Flash CS3 Documentation

ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference > ActionScript classes > NetStream > play (NetStream.play method)

play (NetStream.play method)

Begins playback of an external video (FLV) file. To view video data, you must call a Video.attachVideo() method; audio being streamed with the video, or an FLV file that contains only audio, is played automatically.

If you want to control the audio associated with an FLV file, you can use MovieClip.attachAudio() to route the audio to a movie clip; you can then create a Sound object to control some aspects of the audio. For more information, see MovieClip.attachAudio().

If the FLV file can't be found, the NetStream.onStatus event handler is invoked. If you want to stop a stream that is currently playing, use NetStream.close().

You can play local FLV files that are stored in the same directory as the SWF file or in a subdirectory; you can't navigate to a higher-level directory. For example, if the SWF file is located in a directory named /training, and you want to play a video stored in the /training/videos directory, you would use the following syntax:

my_ns.play("videos/videoName.flv");

To play a video stored in the /training directory, you would use the following syntax:

my_ns.play("videoName.flv");

When using this method, consider the Flash Player security model.

For Flash Player 8:

• NetStream.play() is not allowed if the calling SWF file is in the local-with-file-system sandbox and the resource is in a non-local sandbox.
• Network sandbox access from the local-trusted or local-with-networking sandbox requires permission from the website via a cross-domain policy file.

For more information, see the following:

• The Flash Player 9 Security white paper at http://www.adobe.com/go/fp9_0_security
• The Flash Player 8 Security-Related API white paper at http://www.adobe.com/go/fp8_security_apis

Availability: ActionScript 1.0; Flash Player 7 - Note: This method is also supported in Flash Player 6 when used with Flash Media Server. For more information, see the Flash Media Server documentation.

Parameters

name:Object - The name of an FLV file to play, in quotation marks. Both http:// and file:// formats are supported; the file:// location is always relative to the location of the SWF file.

start:Number - for use with Flash Media Server, see: http://livedocs.adobe.com/fms/2/docs/00000588.html.

len:Number - for use with Flash Media Server, see: http://livedocs.adobe.com/fms/2/docs/00000588.html.

reset:Object - for use with Flash Media Server, see: http://livedocs.adobe.com/fms/2/docs/00000588.html. [Added link to specific page in FMS reference: 5/23/07]

Example

The following example illustrates some ways to use the NetStream.play() command. You can play a file that is on a user's computer. The joe_user directory is a subdirectory of the directory where the SWF is stored. And, you can play a file on a server:

// Play a file that is on the user's computer.
my_ns.play("file://joe_user/flash/videos/lectureJune26.flv");

// Play a file on a server.
my_ns.play("http://someServer.someDomain.com/flash/video/orientation.flv");

See also

attachAudio (MovieClip.attachAudio method), close (NetStream.close method), onStatus (NetStream.onStatus handler), pause (NetStream.pause method), attachVideo (Video.attachVideo method)

Flash CS3