com

Open CDEveryWhere, click the Macintosh tab.
Choose your Macintosh projector (.hqx encoded) and drag it to the Macintosh tab from the Local Files tab.

Right-click and choose 'BinHex' from the menu, then choose 'Decode'.
You should now see your projector file, without the hqx suffix, listed in the Macintosh tab.
The Type field should say APPL (this is the resource fork code for Application), the Creator field will be different depending on which version of Flash you are using.
Next click the Platform tab at the top of the window, move down to the AutoStart for Macintosh section, check the Enable box and choose your projector from the browse dialog box.

Note 1: CDEveryWhere does not burn CDs, it only creates disc images which you then burn to disc using CD writing software, such as Easy CD Creator from http://www.roxio.com/

Note 2: I have NOT burnt any CDs created with this program, i merely downloaded it to write this tutorial. Use it at your own risk!

___________________________________________


I'll add more over time, everyone else post additions as well (or correct me if I'm wrong)...
Thankyou, and goodnight.
[Edited by SJT on 05-01-2002 at 11:28 AM]

Additional

The Autorun.inf file must be located at the root level of the CD. However, the data in the file, doesn't necessarily have to be. You could create a data folder and use the following as well.

[autorun]
start=data/projector.exe
icon=data/someicon.ico

This just keeps things a bit more tidy at times :) .

Also, SJT, I'm glad you started this! Nice idea. For future, I'm going to refer to this post regarding these questions.

Hey SJT,
very good idea to have a FAQ thread!
You should contact an admin if they can create a thread with Mac FAQs that allways stays on top, like the "Flash Kit Flash Footer Guidelines " of the coffee lounge.

ciao
M

... maybe we should start something then ;) .

I have 2 domains, and I have some extra space... and both have message boards in place... if you wanna work together on it, maybe we can set it up ;) Flash and Mac -- cool.

err, oops, sorry ndl deleted the post you replied to, was just cleaning up...

ps

I contacted another moderator (not for this board) and he's offered to get the thread made into an announcement so its permanently at the top of the thread list, but it would be uneditable/postable by users.

Anyone have any comments on this?

We just need to make sure someone can edit it! ;)

Sounds like a good plan though!

well I suppose we'd send our posts to a moderator, who'd then post them, but it seems a bit unlikely seeing as they don't reply to their emails... :(

Quote:

---

Originally posted by ndl
... maybe we should start something then ;) .

I have 2 domains, and I have some extra space... and both have message boards in place... if you wanna work together on it, maybe we can set it up ;) Flash and Mac -- cool.

---

i used to have flash4mac.com - but i let it run out.. didn't have time to update the site all the time.. was a good dream though ;)

If you have any questions, please start a new thread on the board.
It will get more attention that way, as most people won't keep coming back to read this FAQ when you reply to it.

Problem - I want to create a hybrid Mac / PC compatible CD-ROM, but I'm developing and burning from a PC.

Basically, I finally got everything to work when I use Easy CD Creator, but can't figure out the autorun for a Mac when burning from a PC.

Also - the CD couldn't even be read from an iMac no matter what I did. Worked fine on an OS9 G4, but not on an OS9 G3 iMac. What gives?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by SJT
well I suppose we'd send our posts to a moderator, who'd then post them, but it seems a bit unlikely seeing as they don't reply to their emails... :(

---

Sorry I've been m.i.a. This is a wonderful idea. I have some to add on as well. The only thing that once we send it in we can't edit it often, being that we would have to resend it to trav to update the announcement. If fk had the v2 version of vb it could be done. So let's get as much faq's as possible and then I'll send it over. By the way I never received any emails.

If it's cool with you I'll go ahead and edit your thread and add a couple of my faq's, I have to find the old threads first though. :D

Cool, put as much in as you can!

Yeah, i'm not suprised you didn't get my email, I sent it through flashkit.
check out this thread...http://board.flashkit.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=255944

This is the second time i've had to write this reply...

Quote:

---

Originally posted by MIDIman
Problem - I want to create a hybrid Mac / PC compatible CD-ROM, but I'm developing and burning from a PC.

Basically, I finally got everything to work when I use Easy CD Creator, but can't figure out the autorun for a Mac when burning from a PC.

Also - the CD couldn't even be read from an iMac no matter what I did. Worked fine on an OS9 G4, but not on an OS9 G3 iMac. What gives?

---

I would if i had access to the software (and a pc) but i don't.
Autorun on macs aren't files, its a setting burnt into the CD.
This would involve choosing an application that you wan't to autostart from within Easy CD Creator before burning.
If anyone else knows if this is possible...you're probably better off posting in the standalone forum.

midiman, I'm pretty sure this cannot be done on a pc. If you want to make a hybrid mac/pc cd with autostart for both platforms, it has to be made on a mac using toast.
m

How to open a PC flash file in a Mac?

The quickest thing to do is launch Flash > Go to File > Open and in the List Files of Type: select All Formats, then you should be able to select your fla file.

But to fix this permanently so that it doesn't show the quicktime file everytime you download from fk or any other site follow these steps.

