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Lab: Adobe Captivate:
Adobe Captivate-to-Flash ActionScript Communication

LegacyCaptivateLoader

Read the journal entry introducing the LegacyCaptivateLoader.

Files

• Demonstration (quirks mode)
• Demonstration (standards mode)
• Source files

Instructions

Copy the proxy.swf file to the same folder as your main SWF.

Import the LegacyCaptivateController class into your AS3 file.

import pipwerks.LegacyCaptivateLoader;

Create a new LegacyCaptivateLoader instance. The constructor takes two parameters: the ID of the SWF being embedded into the HTML, and the URL of the Captivate SWF. The ID parameter MUST be accurate, and cannot contain hyphens.

var captivate = new LegacyCaptivateLoader("playerAS3", "sample-captivate-movie.swf");

If your Captivate uses a skin (including a border), set the usesSkin property to true. This property defaults to false, so if you don't use a skin, you don't need to declare it. If your file contains a skin and you don't set usesSkin to true, the controls will not work.

captivate.usesSkin = true;

Since the LegacyCaptivateController is a sprite containing a Loader, you need to place the LegacyCaptivateLoader onto the stage using addChild(). This also means you can use ActionScript to position the LegacyCaptivateLoader wherever you like. (Note: The LegacyCaptivateLoader's size automatically expands and contracts to match the dimensions of the imported Captivate SWF.)

addChild(captivate);
captivate.y = 25;
captivate.x = 25;

Control the Captivate SWF by using control(), passing the name of the 'rdcmndXXX' variable you're interested in invoking:

captivate.control("rdcmndGotoFrame", 73);
captivate.control("rdcmndHidePlaybar");

Similarly, you can query the Captivate file using query(), passing the name of the 'rdcmndXXX' variable you're interested in receiving:

var currentframe:Number = captivate.query("rdinfoCurrentFrame");
var slidecount:Number = captivate.query("rdinfoSlideCount");

If you'd like to unload the current Captivate and load a new one, just use the following syntax:

captivate.unloadSWF();  
captivate.usesSkin = false; //set this if needed
captivate.loadSWF("myothercaptivate.swf");

To unload the proxy, simply call

captivate.unloadProxy();

Methods and Properties