• Get up to speed with the latest Flash technology
• Create new Flash extensions
• Enhance your production workflow

With the release of Flash MX 2004, Macromedia gave us a brand-new Extensibility architecture layer, which let us look under the hood of Flash and extend its functionality. With the extensibility tools, which include behaviors, custom-made tools and commands, the JavaScript API (or JSFL), and the XML-to-UI API, you can literally extend Flash to do things it cannot do out of the box. Things such as adding new custom commands to the menu and customizing the tool bar, adding brand new, custom created tools. The commands could be as simple as drawing a commonly used shape on the stage, or as complex as creating an entire new Flash movie from scratch. These features not only allow users to share code and effects more easily within the community or a production environment, but will also allow developers to package up and reuse more within Flash than was ever possible before, increasing productivity and decreasing production times. We now have the ability to take our designs further than ever before?if you have an idea for a new feature, you can just create it yourself and "plug it in". This is the future of Flash! Extending Macromedia Flash MX 2004 covers the entire spectrum of the new extensibility architecture in Flash MX 2004. It includes in-depth tutorials on each new area?commands, tools, timeline effects, behaviors, use of the MMExecute command, executing Flash from the command line, and full coverage of XML to UI, which enables you to easily create custom user interfaces for your Flash Extensions. The final section of this book contains a comprehensive desktop reference to JavaScript Flash (JSFL), the new language that youll use to create your Flash extensions. Extending Macromedia Flash MX 2004 will show you how to:

• Speed up repetitive tasks in Flash with custom commands
• Add new tools to the toolbar for drawing any kind of shape or object on the stage
• Create automated tweens for any object onstage with Timeline Effects
• Define scripted behaviors that can easily be applied to any object
• Use these advanced extensibility tools to make Flash perform better than ever!

Table of Contents:

• Chapter 1: Introduction to Flash Extensibility
• Chapter 2: Custom Commands
• Chapter 3: Custom Tools
• Chapter 4: Timeline Effects
• Chapter 5: XML to UI
• Chapter 6: Behaviors
• Chapter 7: WindowSWF and MMExecute
• Chapter 8: Flash from the Command Line
• JSFL Reference Section: 140 page syntax reference!

Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004 introduce a new extensibility architecture. This is not an upgrade to an existing feature, but a brand new concept that nobody using an earlier version of Flash has seen or used before. With the extensibility tools, which include behaviors, custom-made tools and commands, the JavaScript API (or JSFL), and the XML-to-UI API, you can literally extend Flash to do things it cannot do out of the box. Things such as adding new custom commands to the menu and customizing the tool bar, adding brand new, custom created tools. The commands could be as simple as drawing a commonly used shape on the stage, or as complex as creating an entire new Flash movie from scratch. Tools take into account mouse actions and property inspector parameters. This allows you for custom shapes much as are seen in Microsoft Office, for example, stars, callouts, arrows, etc.

These new features will not only allow users to share code and effects more easily within the community or a production environment, but will also allow developers to package up and reuse more within Flash than was ever possible before, increasing productivity and decreasing production times. Some simple commands, tools, effects and behaviors will be included with Flash MX 2004, but the possibilities of what one could do with these are staggering. Virtually anything you can do in the authoring environment can now be written into a command or behavior.

This book covers the entire spectrum of the new extensibility architecture in Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004. It includes in-depth tutorials on each new area-commands; tools; Timeline Effects; behaviors; use of the MMExecute command; executing Flash from the command line

