Macromedia Releases Flash Player 7 for Pocket PC

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer_pocketpc/downloads/player.html' target='_blank'>http://www.macromedia.com/software/...ads/player.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Now developers can create engaging mobile content, games and rich applications for all Windows Mobile 5 and Pocket PC 2003 devices. Developers can download the free Flash Player 7 for Pocket PC today to start developing and experiencing rich Flash content, enterprise applications and mobile services right from your Pocket PC."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050430-Flash.jpg" /><br /><br />Macromedia has just released Flash Player 7 for Pocket PC - on the surface, it appears no different to the previous Flash Player 6, other than additional support for Windows Mobile 5.0 devices. Beneath the surface, you'll find the following features:<br /><br />• Web browsing compatibility<br />• Flash Player 7 support<br />• Action Script 2 support<br />• XML socket support<br />• Web services and SOAP API

[ctitanic]

Basically they have released a new version of the ActiveX that allows to see macromedia content in web pages. They keep calling it player and people think that with this they are going to be able to play .swf files and that's far from the reallity. To play .swf files you will need to create a html file in the .swf file embedded or you will need 3rd party programs like PFlashP or others.

[GSmith]

ctitanic,

Can you elaborate? Will this play .swf and .flv files that exist in memory (or storage card)? Will it play those files when tapped on inside File Explorer?

If not, is there a "wrapper" program available that would 1) assocatiate with swf and flv files, and 2) create any appropriate "temporary" files necessary for this program to playback flv and swf files?

I'm very interested in the additional video playback capabilities this gives to the Pocket PC.

Greg Smith
Author, FeederReader - Pocket PC *direct* RSS text, audio, video, podcasts
www.FeederReader.com - Download on the Road

[ctitanic]

Again, what you will install is a dll file, it's like an addin for PIE that will allow PIE to show macromedia content in web pages. There is not way to associate any file to a DLL. This is why you need other programs that will create for you a HTML in some cases that can be opened with PIE to watch the flash movie or game. There are other programs like PFlashP that includes access to .swf files from within the program without any need of any html temp file.

[mpda]

So does this mean that flash versions of google maps, google video and youtube will work???

[ctitanic]

So does this mean that flash versions of google maps, google video and youtube will work???

no at all. some of these pages use scripts that can't be handle by PIE. But... the only way to know if this is the case is to test it ;)

[GSmith]

Again, what you will install is a dll file, it's like an addin for PIE that will allow PIE to show macromedia content in web pages. There is not way to associate any file to a DLL. This is why you need other programs that will create for you a HTML in some cases that can be opened with PIE to watch the flash movie or game. There are other programs like PFlashP that includes access to .swf files from within the program without any need of any html temp file.
Thanks! So will PFlashP, when installed with the Macromedia Flash 7 "Player", allow you to tap the .swf or the .flv file in File Explorer on the Pocket PC and the game or video will begin playing?

[doughboy]

Can Flash Player be installed onto a storage card and will it run correctly?

[ctitanic]

Again, what you will install is a dll file, it's like an addin for PIE that will allow PIE to show macromedia content in web pages. There is not way to associate any file to a DLL. This is why you need other programs that will create for you a HTML in some cases that can be opened with PIE to watch the flash movie or game. There are other programs like PFlashP that includes access to .swf files from within the program without any need of any html temp file.
Thanks! So will PFlashP, when installed with the Macromedia Flash 7 "Player", allow you to tap the .swf or the .flv file in File Explorer on the Pocket PC and the game or video will begin playing?
PFlashP do not accept file association yet so you will have to open the program, select the file and play it.

[ctitanic]

Can Flash Player be installed onto a storage card and will it run correctly? the activex dll will be installed in your windows folder no matter what location you select.

[doughboy]

Ctitanic,

Thanks for the info. Do you know whether it can be moved to a storage card after it is installed in the Windows folder and whether it will work? Your Tweaks2k2 software has a hack to move Windows DLLs to a storage card ...?