------------------
How to make PC zip files (with flash/swf files) open in the proper file format in Mac?

Here's a tip for converting PC zip files to open properly on your Mac. That means when you open a zipped file, no more Quicktime icons for the swf's and no more text icons for the .fla's. I can't stand that. :)

• Go to the Apple Icon (top left) > Control Panel > File Exchange.
  
• A dialog box should open up. From left to right you should see columns named PC extension, Application, File type, respectively. Click on PC extension column and scroll down till you see the extension fla. Select it then, hit Change.....
  
• A new dialog box should then open up. Select for file type SPA, then select Change to change the file type.
  
• Wait... we're not done yet. :) Now we have to find the extension swf. When you find it, select Change... then select for the file type SWFL.

That's it you're done. I did this for my mac and now when I open any zipped file containing flash files my file manager recognizes the extensions.

There might be a possibility that you won't find fla and swf extensions. That's fine. You can always add them. I'll briefly explain how this is done.

• Select the Add button in the File Exchange dialog box. Then a dialog box should open, at the top type in the extensions that are missing. Either fla or swf, whatever. Then scroll down and find the application that corresponds to the extension, then Select. That's it, you're done.

Here is a less FAQ...is there a Mac equivalent of the SWF toolkit for use in "C" development.

Or what "C" software tools are available for adding Flash output to Mac programs.

Bill Strum
http://www.imagematics.com

PS thanks for the post it was valuable info.

Just a quick chart on the difference from what you set your fla movie fps to what the actual fps is when played back on the mac flash 5 player.

set fps vs. actual fps

fps set to 16-20 reads out -> 15fps
fps set to 21-30 reads out -> 20 fps
fps set to 31 reads out -> 30 fps
fps set to 59+ reads out -> 60 fps

Hey SJT.
Can you think of any other FAQs to add to this? I'm about to get it ready to send to the webmaster as a Macintosh announcement.

Thanks for making the thread. :)

I've added one more, though i'm not sure how suitable it is really....

If anyone wants to add to the thread, now is the time to do it....
If you think there's a question that should be answered but you don't know how, post and someone else will do it! (like me, ndl or 8minus8)

Thanks for sorting this out 8minus8, i've tried to make it a bit more accessible with the internal links etc...don't forget the additionals others have posted!

no problem. Thanks for posting this, I'm sure lots of members have found the faq's useful. I think I'm going to also add some common error codes but that's all I can think of. If we need to add on more to the FAQ announcement we can just make another thread like this and I can send it over to the admin.

Thanks for all the work SJT and others that have posted. :)

I'll wait a bit and see if anyone has anything else they would like to add. I'll also just integrate the posts in the thread similarly to your internal links.

If you need to get in touch with me just send me an email to [email protected]

When opening files on a MAc, you don't have to use applescript, you can use the FS command. The major difference between pc and mac opening files is how you path them. This is what a Mac fs command for opening files looks like.
Fs Command("exec", "Macintosh HD:Folder:File"
You have to start at the macintosh HD if you are going to any folder other than the current folder, and you have to use :'s instead of /'s.

Okay. I've copied all the faqs and am setting them up to send to John. Hopefully announcements take vbcode. :)

nice one...
hope to see it soon!

8minus8-

Thanks for the info. . .how do you do this in OSX? I hear it's even easier.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by 8minus8
------------------
How to make PC zip files (with flash/swf files) open in the proper file format in Mac?

Here's a tip for converting PC zip files to open properly on your Mac. That means when you open a zipped file, no more Quicktime icons for the swf's and no more text icons for the .fla's. I can't stand that. :)

• Go to the Apple Icon (top left) > Control Panel > File Exchange.
  
• A dialog box should open up. From left to right you should see columns named PC extension, Application, File type, respectively. Click on PC extension column and scroll down till you see the extension fla. Select it then, hit Change.....
  
• A new dialog box should then open up. Select for file type SPA, then select Change to change the file type.
  
• Wait... we're not done yet. :) Now we have to find the extension swf. When you find it, select Change... then select for the file type SWFL.

That's it you're done. I did this for my mac and now when I open any zipped file containing flash files my file manager recognizes the extensions.

There might be a possibility that you won't find fla and swf extensions. That's fine. You can always add them. I'll briefly explain how this is done.

• Select the Add button in the File Exchange dialog box. Then a dialog box should open, at the top type in the extensions that are missing. Either fla or swf, whatever. Then scroll down and find the application that corresponds to the extension, then Select. That's it, you're done.

[/B]

---

No problem. I'm not sure about OS X....I haven't installed it yet. I've been waiting till I purchase a new hardrive. I'm sure OS X makes things a lot easier.

Just so you guys know....I haven't forgotten about the FAQ, I've been waiting to hear back from John. He's been really busy lately. So I'm fixing it up to send to him in the proper format. I'm also working on an installation for this weekend, which has taken away a lot of my free time. I'll be here more frequently after I get that done.

sorry for the wait.