For additional infomation about this title, together with downloads and a dedicated support forum, visit flashextensibility.com • Get up to speed with the latest Flash technology • Create new Flash extensions • Enhance your production workflow Background: With the release of Flash MX 2004, Macromedia has given us a brand-new Extensibility architecture layer, which lets us look under the hood of Flash and extend its functionality. With the extensibility tools, which include behaviors, custom-made tools and commands, the JavaScript API (or JSFL), and the XML-to-UI API, you can literally extend Flash to do things it cannot do out of the box. Things such as adding new custom commands to the menu and customizing the tool bar, adding brand new, custom created tools. The commands could be as simple as drawing a commonly used shape on the stage, or as complex as creating an entire new Flash movie from scratch. These new features will not only allow users to share code and effects more easily within the community or a production environment, but will also allow developers to package up and reuse more within Flash than was ever possible before, increasing productivity and decreasing production times. We now have the ability to take our designs further than ever before&emdash;if you have an idea for a new feature, you can just create it yourself and "plug it in". This is the future of Flash! About the book: Extending Macromedia Flash MX 2004 covers the entire spectrum of the new extensibility architecture in Flash MX 2004. It includes in-depth tutorials on each new area&emdash;commands, tools, timeline effects, behaviors, use of the MMExecute command, executing Flash from the command line, and full coverage of XML to UI, which enables you to easily create custom user interfaces for your Flash Extensions. The final section of this book contains a comprehensive desktop reference to JavaScript Flash (JSFL), the new language that you’ll use to create your Flash extensions. These new features allow you to share code and design effects more effectively within a community or a production environment, and they also enable you to package up and reuse code within Flash, with a view to increasing productivity and decreasing production times. Extending Macromedia Flash MX 2004 will show you how to: • Speed up repetitive tasks in Flash with custom commands • Add new tools to the toolbar for drawing any kind of shape or object on the stage • Create automated tweens for any object onstage with Timeline Effects • Define scripted behaviors that can easily be applied to any object • Use these advanced extensibility tools to make Flash perform better than ever! Table of Contents: Chapter 1: Introduction to Flash Extensibility Chapter 2: Custom Commands Chapter 3: Custom Tools Chapter 4: Timeline Effects Chapter 5: XML to UI Chapter 6: Behaviors Chapter 7: WindowSWF and MMExecute Chapter 8: Flash from the Command Line JSFL Reference Section: 140 page syntax reference!

JSFL Bible
If you have ever thought of a feature request for Flash then this book is for you. It teaches you how to make your own! Flash MX 2004 is in the title but it’s just as useful for Flash 8. This book is worth the price just for the JSFL reference alone.

JavaScript + Flash + Extensions = WOW
This book has gone under the radar based upon its title. It truly does not explain what this book can teach you.

Basically it teaches the basic Flash user that you can extend what Flash normally does for you in its normal authoring environment. Like create new drawing tools, create commands that perform complex real-time tasks instantly (similiar to custom macros), create custom user interfaces, add timeline effects (scripted tweens) to any object, and create scripted behaviors (prebuilt code components) to help almost automate your Flash development.

If your an exisiting Flash developer who knows how code with ActionScript and needs a way to streamline your development environment and development time, this is a book you shouldn’t pass up.

Great book for teaching how to create Extensions
If you are an advanced Flash user, Extending Flash MX 2004 may be just the right book for you. Written by veteran Flash developers Keith Peters (bit-101) and Todd Yard (ego7), this book introduces you to the world of extending Flash MX 2004 by teaching you how to create custom functions and features for the Flash MX 2004 authoring environment.

At first I had never heard about ’Extending’ Flash MX 2004, but hopefully my following explanation may help you to understand this concept if you are new to this term. Imagine Flash MX 2004 being a customizable browser such as Firefox. In Firefox, you can download snippets of programs called extensions that add some cool, extra features to your browser. Creating new extensions for Flash MX 2004 is similar to developing extensions for your browser. Using a new language called JavaScript Flash (JSFL), you have the ability to create scripts, commands, behaviors, etc. that add new functionality to not a Flash animation, but to your actual Flash MX 2004 application itself.

This book teaches you how to use JavaScript Flash to create extensions - custom commands, menu items, and others things to help make repetitive tasks easier and enhance your Flash MX 2004 program. You start with the basics and progress towards complicated techniques. Early on you start by creating a command that, for example, allows you to take any shape and automatically arrange them on a user-defined grid. Towards the end, you move beyond simple commands and learn how to modify Behaviors, create custom interfaces using XML, and more!

Another great feature of this book is the expansive JavaScript Flash (JSFL) reference. The JSFL reference section contains all of the various items of the JSFL language that you can refer to when creating your own JSFL extensions. For any JSFL code item or property, you will find a description, the types of values it accepts, and a code example.

If you use Flash MX 2004 extensively and are interested in automating some of the repetitive tasks or adding new, useful features to Flash, you will find this book’s coverage of this new topic excellent for intermediate and advanced users.

Extending Flash makes your life easy
Keith and Todd command a huge knowledge of one of the more interesting and productive new features of Flash MX 2004, extensibility. The authors guide you on your way to learning about these new features starting off with easy concepts and then moving into more specific areas. This book is essential for anyone who develops with Flash MX 2004, the skills and tools that you get from the book will streamline your work flow and improve your productivity. From JSFL commands, xml to UI, custom behaviors and custom tools this book will load your Flash IDE with tools and widgets to get the job done faster and smoother. Excellent book!