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Hi at this moment there are only old not so uptodate pages related 
to the dialect here: http://oldes.multimedia.cz/swf/

The dialect is fine, but it's missing an IDE

REALLY hard to wrap my head around the dialect.. and its VERY verbose.. 
yet using the Flash IDE = simple.

with the same results

this is the latest project: http://www.informacezbrna.cz/hry/dilky/

the probl;em is, that at this moment, it's not easy to give the updated 
dialect itself, as it's quite complex now

The API, that is.

Terry, I understand Oldes'  POV,  their tools but really hard to 
use. The language as the foundation for GUI programs is beter than 
the actual GUI programs.

At least, that's what he's telling me all the time... ;)))

What you should know is, that the dialect is almost useless if you 
don't know how Flash works and don't know the ActionScript. The good 
start is to registed and download SWF file format specification from 
this page: http://www.macromedia.com/licensing/developer/

And of course the dialect is not for making animations! Use drawing 
programs to make animations. The dialect is for example to do things 
like to generate games for the tiles game: http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rebol/swf-tiles.r
--- I'm sure you would not like to do it in Macromedia authoring 
tool:)

It all in one version of the dialect (I simplified the ucs-2 code 
to support only cp1250 charset ) The zlib dll support for decompressing 
foreign swf files is missing. Hope everything else is included - 
I used it to compile this page successfully: http://www.nohyvnebi.cz/

I think this is enough, if you don't have Lash player, the exe is 
not enough

for the examples above you must have installed the latest flash player 
plugin (Flash8) These aree first tests of the Flash8 as I downloaded 
it yesterday)

I'm not sure if it's legal to distribute the flash player binaries

thought there are exes, whatever it is. but the embedded stuff is 
different? other headers?

You can compress/decompress swf's, but some of them (the foreign) 
use probably latest zlib and Rebol cannot decompress them

IIRC some script in the library says there are more options, buffer-size 
and something. rebol can output nearly gzip, but read only a specific 
version.

Yes, the compression Rebol's using is zlib, but in Rebol must be 
used old version, because has problems with some zlib streams

I don't want to give it inside the rswf as it's not so necessary 
(you need it only if you want to examine some foreign swf file)

for example if you do the examples above, you can do: exam-swf/file 
%swf8-blendmode.swf

Just one last thing for now, it's safe to compile only to version 
swf6, I donloaded the spec for swf7 only yesterday and swf8 is not 
documented at all.

Interesting: just downloaded this free ActionScript compiler http://www.mtasc.org/
and will try if it would be possible to integrate it with the rswf 
(so I could use *.as file for actions without need to parse it in 
Rebol)

Oldes, can you tell me the name of that spec. I believe they are 
pdf's, right?

Was just checking it a little bit, and it looks that the mtasc is 
pretty complicated. First action script I wanted to compile using 
mtasc was not compiled successfully:) The biggest difference is, 
that the mtasc is only ActionScript compiler, but in my dialect one 
can compile everything (shapes, sprites, images, sound). You must 
use swfmill or how they call it to compile such a things (and it's 
using XML so I thing it's not much useful for making complete application 
in it (as I do).

I would like to make new pages for RSWF dialect during the weekend.

The new site is here: http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/

I have problems with update of the old site:(

The dialect file have been updated a little bit, use: do http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/rswf_latest.r

to make sure that you are using the latest one

Thanks, the dialect file updatet a little bit again and there are 
3 new (flash8) examples

and updated again, current version 1.0.4 (make sure you use the rswf_latest.r 
file with the new examples (there are two more of them)

hmm, should say 3, I forgot the second version of the color picker 
to upload, now it's here as well http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/index.php?example=148

I already posted it to rebcode group as it's rebcode which allowed 
me to this, but will like to post it here as well, because the main 
reason was to improve the Rebol/Flash dialect again....

Maybe you know that in Flash you can have embedded outlined fonts 
(independend on system) Most of the font's looks blury if you use 
them as outlines so you must use special fonts to get non blured 
pixel precision fonts. I was using some font editor just to see, 
that it's pretty difficult to make such a font so I decided it would 
be good to have possibility to make such a font just in any graphic 
editor - as a bitmap and comnvert it to pixels. Here is the result:


do http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rebol/projects/font-tools/latest/test.r

sorry for my terrible english (I should read the text before I press 
enter:)  I meant convert bitmap (pixels) to vectors

interesting, this one I haven't known, for me it's enough what I 
have (anyway it looks that you cannot make subpixel fonts with this 
editor and you must do the tracing by hand:)

maybe I could hack the trutype spac to have possibility to save the 
font as a TTF as well

hm, but you make 3 fonts and then nobody will need it:) there is 
not many possibilities to make something original in 7x8 pixel grid:) 
and yes, the main reason was, that there are no font's with diacritics 
for my language (even the commercial one don't have it)

Oldes, I'm still amazed at this dialect and the sites you have created. 
I wonder if you have a list of the commands that are being used. 
I've been going through the examples to try to figure out what does 
what but it seems like a list would be faster. Thanks.

