Bill Perry

Macromedia

Macromedia Flash Player is ubiquitous across a wide range of platforms including desktop computers, PDAs, mobile phones, and embedded devices. Since the release of Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC in April 2003, developers have been creating tons of cool Flash content for these devices, releasing new applications every day.

However, there were a couple of things developers still couldn't do: They couldn't create executable files, nor could they play SWF files outside of Pocket Internet Explorer. This is where stand-alone Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC 2003 comes in. With Standalone Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC 2003 (SAP), developers can create stand-alone projectors and distribute content easily as executables or by bundling the stand-alone Flash Player with SWFs they are distributing.

In this article, I’ll guide you through the features of the player, including its benefits and limitations, and I'll explain how to integrate technologies such as Wi-Fi, and how to best distribute your content.

Requirements

To complete this tutorial you will need to install the following software and files:

Macromedia Flash MX Professional

• Try
• Buy

I also introduce the following software in this article:

• Standalone Macromedia Flash Player for Pocket PC 2003

Developing Content

Deciding What to Create

This is the most fun part of using Macromedia Flash—being able to explore your creative ideas and experimenting with various ways to make those ideas actually work. For instance, you may want to create a simple one-person game, or, if you're looking for a challenge, build a real-time multiplayer game using some type of wireless connectivity option.

If games aren't your forté, perhaps you could create a utility or application that benefits users. Some examples are customized vendor lists, conference guides, event maps, currency converters, and stock and weather information applications. As with all types of Flash content, the information can either be perishable or nonperishable. "Nonperishable" content never changes. On the other hand, users can update "perishable" information, changing it frequently.

Flash is a great tool for creating content for websites and desktop computers, however, when deciding on what types of content to create for mobile devices, especially Pocket PCs, it's important to understand the platform limitations. Minimum requirements for screen resolution, screen size, processor speed, input methods, and file storage differ from desktop/laptop computers. Here's a comparison:

Comparison Chart

	Desktop/Laptop Computers	Pocket PCs
Screen resolution	640 x 480 to 1920 x 1200 pixels	240 x 320 pixels (Some devices are capable of 480 x 640.)
Screen size	10.4" to 23"	3.5" to 4"
Processor speed	500 MHz to 3.2 GHz	206 MHz to 400 MHz
Input methods	Keyboard, mouse, touch screen, voice	Native: stylus, touch screen (Some have built-in keyboards.)
File storage	10 GB to 200 GB	16 to 128 MB RAM (External storage cards such as Compact Flash and Secure Digital range from 16 MB to 1 GB)

As you can see, there's a big difference between the two platforms, however, this shouldn't deter you from creating content.

Gathering Content

Once you've decided on the type of application you want to create, the next step is to gather content. Content can include:

• Photos
• Text
• Sounds, narration
• Video clips
• Physical items such as brochures, products, and so forth…

Optimize the various media elements to minimize the file size so they play back well on Pocket PCs. After you import your content into the Flash authoring environment and test it, you may have to go back and optimize the various media elements again.

Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004

Flash MX Professional 2004 introduces significant improvements and enhancements to the development environment. Developers can now easily create Flash content for a wide range of platforms, including mobile phones and PDAs.

For more information, see my previous article, New Features for Mobile and Devices Developers in Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004. Also, visit the Flash MX Professional 2004 software site for general product information.

Using Templates

With Flash MX Professional 2004, there are six templates for Pocket PCs. Three are for the HP iPAQ 1910, and the other three are for the HP iPAQ 5440. When working with the stand-alone player, you will use two of the templates—the "full screen" templates. The iPAQ 1910 Full Screen and the iPAQ 5440 Full Screen templates are exactly the same except that they display different device skin graphics.

Figure 1. HP iPAQ 5440 Full Screen template

You can use either one of these full screen templates for creating content for any Pocket PC 2002, 2003 or Phone Edition devices. As with all templates, these templates are guides that help you lay out your content and give you an idea of what your finished work will look like on a Pocket PC. However, be aware that there's no substitute for viewing your work on an actual device.

Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC

What Is It?

Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC 2003 lets Flash designers, developers, and content providers reach the next level of content delivery for mobile devices. With Flash, designers and developers can quickly create engaging content and effective user interfaces using advanced ActionScript, components, and templates.

Benefits

Web professionals using Flash can develop content once and reuse it many times across multiple browsers, platforms, mobile and smart devices. Flash offers scripting capabilities and server-side connectivity for creating applications, displaying real-time information, building web interfaces, and authoring training courses. In addition, Flash files are compact, making them perfect for wireless carrier networks where transfer rates range between 9.6 and 130 kilobytes per second (Kbps). Mobile devices, unlike desktop computers, have limited storage capabilities, so the small footprint of Macromedia Flash is ideal.

Supported Devices

Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC 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 at the end of this article.

Installing Flash Player 6

Installing Flash Player 6 onto your Pocket PC is pretty simple:

1. Download Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC from the Macromedia website.
2. Make sure you have the latest version of Microsoft ActiveSync installed.
3. Double-click the Flash Player EXE file you downloaded and follow the on-screen instructions.
4. The next time you synchronize your Pocket PC with your computer, ActiveSync will copy Flash Player to your Pocket PC.
5. To verify the Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC installation, go to Start > Settings > System tab > Remove Programs. You should see "Macromedia Flash Player ActiveX" listed. Click OK in the upper left of the screen to close this window.

Once you have installed Flash Player installed, you can view SWF files that are embedded in HTML files in Pocket Internet Explorer.

Developer Kit

To get started creating Flash content for Pocket PCs, download the Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC Content Developer Kit (CDK). This kit has tips, techniques, and sample code for developing Flash content for the Pocket PC (PPC) platform using Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC.

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.

Distributing Content

Creating Custom Icons

The default icon for your Flash application looks great, but sometimes you want to use your own custom application icon. Unfortunately, stand-alone Flash Player doesn't have a feature to define custom icons, however, there is a workaround.

Ian Chia (ian@hyperphonic.com) created the following workaround, and originally posted it on the Flash: the Future website.

1. Create your own Pocket PC projector. Launch SAP and select File > Open. Select Browse to locate a SWF file and then click OK.

   

   Figure 2. Opening a file in stand-alone Flash Player

2. Select File > Create Projector and enter a target name for the projector (for example: Sample-1).

   

   Figure 3. Save As settings

3. Accept the defaults for all other settings and click OK. SAP will save your projector under My Documents.

   

   Figure 4. Saving the projector in the My Documents directory

4. Copy the projector (Sample-1.exe) to the desktop using ActiveSync.

5. Using an icon editor, IconWorkshop 5.03 by Axialis Software, create a single ICO file with two icon resources inside. Both icons should have a color depth of 256 colors. One should be 32 x 32 pixels, and the second should be 16 x 16. Your icon editor may be able to automatically reduce the 32 x 32 icon to obtain a 16 x 16 version. Save the final ICO file with both icons inside.

   

   Figure 5. Editing the icon in Axialis IconWorkshop

6. Download the freeware ResHack by Angus Johnson and launch it. Select File > Open, and open the Pocket PC projector EXE file.

7. In the resource tree in the left pane, select Icon Group > 200 > 1033. Right-click 1033 and select Replace Resource.

   

   Figure 6. Replacing the icon resource with the new ICO file in Resource Hacker

   

   Figure 7. Choosing the 200 resource for icon replacement

8. Select Open File with New Icon and open your ICO file. Under Select Icon to Replace, highlight the 200 resource and click Replace. Just two icons will now replace the previous ones. This is not so important—since the Standalone Flash Player for Pocket PC only supports Pocket PC color displays, which have 4096 or colors or more, the limited 16-color icons were just being wasted anyway. The 256-color icons will render fine on 12-bit or 16-bit color displays.

