Standalone Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC

Why Use It?

Standalone Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC differs from the regular player in that it runs independently; it doesn't need to run within a browser. But it does more than just play SWF files; you can also create distributable EXE files of your Flash content from within the stand-alone player.

Here are some of the things you can do with the stand-alone Flash Player:

• Create projectors for redistribution on Pocket PC
• Play rich media like video, audio, vector graphics, and bitmap graphics
• Access data through XML and web services

If your Flash content consists of more than one SWF file or requires additional content files (such as TXT, JPG, or MP3 files), SAP will not combine all of these files into the projector file. In this case, you may want to consider FlashAssist PRO (discussed in more detail in the Other Products section). Most often your Flash content will consist of only one file, but if it doesn’t, then you must use FlashAssist PRO or another method.

In addition to creating projector files, you can also use the stand-alone Flash Player to view Flash (SWF) files full screen.

Supported Devices

Like Flash Player for Pocket PC 2003, the stand-alone Flash Player supports all Microsoft Pocket PC 2002/2003 and Pocket PC 2002/2003 Phone Edition devices. For a complete list of available devices, refer to the More Information section located at the end of this article.

Developer Kit Reference

For an in-depth breakdown of each feature of the SAP, refer to the stand-alone Flash Player section of the Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC Developer Kit. Download the development kit from the Macromedia Mobile and Devices Developer Center.

Other Products

Besides stand-alone Flash Player, there’s another program available to developers creating distributable Flash content for Pocket PCs. FlashAssist PRO 1.3 from Ant Mobile Software is an app wizard for Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++ 3.0. FlashAssist PRO converts Macromedia Flash files into installable Pocket PC applications in five to 10 minutes and comes with a PC installer.

Unlike the SAP, which lets you include only one SWF file in a projector, FlashAssist PRO lets you incorporate as many files as you need to distribute with your content. For example, your Flash content may consist of five SWFs, 10 TXTs, 25 JPGs and 8 MP3 files–FlashAssist PRO will be able to make an installer that will install all of the necessary files in the correct directory locations.

If you’re comfortable with coding, you can try creating your own projector and installer files using Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++ 3.0 or eMbedded Visual Basic. If you’re interested, I highly recommend the book Flash: the Future, by Ian Chia. Ian has written several good chapters that cover this topic—definitely worth checking out.

There are other programs that let you view SWF files full screen on Pocket PCs, however, that’s all they do. Two that come to mind are FlashAssist 1.3 by Ant Mobile Software and Bryht Flash Player 1.1 by Bryht.com. Both programs work on Pocket PC 2002 and 2003 devices, however, only Bryht Flash Player can rotate Flash content 90 degrees so that it appears horizontally or in landscape format.

Licensing

In addition to the standard end user license agreement (EULA), the license agreement for Standalone Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC 2003 is valid for one year. After that period a developer must renew his license agreement. He cannot create new content and distribute it after that one year, though he can freely distribute all content created before the license agreement expired

This isn’t a big deal, and, as you’ll see later on in this article, you can easily make up the cost of SAP by just creating and selling one application to lots of users.

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