Again, thanks,

[ctitanic]

that dll is not included in the list of dlls that Tweaks2k2 moves. I think that I read about somebody (I think it was mnemesys) that moved but it needed to change a few registry keys to get it working fine. So the short answer is that it won't work fine just by applying the System Path hack.

[Lost Cause]

CTitanic,

That looks like a Dell X50v in your avatar. I heard on the grapevine that Flash Player 6 never really worked properly on the X50v (or was it a 2003SE issue ?), so I never installed it. Have you tried this latest version on yours yet i.e. is it worth installing now (assuming you haven't moved on to WM5 ?)

:)

Jules

[ctitanic]

CTitanic,

That looks like a Dell X50v in your avatar. I heard on the grapevine that Flash Player 6 never really worked properly on the X50v (or was it a 2003SE issue ?), so I never installed it. Have you tried this latest version on yours yet i.e. is it worth installing now (assuming you haven't moved on to WM5 ?)

:)

Jules

My is a X51v, I did not have any problem with version 6 in mine and I have not installed yet this latest version. About if it worth it depends of you. I know that many of the latest macromedia games did not work properly in version 6.

[SteveHoward999]

CTitanic,

That looks like a Dell X50v in your avatar. I heard on the grapevine that Flash Player 6 never really worked properly on the X50v (or was it a 2003SE issue ?), so I never installed it. Have you tried this latest version on yours yet i.e. is it worth installing now (assuming you haven't moved on to WM5 ?)


Dunno about the X50v, but the Flash 6 player works fine on my E830 running SE ... so it's not an SE issue.

The 7 player seems to work fine too. I think (subjectively) it runs alittle quicker than the 6 player too.

I have asked Macromedia about an upgrade to the standalone player that lets developers create exes ('projectors') for PocketPC, but as yet I've not had a response. Something in their information about this new player ***suggests*** that standalone applications ***might*** be possible. Regardless, simply installing the player will not allow you to run a swf on double-click.

You can use an HTML file that is something like this though:-

&lt;HTML>
&lt;HEAD>
&lt;TITLE>Your little test&lt;/TITLE>
&lt;/HEAD>
&lt;BODY bgcolor="#999999">
&lt;OBJECT classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,0,0"
WIDTH=230 HEIGHT=250>
&lt;PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="YourFile.swf"> &lt;PARAM NAME=quality VALUE=high> &lt;PARAM NAME=bgcolor VALUE=#999999>
&lt;/OBJECT>
&lt;/BODY>
&lt;/HTML>

Just place this in an htm file next to your swf file and change

PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="YourFile.swf">

so that the swf filename matches your file.

[Don't Panic!]

Flash 6 worked fine on the X50v. Try www.killsometime.com for some flash animations that work with the X50v and Flash Player 6 from Macromedia. I notice that clips with large soundtracks like Unglued StickWar which featured the song Unglued from Stone Temple Pilots didn't work though. Any thoughts on Audio with Flash ctitanic?

[ctitanic]

Flash 6 worked fine on the X50v. Try www.killsometime.com for some flash animations that work with the X50v and Flash Player 6 from Macromedia. I notice that clips with large soundtracks like Unglued StickWar which featured the song Unglued from Stone Temple Pilots didn't work though. Any thoughts on Audio with Flash ctitanic?
nope... :oops:

[Don't Panic!]

:lol: He builds programs not Flash content.

I should have known better.0X

[ctitanic]

:lol: He builds programs not Flash content.

I should have known better.0X

You got it right! You are a genius! :D

[SteveHoward999]

Any thoughts on Audio with Flash ctitanic?

What's the question?

Dropped Audio is either a bandwidth issue or a processor issue. Flash video in Flash 6 format will easily lose sync between Audio and video. I ***think** the way you see it is that the Audio is dropped as the two try to resync ... which is the opposite of what video files normally do.

If it's the processor, there's nowt you can do. If it's bandwidth, the Audio needs more compression ... or the video needs to be compressed more. Either way will reduce bandwidth. But then more compression can make for higher processor load. Compromise is king.

