SWF Studio V3

northcode · 2004-06-18, 02:21 PM

It's been quite a while since we first announced that we were working on a solution for the Flash OCX problem and the big question on everyone's mind is .. where is the new version of SWF Studio?

The plan back in Oct 2003 was to release an update to V2 that would introduce some minor new feature but also solve the now infamous Flash OCX installation issue. Well, we hit a pretty major technical snag which put that plan on indefinite hold. We weren't sure how long it would take to find a solution so we continued releasing fixes for V2 and the plugins. While we were working on a solution for the OCX issue the plan changed, we got a bit more ambitious and the idea for SWF Studio V3 was born.

SWF Studio has been around since 2001 and since then the interface has evolved into something resembling Frankenstein's monster. As features have been added and removed over the years the interface has been perverted to support these features and has become less stable than we're comfortable with. An architectural overhaul and some major cosmetic improvements were planned to make SWF Studio more usable and to reduce the number of support incidents. At the same time we started going through the wish list looking for the features that would make V3 a "must have" release.

Once the technical problems with the OCX were solved (and they are) we could have gone into release mode and pushed V3 out the door, but there was one more thing we desperately wanted to have before we released - a license from Macromedia to distribute the Flash Player OCX as part of SWF Studio. We'll make an "official" announcement about this when V3 is released, but I'm happy to announce that we now have the first and only license to distribute Macromedia's Flash Player technology in a third party projector!

But the burning question remains... where is SWF Studio V3?

We've put a hold on all new feature development and enhancements and we've moved into release mode. That means putting the finishing touches on all the V3 work-in-progress, testing, trying to get everything documented, etc. We're just plowing through the pre-release todo list so we haven't fixed a date, but I will say that the time until release is being measured in weeks and days now (not months) and we're all getting pretty excited to see V3 about to fly!

northcode · 2004-08-10, 04:37 PM

In case you missed the announcement in the coffee lounge, the official release date for SWF Studio V3 will be Monday, August 23rd.

northcode · 2004-08-10, 04:38 PM

This is definitely not the entire list of new features, and we'll probably post a few more spoilers, but we're going to keep some surprises for release day

The SWF Studio user interface has been completely overhauled in V3. We've simplified the interface so that new users don't have to spend all their time figuring out how the interface works and advanced users aren't hobbled by an interface that doesn't meet their needs. The main goal was to improve workflow without sacrificing power.

V3 can import V1 and V2 project files and automatically convert them to the new V3 format. The new project files are human readable so if you have a problem with your project file you can fire up notepad (or editplus) and see exactly what's going on. This also means you can create your own interface for generating SWF Studio project files!

V3 uses a new file type called a group file to provide the ultimate workflow automation, unattended builds! A group file is just a list of SPF files, but if you launch SWF Studio with a group file instead of the normal SPF file, SWF Studio will build all the projects in the group and store the build results in a text file for you. Let that sink in for a bit, completely automated builds, mmmm...

Derek has mentioned this before, but V3 has a new ActionScript API that is going to make writing code for SWF Studio a real joy. No more frame loops, no more intervals, no more setter properties or watches. This Core API makes all the dirty work invisible and exposes easy to use ActionScript objects and methods, even the plugins are magically mapped into the Core API.

The Core API is not a thin mapping layer from FSCommands to ActionScript, it has deep hooks into SWF Studio and represents a whole new way of doing business. All methods in the Core API use objects as parameters which makes the code you write self-documenting and makes reading the ActionScript a LOT easier that the arcane FSCommand syntax used back in the dark ages.

V3 will ship with a set of revised plugins that are rewritten completely in C++ so there are no registration issues. The new plugins use a powerful multithreaded architecture to keep them responsive without chewing up all your CPU. The new threading model allows things like TRULY asynchronous notifications so you can just register a callback to get notified when an action takes place.

We've added UDP and TCP socket plugins so you can implement just about any internet protocol you like, or invent your own for chats, multi-player games, etc.

There's a new joystick plugin that supports up to 16 joysticks, 32 buttons per joystick, up to 6 axes (x, y, z, r ,u, v) and point-of-view data if the joystick supports it. You can register notifications for single buttons or groups of buttons (combos) to allow special "moves" like in fight games.

We added a system for creating multi-level popup menus that includes support custom system tray and context menus as well as menus that you can make appear with just code. You can change the popup menu captions, add separators, enable and disable menu items, check and uncheck menu items on the fly and load saved menu definitions from disk to provide easy support for multiple languages. We've also got a new menu component that wraps up all this functionality into an even easier to use package.

We've taken the matter of protecting your work very seriously and V3 has a solution that allows you to load SWF files directly from internal storage into your movie without ever hitting the disk. This also works for other file types like XML files that you want to load, JPEGs that you want to display and HTML files that you want to present in an embedded browser. This is an evolutionary advancement in projector technology that will protect your hard work from falling into the wrong hands.

Oh, I almost forgot...

The Flash OCX issues that plagued previous versions of SWF Studio are completely resolved by V3. Every V3 projector and screensaver will be a zero-install executable, putting an end to the dreaded OCX issue forever. V3 executables have been tested and work even from a default (and very restricted) guest account!

And last, but certainly not least, our Flash player license from Macromedia means the projectors and screensavers you build with SWF Studio V3 will be 100% legitimate so you won't have to worry about Macromedia knocking on your door for using their intellectual property without a license. This is not the free online license that most vendors will tell you they have. We opened discussions with Macromedia to obtain a license that protects us and our customers because we're serious about our business and yours.

