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b) Macintosh issues
Normaly all above code should work on Macintosh platform without problems (Flash was made to be crossplatform). One thing you will not be able to do with Mac projector is to write variables on user's HD. Also, when opening files with FSCommand in Flash 5 projectors you should remember to use colons (:) (and not slashes (/) as in PC) to separate folders in a pathname: FSCommand ("exec", ":folder:filename");. On the other side, OSX uses standard Unix path notation (/) and not colon.
Another way to open specific file with Mac projector is by using applescript, which you should compile as an application in AppleScript Editor and then run it with FSCommand. Your applescript and file you want to open with should be in the same folder. Here are 2 examples:
| --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 | tell application "Finder" activate select file "Your File" of disk "Your Disk" open selection end tell |
There seems to be a problem/bug with Flash MX projectors for Mac: basicaly if you have to load .swfs in your main movie it will not stay fullscreen even if you put the FSCommand for it correctly. Workaround for this problem is to create an empty "container" movie with only FSCommand for fullscreen, and then load your content into level1 or higher. That seems to be the only way Mac projector will stay fullscreen (see Resources below for more details).
Unfortunately, there are no 3rd party tools for Mac that could help you enhance your projectors as there are for PC.
4. Burning CDs with projectors
Ok, you have your flaming projector and you want to burn it on CD for distribution. Presuming most of us know how to burn CD for our own platform, only burning hybrid CD (crossplatform) will be covered here.
Since Flash projectors on CD have to be loaded completely in computer's memory before they start to play, beware of their size. Even though there is no definite answer (using preloaders and loading .swfs into main movie may help), it is recommended that they should not be bigger then 25 Mb (Macromedia's original advice is: no bigger then 4MB!!! - see resouces for the technote). If you have to do a bigger project, you may consider switching to Director.
a) Burning on Mac
Since Mac recognizes the ISO 9660 file system and Windows file formats, and Windows do not understand Mac's Hierarchical File System (HFS) file format, hybrid CDs used to be burned on Macintosh. But PC users should not despare because there are workarounds to this (see below).
Toast is one of the burning programs which allows making Hybrid CDs on Mac. You will need to make temporary disk partition on your Desktop and copy your Mac projector and eventualy the shared .swf files (those that will be seen on both Mac and PC) on it. In another folder on your desktop (but not in the temporary partition) put all PC files (projector, autorun.inf and icon). Then in Toast window choose Custom Hybrid, select Mac volume, press Data button and then simply select your temporary partition (or drag it on Toast window). Now choose ISO volume, hit ISO button and select your PC files from the folder you made (just files, not whole folder), and select also all shared .swf files from the temporary Mac partition. This way the shared files will be burned only once, but will be seen on both Mac and PC. You will have to specify "Joliet" naming settings for PC files so the names can be longer then 8.3 characters.
Autostart feature on Mac is handled by QuickTime and you can choose the file you want to autostart (your projector) from the settings in Mac volume of Toast window. If you want your PC projector to autorun when CD is inserted, you'll have to make autorun.inf file. You can use free program BBEdit to create this file for PC on your Mac. Choose New document and write this:
[autorun]
open=yourprojector.exe
icon=youricon.ico
Save the file as autorun.inf. It should be on the root of CD to work correctly. If you want your CD to show custom icon in Windows Explorer, it should be Windows icon format, any simple graphic image will not work. Program called Iconographer can make Windows icons on Mac.
It may be vise to allocate enough RAM memory (size of your projector, size of .swf files to load into the main one and a couple more Mb just to be sure) to your Mac partition before burning, because CD inherits its memory settings. When you have all this done, burn your CD and enjoy...
b) Burning on PC
The only way to create crossplatform (hybrid) CDs on PC is to use specific program which makes image file (nothing to do with graphic images) containing your Mac and PC projector and eventual shared files. Image file is then burned to CD with your favourite burning software. The result is functional and autorun works on PC as autostart does on Mac. Here is the procedure to use with program called MacImage:
When you open the program it will be in the default Project Mode and Hybrid view. Give the name to the Project, launch Explorer and drag your files in their places: PC projector, autorun file and icon into the ISO view of the MacImage window (files with yellow spots in the picture) and Mac projector into the HSF view (file with green spot). Do not worry about decoding of .hqx file, program takes care of it. Shared files (both yellow and green spots) go into ISO/HSF view because this way PC users will see only PC files, Mac users will see only Mac files and both will see shared files.
Once you finished all this, you will have to compile image file: choose Compile option from the Projects menu (or click fourth button on the toolbar - look for the pointer in the picture above), give the name to your image file and the program will do the rest. All you have to do now is burn compiled image to CD with burning software.
To implement the Autostart feature for Mac you should take one more step. Reopen the compiled image in the Partition Mode (switch mode in the first item of Options menu), select the file you want to autostart (your Mac projector), and choose Autolaunch feature from the right click menu. Resave the image and it will be ready for burning.
Almost all burning packages are capable of burning image files. In Nero you should choose Burn Image option from File menu, open your image file (switch to "all files" type to see it), accept the default values from pop up window and it will burn image to CD. And that's it...
PC users can make autorun.inf file in text editor (Notepad) and it should look like the one on the picture on the left. Autorun should be on the root of your CD but your projector and icon do not have to be. Just remember to change autorun.inf file if you plan for any reason to put your projector in specific folder (the same is valid for making autorun.inf for burning hybrid CD on Mac).
