professional flash lite mobile development - buch.de · pdf filechapter 12 using sony...

Jermaine G. Anderson

Professional

Build Flash Applications for Mobile Devices

Flash® Lite® Mobile Development

Wrox Programmer to Programmer™Join the discussion @ p2p.wrox.com

Get more out of wrox.com

Programmer to Programmer™

InteractTake an active role online by participating in our P2P forums @ p2p.wrox.com

Wrox Online LibraryHundreds of our books are available online through Books24x7.com

Wrox Blox Download short informational pieces and code to keep you up to date and out of trouble!

Join the CommunitySign up for our free monthly newsletter at newsletter.wrox.com

BrowseReady for more Wrox? We have books and e-books available on .NET, SQL Server, Java, XML, Visual Basic, C#/ C++, and much more!

Contact Us. We always like to get feedback from our readers. Have a book idea? Need community support? Let us know by e-mailing [email protected]

http://wrox.com

PROFESSIONAL

FLASH® LITE® MOBILE DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvii

CHAPTER 1 Flash Is Mobile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

CHAPTER 2 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

CHAPTER 3 Object-Oriented Programming for Flash Lite Development . . . . . . . . . 33

CHAPTER 4 UI Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

CHAPTER 5 PureMVC ActionScript 2.0 Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

CHAPTER 6 Creating a TV Listings Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

CHAPTER 7 Creating a Media Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

CHAPTER 8 Creating an Image Viewer Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

CHAPTER 9 Creating a Twitter Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

CHAPTER 10 Using Nokia’s S60 Platform Services API . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

CHAPTER 11 Creating a Weather Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

CHAPTER 12 Using Sony Ericsson’s Project Capuchin Platform Services API . . . . . 439

CHAPTER 13 Packaging Flash Lite Applications for Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

APPENDIX Flash Lite 3.x ActionScript 2.0 Quick

Reference: From Array to XMLSocket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .509

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

PROFESSIONAL

Flash® Lite® Mobile Development

Jermaine G. Anderson

Professional Flash® Lite® Mobile Development

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.10475 Crosspoint BoulevardIndianapolis, IN 46256www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-54748-9

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifi cally disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fi tness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

For general information on our other products and services please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (877) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009939787

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, Wrox, the Wrox logo, Wrox Programmer to Programmer, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affi liates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Flash Lite is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

http://www.wiley.com

http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions

For Joanna and Olivia.

ACQUISITIONS EDITOR

Scott Meyers

PROJECT EDITOR

Kenyon Brown

TECHNICAL EDITOR

Darren Osadchuk

PRODUCTION EDITOR

Kathleen Wisor

COPY EDITORS

Eric Newman

Foxxe Editorial Services

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Robyn B. Siesky

EDITORIAL MANAGER

Mary Beth Wakefi eld

MARKETING MANAGER

David Mayhew

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Tim Tate

VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE

GROUP PUBLISHER

Richard Swadley

VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER

Barry Pruett

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Jim Minatel

PROJECT COORDINATOR, COVER

Lynsey Stanford

PROOFREADER

Nate Pritts, Word One

INDEXER

Robert Swanson

COVER DESIGNER

Mike Trent

COVER IMAGE

iStockPhoto

CREDITS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

JERMAINE G. ANDERSON has been programming for the past 10 years, specializing in Flash and, more recently, the Flex framework. His work predominantly centers on video streaming, and producing on-demand and live video content for the sports and entertainment industries where he has created web components and rich consumer products using Adobe Flash, Flex, and AIR. In 2004, he became interested in Flash mobile applications; this was intensifi ed after winning the “Best Productivity” category for his mobile TV guide concept in the fi rst ever Macromedia Flash Lite 1.1 contest

in 2005. He has since spent time working for UK mobile phone operator T-Mobile, where he created dynamic user interfaces and prototypes using Flash Lite. He has managed an international team of developers and now works for leading entertainment and communications company British Sky Broadcasting. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Chemistry from the University of Birmingham, and an MSc in Computer Studies from Sheffi eld Hallam University.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

WRITING THIS BOOK WAS TRULY A LABOR OF LOVE during the many days and late nights spent putting it together. Time fl ew, and before I knew it, the days had turned into weeks, and the weeks had turned into months. The end result is something that I am really proud of.

None of this would have been possible without the support of everyone at Wiley, who I’d like to give a big thank you! Thank you all for the time and effort spent making things happen.

I’d like to give special thanks to Scott Meyers, Acquisitions Editor, and Kenyon Brown, Project Editor, for driving the project. Thank you for the belief, guidance, and words of encouragement that were given throughout. Also, thank you to Darren Osadchuk, Technical Editor, for his technical advice and all important feedback.

I’d also like to thank the development team at Sony Ericsson — Velimir Karadzic, Enrique Garcia, and Youness Ghanim — who gave some of their time to review and give feedback.

Finally, many thanks to all my family and friends, for the love and support they gave me during the time of writing. I couldn’t have done it without them, especially my darling wife, Joanna.

—Jermaine G. Anderson

CONTENTS

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 Profi les 16

Creating Device Sets 17

Comparing Device Profi le 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

x

CONTENTS

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 Notifi cation 104

Summary 105

xi

CONTENTS

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

Notifi cations 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 .fl a File 143

Defi ning ApplicationFacade 143

Creating a Model for the TV Listings Application 144

Using XML Data 149

Creating the TV Listings Application’s Controller 158



Security Considerations: Loading Data 175

The crossdomain.xml File 176

Setting the Sandbox Type 176

Setting the Playback Security 176

Summary 177

xii

CONTENTS

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


The .fl a File 192


Creating a Model for the Media Console 196

Creating the Media Console’s Controller 218

Exploring the View’s Mediators 224


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


The .fl a File 256


Creating a Model for the Image Viewer 258


Creating the Image Viewer’s Controller 275


Summary 283

CHAPTER 9: CREATING A TWITTER CLIENT

Exploring the Twitter API 286

Twitter Fundamentals 286

Twitter API Methods 288

xiii

CONTENTS

The SWX Format 292

What Is SWX? 292

User Timeline 294


The .fl a File 299


Creating a Model for the Twitter Client 300

Creating the Twitter Client’s Controller 316



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