Saturday, 16 June 2007

Converting SE Flash Menus from FL2.0 to FL1.1


Is there an easy way to convert FL 2.0 to FL1.1?

Alot of the new SE phones coming on the market are starting to support FL2.0, which gives developers greater flexibility and power in creating flash lite applications. Consequently, a lot of the new menus coming out are being exclusively for FL2.0 enabled phones.

Based on my knowledge, there is no easy way to convert it. If you have the original FL2.0 fla file, you would have to go in and manually change the actionscript code so that it is FL1.1 compatible. While in some cases it may be very easy (like variable names minutesDisplay to /:minutesDisplay), some require more research and some are straight out impossible.

Many FL2.0 functions are not supported in FL1.1. One big loss in FL1.1 is the inability to create dynamic tweens. Thus, converting to FL 1.1 would require 'hardcoding' a motion tween. An example would be the analog clock. In FL2.0, you can dynamically rotate the symbols using AS, whereas in FL1.1 you would have to pre-create the 360 rotating motion tween.

Thus, the algorithm to create an application in FL2.0 may not necessarily be the same as in FL1.1 This means that one would have to re-design the application which could require a lot work. In terms of SE flash lite menus here are some things you would need to keep in mind when trying to convert:

1) Variable designations (var1 in FL2.0 would need to changed to /:var1 if accessed globally)
2) Phone accessing function (FL2.0 uses FLCmd(), FL1.1 uses FSCommand, FSCommand2)
3) Unsupported functions (hardcoding the motion tween, using other functions, etc.)
4) Button Listeners (FL2.0 uses button listeners, whereas FL1.1 uses on(keyPress))

If you feel I've missed any important functions that pertain to SE FL menus, feel free to buzz me.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks again Phirewerkz.

Even though it ain't possible to convert FL 2.0 easily to FL 1.1

Im still going to remake those standby's i sent to you.

See ya !