Oldes, I downloaded the ActionScript pdf which seems to be the very 
much related to the dialect examples. Is that correct?

Volker, I've just begun to really get into the dialect so I can't 
comment on how one "translates" the actionscript into it, however, 
the actionscript pdf is at least a start into trying to figure out 
the examples.

At this point, I am taking one of the examples from the flash actionscript 
pdf and rework it into the dialect form. Before I had this documentation 
I was just guessing at the whole process.

Oldes, you what would be helpful is an actionscript example translated 
into the dialect so we could see the differences.

The main difference is, that I use variable: value instead of variable= 
value :) and do not use commas to divide arguments

I see. What I mean is taking an actionscript example and converting 
it to your dialect. Right now I'm trying to make a simple "slideshow" 
with fades and I found some actionscript examples. That being said, 
just you saying that the DoAction[] is somewhat like Actionscript 
takes some mystery out of the process.

And I should say, that you definitely must  know the ActionScript, 
if you want to use my dialect.

Yes, you're right. Up this point I was really looking at the wrong 
documentation so the Actionscript clue was helpful.


Here's an example. I haven't tried to translate it yet. It looks 
pretty straight forward. 

Movieclip.prototype.fade = function(speed) {
this.speed = speed;
this.f_index = this._alpha;
if(this.f_index >= 100) this.fade_by = -this.speed;
if(this.f_index <= 0) this.fade_by = this.speed;

this._alpha += this.fade_by;
}

Or you can use these to fadeIn() or fadeOut()


Movieclip.prototype.fadeOut = function($decrement, $fadeLimit){



	var $mcObject = this;

	//If $decrement is not defined, then define it

	if($decrement == undefined){

		var $decrement = 11;

	}//End if



	if($fadeLimit == undefined){

		var $fadeLimit = 0;

	}//End if



	if(eval($mcObject)._alpha < $fadeLimit){

		return(true);

	} else {

		eval($mcObject)._alpha -= $decrement;

	}//End if



}//End function

Oldes, making some progress thanks to your help. There is one example 
with soem embedded rebol code (the arc example). Is there a way to 
have rebol do some processing then expose what it does to flash? 
I want to write a function in rebol to take a string and create a 
block of characters which I then want to pass to flash. 

For example, I can hardcode a_block: ["h" "e" "l" "l" "o"] but I 
would rather send the string "hello" to a function and have it generate 
that block then pass it to flash. It seems that what I do within 
a "rebol [ ]" block is hidden from flash.

First of all, I must say, that there are two main parts of the dialect, 
one which are related to making shapes and sprites in the timelines 
(processed by rswf/tag-rules) and actions (in doAction and DoInitAction 
tags and as a part of Actions subtag in placing sprites and in button 
events) - This is processed by rswf/actions-parser

Thanks Oldes, I will try that. The dialect and AS are becoming clearer 
now with all the info you have given me. I look forward to writing 
lots of cool things. Thanks for the hint about the two main parts. 
I wondered how they were connected as most of the AS tutorial have 
you create something with the GUI then add the AS part.

Worked great! Is there any way to pass AS vars to a rebol block? 
You must think I'm crazy but this is an amazing piece of coding and 
I am determined to use it. I'm curious but when you created your 
work for the incredible web pages you've done, did you make libraries 
or are they basically one large script?

How you want to pass AS vars to Rebol? Once you compile the RSWF 
dialect file, you have Flash which has nothing to do with Rebol. 
But you can connect Flash and Rebol using various ways (, getUrl, 
loadVariables or  XMLsocket connections). When I do some bigger projects, 
I do not use one file, but rather more files conected together using 
"include" or "require" tags.

I also use import-swf tag to get SWF graphics into my projects (when 
I don't want to load the SWFs using loadMovie)

I'm going to start a new website project and am excited about designing 
some stuff. If I could only make the cool things you do...

You may see that I have to close the functions into parenthesis

Oldes, do you have an eample that could create and embed a swf on 
the fly  ie: via cgi?

And it's easy, you just run rswf and call MAKE-SWF and print the 
result (probably would have to remove some warnings which are printed 
when I run make-swf)

I'm thinking about generating on the fly

By the way .. i like the title of "to see stupid chinese wathing 
atomic bomb explosion"   those chinese... crack me up..

hm, it's not so funny, they were really watching atomic explosion. 
And probably were not so stupid, just the leaders who forced them 
do such a experiments.

just found that the movies for this example http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/index.php?example=116
were missing - in the movie in the middle are czech soldiers on acid 
and the rest are the same chinese soldiers preparing to watch atomic 
explosion.