Hey SJT.
I sent the FAQ some time ago. But unfortunately I was told that they will have to hold off on that. I guess they are working on changes, not sure. So I will just make a new thread with all the postings that we've acquired. It uses the same format of html that you were using hopefully it won't cause any problems. If it does, I'll delete it and post it using vbcode. Just will take some time to convert it.

Sorry for the delays. If you have any questions send me an email at [email protected]

eileen

ok thanks, i'll keep pushing this up in the meanwhile...

I've added a tutorial for PC users wanting to make autorun Mac CDs.

I'm using IE 5.1 under os X, with the Flash 6 plugin and I've encountered MANY flash movies that don't work for some reason. Under X there is no memory allocation (I have 512 mb), so that's not the problem. I am compiling a list of various sites that don't work and I will post on a new thread.

- Well, after busting my hump for the last two days, trying to figure out how exactly to do this - I've succeeded! Since I couldn't find all the answers in the same place, I thought I would post my method here for all to see.

- This project's purpose is to create a CD that can play standard audio on any CD player as well as a cross platform autostarting Flash Projector. Judging by the posts in this forum and the Projector/Standalone forum - there needs to be a better explanation. The FAQ in this section is spot-on for the Data only hybrid, but adding data and audio together is a little cloudy.

- This assumes you are using a Mac, Flash 5, and Toast 5 (I'm using Toast Titanium). Just buy it if you don't have it and save yourself hours of frustration. You should use a Mac to burn your CD's anyway. Everyone that has done this will tell you the same thing (that is unless their trying to sell you their software or you don't have access to a Mac).

First: Get your Flash (.fla) in order.

- 1. Make a blank movie with the same background color and dimensions as your main movie. There's just one frame and it has this action:

<i>loadMovieNum("support/main.swf, _level0);
stop();
// Main.swf being the real movie. </i>

- You do this to get the movie to load faster, much faster as the movie will completely load otherwise - leaving your viewer with a blank screen for a while if your lucky. This is not as big of a deal if you are planning on doing your own duplication - so you can skip this step if you want to, but I would do it anyway.

- 2. In the publish settings, check the standalone for Mac and PC - and publish.

- 3. Create a new folder and place the projector files inside. Create a folder inside this new folder called "support".

- 4. Make sure all you internal load actions are set up properly to refer to any support files as in #1 above. Make sure your <i>getURL</i> actions have a target like <i>_blank</i>. This will help from locking up the player or your viewers computer, and it's a smooth thing to do regardless.

- 5. Place any support files in the support folder.

- 6. With Toast not open, place your blank CD in the burner, give it a name and make sure it's HFS/ISO in the settings (default).

- 7. Open Toast. We'll start with the audio because it has to be first anyway - pay attention to that - IT HAS TO BE FIRST! This will not work otherwise, as your standard CD player can only read the first session of the CD.

- 8. The Session: This is how it's done, your going to burn the CD in two sessions. A "Write Session" for the audio and a "Disk Session" for your data (and to close the CD).

- 8. Back to the audio. Drag your audio files to the audio window, if you don't have them ripped yet - drag the CD to the window and extract the audio to a new folder. Delete the CD files in the window and replace them with your .aiff files. Set the offsets, 2 seconds on the first track is mandatory - otherwise it makes no matter. Name the disk by clicking on it.

- 9. Record the audio, make sure to check "Write Session". Eject when done and reinsert.

- 10. In Toast, hold down on "Other" and choose "Custom Hybrid". Under "Utilities" create a temporary partition. Place your all your files in the partition. You should have something like this:

<i>PC.exe
Mac Projector
Autostart.inf (see the FAQ on Windows autostart)
Support folder</i>

- Line up the icons with the Mac icon on top and the support files along the bottom. This matters because this is how it will look on a Mac.

- 11. In Toast, click on the "select Mac" button and choose your temporary partition, leave "Optimize on the Fly" checked and check the "autostart" button and find your Mac projector in the temp partition. Click "OK".

- 12. Click the "ISO" button and drag everything but the Mac projector to the "Files" window. Double click on and make invisible, everything except for the PC.exe file. Under the "Settings" tab, select CD-XA for the format (you may need to choose CD-ROM for a duplication house, but I got both types to work). Choose "Joliet" for the "Naming" button and uncheck the "Use Apple Extensions" box. You'll exclude Windows 3.1 users by doing this, oh my! Click "Done".

- 13. Make sure the trash is empty and click on "Record", choose "Write Disk".

- 14. Your done. I saved the disk images to a my main folder (much easier to reuse for duplication and changes). You'll be prompted to save the image when you get done, do it. Close Toast and save the working files on your way out for future use.

-Now that wasn't so hard. After trying for a day to get Toast Lite to do this, I bought Toast and a took another 8 hours and 10 disks to get it right. Now you can do it in an hour.

Good luck,

5G

* standalone, stand alone, projector, hybrid, Toast, sessions, CD-XA, CD-ROM, enhanced, burning, autostart.

Hey guys.
I forgot to mention this. John ended up adding the FAQ I sent him...but I sent him a longer one. I had added atleast 3 other FAQs, but I guess the announcement must have a limit on characters.

I'm going to try and figure out if that's the case.

later.