Examining the ActionScript 3 Flash video gallery source files

The ActionScript 3 Flash video gallery is an interactive video showcase capable of displaying up to 36 videos in an easy-to-browse format. The original video gallery was built by Macromedia as a marketing piece to promote Flash MX Professional 2004. Due to continued interest in the original sample application, we have updated the video gallery to ActionScript 3 using the FLVPlayback component in Adobe Flash CS4 Professional and external FLV files.

Many developers have shown interest in taking a look at the source files for the ActionScript 3 Flash video gallery project. We're providing them here for you to play with. Feel free to investigate the code and structure of the FLA and supporting files.

Exploring the video gallery

Visit the ActionScript 3 Flash video gallery

Note: Best viewed with Flash Player version 9,0,45,0 or later. Test your player to see what's already installed on your computer. To work with video encoded with the H.264 codec, you need Flash Player 9,0,115 or later.

One of the features of the video gallery is that it lets visitors filter the videos and preview a site they are interested in. Here's how users interact with the ActionScript 3 Flash video gallery:

• Visitors to the ActionScript 3 Flash video gallery can roll over a thumbnail of a short video and preview it (see Figure 1)
• Users can filter videos using two sets of user-defined selectors
• Clicking one of the thumbnails reveals a preview of a video website, which a user can then visit
• Clicking the close box in the detail view closes the panel and returns to the default state

Updates to the video gallery include the following:

• Refined ActionScript 3 code structure
• Simplified FLA file and document library structure
• Updated Flash CS4 FLVPlayback component with accessibility
• Ability to launch a video detail view during initialization
• Ability to play streaming or progressive videos
• Ability to play MPEG-4 and FLV file formats (Adobe Flash Player 9,0,115 and later)
• Complete skinning control over branding and design (easier access)
• Highlighted state for selected thumbnail video
• Feature initialization through URL variables
• Debug mode for problem solving

Installing the source files

To install the source files, simply unzip the archive to your hard drive. You should be able to run the movie as is.

The ZIP file contains the following:

• Main project FLA (FlashVideoGallery.fla) file
• Published version of the FLA file (FlashVideoGallery.swf) and its accompanying HTML page (FlashVideoGallery.html)
• Thumbnails and video folders each containing 36 FLV source files
• Dependent ActionScript class files (fvg package).
• Settings.xml file which holds text information that the FLA consumes

Classes used by FlashVideoGallery.fla are in the fvg folder. If the FLA file remains in a relative path to the fvg folder, the classes will be active in the FlashVideoGallery.swf file. That's all there is to it.

Where to go from here

Read about deconstructing the ActionScript 3 Flash video gallery.

Let us know what you end up doing with the ActionScript 3 Flash video gallery by adding your comments below.