Flash Player 6.
You can use the System.capabilities object to determine the abilities of the system and player hosting a Flash movie. This allows you to tailor content for different formats. For example, the screen of a cell phone (black and white, 100 square pixels) is different than the 1000-square-pixel color PC screen. To provide appropriate content to as many users as possible, you can use the System.capabilities object to determine the type of device a user has. You can then either specify to the server to send different SWFs based on the device capabilities, or tell the Flash movie to alter its presentation based on the capabilities of the device.
You can send capabilities information using a GET
or POST
HTTP method. The following is an example of a server string for a device that does not have MP3 support and has a 400 x 200 pixel, 8 x 4 centimeter screen:
"A=t&MP3=f&AE=gsm&VE=h11&ACC=f&V=WIN%206%2C0%2C0%2C129&M=Macromedia%WINDOWS&R=400x200&DP=72&COL=color&AR=1.0&OS=WINDOWS%2000&L=en-US"
You must access all properties of the System.capabilities object through the System.capabilities object.
Property | Description | Server string |
---|---|---|
System.capabilities.hasAccessibility |
Indicates whether the device meets accessibility standards. | ACC |
System.capabilities.hasAudio |
Indicates whether the device has audio capabilities. | A |
System.capabilities.hasAudioEncoder |
Indicates whether the player can encode an audio stream, such as that coming from a microphone. | AE |
System.capabilities.hasEmbeddedVideo |
Indicates whether the player supports embedded video. | EV |
System.capabilities.hasMP3 |
Indicates whether the device has an MP3 decoder. | MP3 |
System.capabilities.hasPrinting |
Indicates whether the player is running on a system that supports printing. | PR |
System.capabilities.hasScreenBroadcast |
Indicates whether the player supports the development of screen broadcast applications to be run through the Flash Communication Server. | SB |
System.capabilities.hasScreenPlayback |
Indicates whether the player supports the playback of screen broadcast applications that are being run through the Flash Communication Server. | SP |
System.capabilities.hasStreamingAudio |
Indicates whether the player supports the playback of streaming audio. | SA |
System.capabilities.hasStreamingVideo |
Indicates whether the player supports the playback of streaming video. | SV |
System.capabilities.hasVideoEncoder |
Indicates whether the player can encode a video stream, such as that coming from a webcam. | VE |
System.capabilities.isDebugger |
Indicates whether the player is an officially released version or a special debugging version. | DEB |
System.capabilities.language |
Indicates the language the Flash Player supports. | L |
System.capabilities.manufacturer |
Indicates the manufacturer of the Flash Player. | M |
System.capabilities.os |
Indicates the operating system hosting the Flash Player. | OS |
System.capabilities.pixelAspectRatio |
Indicates the pixel aspect ratio of the screen. | AR |
System.capabilities.playerType |
Indicates the type of player: stand-alone, external, plug-in, or ActiveX. | PT |
System.capabilities.screenColor |
Indicates whether the screen is color (color), grayscale (gray), or black and white (bw). | COL |
System.capabilities.screenDPI |
Indicates the dots-per-inch screen resolution, in pixels. | DP |
System.capabilities.screenResolutionX |
Indicates the horizontal size of the screen. | R |
System.capabilities.screenResolutionY |
Indicates the vertical size of the screen. | R |
System.capabilities.serverString |
A URL-encoded string that specifies values for each System.capabilities property, | n/a |
System.capabilities.version |
A string containing the Flash Player version and platform information. | V |