**IF there's animation on screen too*** animation is also very processor-intensive, especially vector animation when viewed on PPC. You can simplify the drawings (there's an option in the Flash development environment that smoothes drawings) and reduce processor effort by dumping tweens and transitions. You can also replace vectors with bitmaps to get better speed, but they are no good for tweens, and bitmaps often increase bandwidth, even if they decrease processor load - more compromise.

Oh - don't have a go at me about bitmap/png/jpg in Flash ... this isn't a tutorial I'm writing ;-) Suffice to say you can import bitmaps and play with jpg compression or uncompressed png setings for output, but the original bitmap should be automatically compressed on import. Choose 256 colours if possible.

[PhilH]

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I reckon version 7 runs noticably quicker. A Flash-based app I'm developing copes with my over-enthusiatic animations smoothly whereas before you'd notice some slow-down.

[SteveHoward999]

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I reckon version 7 runs noticably quicker. A Flash-based app I'm developing copes with my over-enthusiatic animations smoothly whereas before you'd notice some slow-down.

I thought so too - certainly for animations and animations with transparency.

Don't know if you are aware, but the 7 player for Windows and Mac introduced a lot of new optimisations and speed increase ... I am hoping the same applies to PocketPC, although the significantly less powerful graphics system and procecessor probably won't show too much difference. Maybe the Axims will reflect any improvement more significantly.

[pocketpcadmirer]

Thanks for the info. Do you know whether it can be moved to a storage card after it is installed in the Windows folder and whether it will work? Your Tweaks2k2 software has a hack to move Windows DLLs to a storage card ...?

If you are a memmaid user, you can easily reallocate the file to any other location. It works fine

Sunny

[Gerard]

ctitanic; you'd mentioned earlier that no matter where the user instructs the installer, activex.dll will be installed to the \Windows folder (or in the case of WM5 devices, wherever in ROM programs are placed, I suppose). This is incorrect in two ways:

- Installing the program is easily directable, as there is no location hard-coding with this version. In fact this was also true with Flash6, which always installed easily to a file store in my devices, either using CabInstl or my custom registry tweak to CAB behavior.

- There is no 'activex.dll' included with the Flash7 installation, unlike Flash6 for PPC. This one installs just one DLL, called flash.dll, and it is almost the entire size of the 1.4MB installer CAB. Here is a detailed view of what this version installs in the registry and filesystem:

Install Dir: \Flash ROM Disk\programs\Flash
registry values:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Apps\Macromedia Flash Player 4 for the PocketPC;Instl
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Apps\Macromedia Flash Player;Instl
files:
\Flash ROM Disk\programs\Flash\flash.dll
uninstall dlls:
\Flash ROM Disk\programs\Flash\flash.dll;DllUnregisterServer


Of course the install location is my own choice. The default would look like this:

Install Dir: \Flash ROM Disk\programs\Flash
registry values:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Apps\Macromedia Flash Player 4 for the PocketPC;Instl
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Apps\Macromedia Flash Player;Instl
files:
\Windows\flash.dll
uninstall dlls:
\Windows\flash.dll;DllUnregisterServer

For whatever reason, Macromedia (Adobe) decided to simplify the installation. Flash6 had installed both an ActiveX.dll and a flash.dll file. They were about 1MB in total if I recall.

In testing the couple of beta versions for this Flash7 release, I found no significant performance improvements. There were no significant bugs, either. I suppose it supports slightly more recently authored content? I did find the odd Flash file playing which had not played under Flash6 in Pocket IE, but really, not many.

I am still using the old eVB app called FlashBrowser to generate suitable HTM files with which to play SWF files, whether movies or games or applications. That program is no longer hosted by the author, but it works just as well under WM2003SE as it did on WM2003 and WM2002 and PPC2000 for that matter. A bit of post-editing of the HTML using any text editor (GigaPad, Tillanosoft Notepad, even Pocket Word) and one can refine the displayed size and the background colour, as well as the repeat (or not) behavior. Saves the bother of having to make a new document every time I want to view an SWF file.

