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I don't do flash myself: in this company, flash is generally used just for design elements, so the designers build the flash and my job is just getting it onto the site. All fine so far, but now one of the designers wants to move to using Flash Catalyst.

Here's my understanding of how it works. If I'm wrong, please tell me.

  1. Flash Catalyst outputs one .swf file containing the application.
  2. External files (images, videos, audio files) may be referenced, but by default are embedded into the .swf.
  3. The flex framework is stored in .swz files. These files are signed by Adobe and therefore flash considers them safe to store in a "flash cache" separate from the browser cache. These framework files may be reused on any other site, and therefore reduce download times.
  4. If you don't have the .swz files, and the person viewing your site doesn't already have them cached, they can be downloaded from the Adobe site.

If I'm right so far, here's my question:

Can I have the .swz files stored anywhere on my server, or do they need to be in the same folder as the .swf? I assume they can be anywhere, but I'd have to tell Flash Catalyst where to look for them.

TRiG
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  • Good question. I don't see anything that lets you specify a path to those. The .swz files are output in the same directory as the main .swf and .html files, and if there is a file containing metadata I don't see it. That said, I would not use Catalyst as a substitute for Flash or Flex. Catalyst may allow rapid development, but you pay for that later. – Robusto Sep 03 '10 at 13:06
  • Well, on our sites, flash is so far used only by the designers. Anything I do is in HTML, CSS, and javascript. If the designers like Flash Catalyst, that's enough for me. (Catalyst is a subset of Flex, yes?) – TRiG Sep 03 '10 at 14:06
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    It is inaccurate to say that Catalyst is a subset of Flex. It would be like saying Eclipse is a subset of Java, or Dreamweaver a subset of HTML. Catalyst is a tool for designing Flex Applications. It only supports the Spark component architecture, which was introduced in Flex 4 and is not in wide use by Flex Developers yet. It'd be correct to say that Catalyst supports a subset of the Flex Framework. – JeffryHouser Sep 04 '10 at 18:00

1 Answers1

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Can I have the .swz files stored anywhere on my server, or do they need to be in the same folder as the .swf?

SWZ files must be in the same folder as the SWF.

I think you understand, conceptually, how Flash Catalyst works. However, you should remember that Flash Catalyst is a design tool. It does not allow you to integrate with remote data services. It would be considered extremely rare to build a Flex application without some form of backend. Most people will not be generating swfs directly from Flash Catalyst; they'll be importing the Catalyst project into Flash Builder and making the 'mockup / wireframe' work.

JeffryHouser
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  • We're not building flex applications, as such. We're using Flash Catalyst to build little pretty things which sit in a page looking interesting. Anything important is done in standard technologies such as HTML, CSS, and javascript. What do you mean when you say that SWZ files should be "in the same file as" SWF files? Was that just a typo for __folder__? – TRiG Sep 03 '10 at 14:01
  • It was a Typo! I'll fix it. For Pretty Links that sit on the page and look interesting you'll have much better performance using Flash Pro which will not have to load and initialize the Flex Framework. The Flex Framework was designed for building applications, not pretty little things. – JeffryHouser Sep 03 '10 at 14:20
  • Thanks. I think the designer just likes Flash Catalyst because it's easy to do stuff with it. If Flash Pro is as easy to use he may switch to that. Personally, I dislike flash in general (it helps that the boss has an iPhone, so nothing important is done in flash). – TRiG Sep 04 '10 at 16:26
  • I'm sorry you dislike it. In some situations I believe Flash provides value. But, I have seen it used in places where it shouldn't have been. – JeffryHouser Sep 04 '10 at 17:58