2004-06-18, 02:21 PM	#1
northcode Tim Join Date: May 2001 Location: Ottawa Posts: 11,873	SWF Studio V3 It's been quite a while since we first announced that we were working on a solution for the Flash OCX problem and the big question on everyone's mind is .. where is the new version of SWF Studio? The plan back in Oct 2003 was to release an update to V2 that would introduce some minor new feature but also solve the now infamous Flash OCX installation issue. Well, we hit a pretty major technical snag which put that plan on indefinite hold. We weren't sure how long it would take to find a solution so we continued releasing fixes for V2 and the plugins. While we were working on a solution for the OCX issue the plan changed, we got a bit more ambitious and the idea for SWF Studio V3 was born. SWF Studio has been around since 2001 and since then the interface has evolved into something resembling Frankenstein's monster. As features have been added and removed over the years the interface has been perverted to support these features and has become less stable than we're comfortable with. An architectural overhaul and some major cosmetic improvements were planned to make SWF Studio more usable and to reduce the number of support incidents. At the same time we started going through the wish list looking for the features that would make V3 a "must have" release. Once the technical problems with the OCX were solved (and they are) we could have gone into release mode and pushed V3 out the door, but there was one more thing we desperately wanted to have before we released - a license from Macromedia to distribute the Flash Player OCX as part of SWF Studio. We'll make an "official" announcement about this when V3 is released, but I'm happy to announce that we now have the first and only license to distribute Macromedia's Flash Player technology in a third party projector! But the burning question remains... where is SWF Studio V3? We've put a hold on all new feature development and enhancements and we've moved into release mode. That means putting the finishing touches on all the V3 work-in-progress, testing, trying to get everything documented, etc. We're just plowing through the pre-release todo list so we haven't fixed a date, but I will say that the time until release is being measured in weeks and days now (not months) and we're all getting pretty excited to see V3 about to fly!

2004-08-10, 04:37 PM	#2
northcode Tim Join Date: May 2001 Location: Ottawa Posts: 11,873	Release Date In case you missed the announcement in the coffee lounge, the official release date for SWF Studio V3 will be Monday, August 23rd.

2004-08-10, 04:38 PM	#3
northcode Tim Join Date: May 2001 Location: Ottawa Posts: 11,873	V3 Feature Teaser This is definitely not the entire list of new features, and we'll probably post a few more spoilers, but we're going to keep some surprises for release day The SWF Studio user interface has been completely overhauled in V3. We've simplified the interface so that new users don't have to spend all their time figuring out how the interface works and advanced users aren't hobbled by an interface that doesn't meet their needs. The main goal was to improve workflow without sacrificing power. V3 can import V1 and V2 project files and automatically convert them to the new V3 format. The new project files are human readable so if you have a problem with your project file you can fire up notepad (or editplus) and see exactly what's going on. This also means you can create your own interface for generating SWF Studio project files! V3 uses a new file type called a group file to provide the ultimate workflow automation, unattended builds! A group file is just a list of SPF files, but if you launch SWF Studio with a group file instead of the normal SPF file, SWF Studio will build all the projects in the group and store the build results in a text file for you. Let that sink in for a bit, completely automated builds, mmmm... Derek has mentioned this before, but V3 has a new ActionScript API that is going to make writing code for SWF Studio a real joy. No more frame loops, no more intervals, no more setter properties or watches. This Core API makes all the dirty work invisible and exposes easy to use ActionScript objects and methods, even the plugins are magically mapped into the Core API. The Core API is not a thin mapping layer from FSCommands to ActionScript, it has deep hooks into SWF Studio and represents a whole new way of doing business. All methods in the Core API use objects as parameters which makes the code you write self-documenting and makes reading the ActionScript a LOT easier that the arcane FSCommand syntax used back in the dark ages. V3 will ship with a set of revised plugins that are rewritten completely in C++ so there are no registration issues. The new plugins use a powerful multithreaded architecture to keep them responsive without chewing up all your CPU. The new threading model allows things like TRULY asynchronous notifications so you can just register a callback to get notified when an action takes place. We've added UDP and TCP socket plugins so you can implement just about any internet protocol you like, or invent your own for chats, multi-player games, etc. There's a new joystick plugin that supports up to 16 joysticks, 32 buttons per joystick, up to 6 axes (x, y, z, r ,u, v) and point-of-view data if the joystick supports it. You can register notifications for single buttons or groups of buttons (combos) to allow special "moves" like in fight games. We added a system for creating multi-level popup menus that includes support custom system tray and context menus as well as menus that you can make appear with just code. You can change the popup menu captions, add separators, enable and disable menu items, check and uncheck menu items on the fly and load saved menu definitions from disk to provide easy support for multiple languages. We've also got a new menu component that wraps up all this functionality into an even easier to use package. We've taken the matter of protecting your work very seriously and V3 has a solution that allows you to load SWF files directly from internal storage into your movie without ever hitting the disk. This also works for other file types like XML files that you want to load, JPEGs that you want to display and HTML files that you want to present in an embedded browser. This is an evolutionary advancement in projector technology that will protect your hard work from falling into the wrong hands. Oh, I almost forgot... The Flash OCX issues that plagued previous versions of SWF Studio are completely resolved by V3. Every V3 projector and screensaver will be a zero-install executable, putting an end to the dreaded OCX issue forever. V3 executables have been tested and work even from a default (and very restricted) guest account! And last, but certainly not least, our Flash player license from Macromedia means the projectors and screensavers you build with SWF Studio V3 will be 100% legitimate so you won't have to worry about Macromedia knocking on your door for using their intellectual property without a license. This is not the free online license that most vendors will tell you they have. We opened discussions with Macromedia to obtain a license that protects us and our customers because we're serious about our business and yours.

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