In terms of performance, the biggest problem does not seem to be a matter of processor clock speed nor of RAM size. Rather, it seems to be Pocket IE's inability to render graphics very efficiently. NetFront seems little better, if any. I wonder (don't have it installed at the moment) if Opera runs Flash, and if it renders more efficiently? Anyone tested that with the new Flash7 yet?

[SteveHoward999]

I've asked Macromedia about Opera support, and I checked the Opera web site for information. Silence on both parts so far.

Installing the program is easily directable

In the sense that you can put the file where you want it, sure. but for the average user, since there is no installer - and thus no propt for whare to install - "easily" could seem optimistic. Yes we both know it *is* easy, but ...

In testing the couple of beta versions for this Flash7 release, I found no significant performance improvements. There were no significant bugs, either. I suppose it supports slightly more recently authored content?\

I should sulk - I tried for months to get on the beta program, and could not. You manage to get beta versions of the player but somehow don't know that the Flash 7 player supports Flash 7 content (and numerous added features and funvtionality that this entails) whereas the Flash 6 player supports only Flash 6 content.

In terms of performance, the biggest problem does not seem to be a matter of processor clock speed nor of RAM size. Rather, it seems to be Pocket IE's inability to render graphics very efficiently

PocketIE is not rendering the graphics. It is merely a container for the plugin that is the Flash player. Which browser is used should make little difference in the performance - unless one browser is more RAM and processor heavy than another.

That reminds me - I need to test compatability in .Net compact framework 2. The Flash 6 player will not display full-screen in a .Net full-screen browser window, no matter what I tried ...[/quote]

[Lost Cause]

Many thanks for the replies to my question guys.

:)

[doughboy]

SteveHoward999, Gerard, Ctitanic, and all of you,

Thanks for the responses. I successfully installed FlashPlayer 6 on my memory card last night by simply specifying that location upon installation using the .exe and it runs just fine on many sites. Since I have not yet attempted a direct .cab install, I did not try FP7. Gerard, I may try that in the future using CabInstl.

Unfortunately, the reason I wanted FlashPlayer installed -- to enable my son to play the games at Sesamestreet.org -- seemed to become a mute point. I received a different SesameStreet webpage indicating that my browser does not have FlashPlayer. Later this week, I plan to identify PIE and/or Netfront as IE6.0 to see if that helps.

Again, thanks.

[XUHAB79]

Did somebody say a Newbie wouldn't know what to do with this...

I downloaded the CAB and inside it I see:
000flash.001
000setup.999
active~1.000

and no hints what to do with them...

Can I get a clue? And if you tell me I need to change file extensions...

[Darius Wey]

I downloaded the CAB...

You don't need to extract the CAB manually. Simply copy the CAB file over to your Pocket PC. Next, open File Explorer, navigate to the folder where the CAB is located, then tap on it. Flash Player will then be installed.

[Menneisyys]

I wonder (don't have it installed at the moment) if Opera runs Flash, and if it renders more efficiently? Anyone tested that with the new Flash7 yet?

It doesn't.

[NCGENIUS]

can anyone give me a step by step to install this im not sure im doing it right. i downloaded the cab/extracted it/created a new folder in the windows folder on my pocket pc/copied all three files there/i then used resco explore to open the files but it prompts me for which program to use to open i tried pie but nothing seems to happen so i dont know if im doing it right or not

[Darius Wey]

can anyone give me a step by step to install this im not sure im doing it right. i downloaded the cab/extracted it/created a new folder in the windows folder on my pocket pc/copied all three files there/i then used resco explore to open the files but it prompts me for which program to use to open i tried pie but nothing seems to happen so i dont know if im doing it right or not

You did the right thing by downloading it, but extracting it and creating new folders is an unnecessary step. CABs are installation files for the Pocket PC, so after downloading it, copy it over to your Pocket PC, tap on it in File Explorer (or Resco Explorer), and it will self-extract and install to the appropriate folder and make the necessary changes to the registry.