9. Select File > Save to save the customized projector. Note: The icon for the SAP EXE on your desktop will not change. Only after you copy the updated projector file back to your Pocket PC will the new icon will appear.

10. Copy the projector back to the Pocket PC. You may need to perform a soft reset of the device, as the Pocket PC's operating system can cache icons, which may lead to some confusion. Voila! Your SAP EXE now has a custom icon.

    

    Figure 8. Stand-alone projector with a custom icon

Notice that the EXE file size is now 21K smaller because you replaced icons and removed all of the the icons that the applications did not use. Remember, smaller file sizes are generally better.

Delivery Methods

Now you have built your application and created a custom icon for your application EXE. Now you want to share your application with other users—what are your options?

• Removable media cards
  You can copy the application EXE onto a removable media card and give your card to someone who can copy the EXE from the card to his Pocket PC. This method works well if you're among friends or meeting people in a social setting. It’s quick and easy. If you're planning to sell your application, however, you might want to be careful with how often you freely distribute it this way.
• Zip
  The simplest way to distribute your application widely is to zip up your EXE then e-mail it to people or post it to a URL for users to download. Remember to include installation instructions for your application.
• PC Installer
  You can purchase a third-party software to create a PC installer that looks like a professional product installation. EzSetup 2.0 by Spb Software House is a great product that you can use to customize various aspects of the installer including any Read Me and licensing text, default installation location, and more. This is a much better option than the ZIP method for less experienced end users—most are used to installing applications on the PC and will be familiar with this installation method.
• Over the Air (OTA)
  This method is the coolest distribution method, but may not work for everyone. Create an install file, associate it with a hyperlink on a web page, and make the web page viewable in Pocket IE. Users who visit the web page will see links to applications they can download. They click the links to start the installation process.
  
  This process doesn't involve a desktop PC. As you can tell by the name, all of this happens over the air, so users must have an Internet connection. Users can download applications from anywhere they have an Internet connection. However, the downside is that you limit the number of potential users, and you can’t sell your applications this way. Take a look at Spb AirSetup by Spb Software House for more information.

Selling Your Content

Once you've created your Flash application, tested it, created custom icons, and made a PC installer, you can offer your content for purchase.

You can sell your Flash application on your own site. However, if you don't get a lot of traffic and don't have built-in e-commerce functionality, you may have difficulty attracting customers.

Your best bet is to sell your Flash application on a third-party site such as Handango. Basically, you sign up for their developer program, and you can submit your Flash applications for Handango to post and sell on their website.

By having a third-party manage all of the e-commerce, marketing, and sales, all you need to do is to sit back and wait to receive a monthly check from Handango! Doing some simple math, if you sell your application for $5.00 and 100 people download and purchase your application, you will make up the cost of the stand-alone Flash Player. You'll soon have a recurring income as Pocket PC users download and purchase your application, and, if you create more than one application, you can quickly see how you can make extra money.

Summary

Standalone Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC is a great application to use if you're planning to create and sell your Flash content. You can also create full-screen applications with the player.

In an upcoming article, I’ll discuss how to integrate other technologies including Wi-Fi, WAN (mobile carriers), Flash Communication Server, XML, and web services. Also, I’ll show you step by step how to create a full-screen Flash application using Flash MX Professional 2004, how to create a projector file using SAP, and how to create a custom icon and apply it to the EXE. I'll also describe how to sell your application.

If you have any comments about this article please feel free to contact me.

More Information

Purchasing Standalone Flash Player 6

Purchase Standalone Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Pocket PC in the Macromedia Online Store.

Flash MX Professional 2004

Find out more about Flash MX Professional 2004:

• Try
• Buy

Pocket PCs

For more information about Flash and Pocket PCs, refer to the Pocket PC section of the Macromedia Mobile and Devices Development Center.

For more information about Pocket PC devices, you can visit the Microsoft Windows Mobile site.

Macromedia Mobile and Devices Developer Center

For articles, tutorials, and downloads related to mobile devices that support Flash Player, check out the Macromedia Mobile and Devices Developer Center.

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