I've added an experiment with the Flash's security model http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/index.php?example=161
(there is added new tag so update your rswf dialect from the page) 
I'm not sure if it's working, but it should because it produces the 
same thing as this Macromedia's tool http://www.macromedia.com/support/flashplayer/downloads.html#lcu

I got to see a demo of this product : www.Lazlosystems.com which 
is a language that spews out both Flash and JavaScript. (and they 
look the same).

I've just updated the dialect to be able override the default settings 
for maximum recursion depth and ActionScript time-out: http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/index.php?example=162

james: the elasticboy is not my flash file! it's just a test if it's 
possible to download movie from other domain.

ech, for the first look I don't like it. For example this card game 
(Klondike) http://www.darronschall.com/playground/klondike3.swfhas 
229663

And you must have a Flex Builder which has 112MB = must be all the 
industrial standards so huge?

Now, Oldes, when are we going to see how you do all that magic for 
the websites? :^ )

I like the way the pictures rearrange when you resize the window...

Oops, sory, I guess we should be admiring the code, not the photos 
LOL

On photos: It is always amazing to see how all the  'mode trends' 
& 'art' are recycling. :)

New version (2.0.0) of Rebol/Flash dialect (RSWF) is available here: 
http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/(the page was down, but now running 
again)

uncompressed version of the dialect is here: http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/rswf_2.0.0.r

there is still a lot of things to do (for example usage of Func2 
action tag is not finished yet, but this is the version of the dialect 
I used to compile the flash site above and I was also able to compile 
all the old examples (except one) Some of them with a little code 
changes.

Isn't that the MS version flash ?

Anyway.. the main reason to rewrite the actions parser was, that 
everything was hardcoded, now it first translates actions into instructions, 
which are compiled on second pass... so it's now possible to better 
dubug the compilers results... for example:

do http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/rswf_latest.r
>> acompiler/translate [a: 1 + 2 + b]
== [["a" 1 2 aAdd "b" aGetVariable aAdd aSetVariable]]
>> compile-actions [a: 1 + 2 + b]
== #{960D0000610007010000000702000000479603000062001C471D}

Oldes - what is the real purpose of your dialect? Is it just for 
you, who likes REBOL coding? I mean - do you think that eventual 
Flash "programmer" could find such way of creating Flash stuff useful?

I would like to create something like a rebol/flash vid in a future. 
and what I can say is, that I don't like the visual IDE too much 
for coding. All the actions on different frames and in different 
sprites.

Oldes: many developers don't like to code in the Flash visual IDE, 
like you, that's why Adobe came up with Flex. The good news is that 
the SDK is open source.

I know... and I can for example include compiled actionscript using 
the compiler with SDK. Anyway.. maybe I should check more carefully. 
Some scripts seems not to be working, so there is probably still 
something wrong with my compiler.

You can code and compile on all platforms. If you want the official 
Builder (based on Eclipse, or a an Eclipse plug-in),  then you're 
tied to Windows or the Mac.

hm, they are working here but not on the web.. will have to check 
it

it will be just problem with automatic upload because the source 
files are missing as well:/

Yesterday I started rewriting swf-parser, because the current one 
is from year 2002 and is full of nasty hacks and bad approaches. 
I already have the main part of the new one so I will soon upload 
new version of my dialect which will include it:-)

The main reason I started with this rewriting is to better support 
foreign SWF file importing. So you will be for example able to join 
to SWF files into one.

Rebol/Flash dialect (RSWF) version 2.5.0 is available!
compressed: http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/rswf_latest.r(89kB)

uncompressed: http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/rswf_2.5.0.r(331kB) 

as colorized HTML: http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/rswf_2.5.0.html
 (885kB) 

What's new:

- New swf-parser included which replaces old exam-swf function (useful 
for importing foreign SWF files)

- Added implementation of Class definitions for SWF versions 6 and 
higher (I have to create some examples)

- Added new 'trace function into actions (which can be use to compile 
swf files with or without trace calls easily)

- 'require and 'include now accepts block of files or urls (I should 
modify my rswf code colorizer to show included files as well)


Here is also new example how to include first of GUI elements: http://box.lebeda.ws/~hmm/rswf/example/swf8-cliphandler

In the future I would like to create something like mini Layout dialect 
which will be used for better positioning of the new GUIs I'm working 
on.

the mini dialect is cool Oldes.. but how will it fit in with R3?

I guess we don't really care for now as R3 is not yet out, in the 
meantime Oldes probably needs this flash UI now - btw, I'm glad he 
is not waiting for R3, looks like too many people are waiting this 
event and don't start any project.. but that's another discussion! 
not here!

Rebolers are sick of waiting.

.... good Rebolers don't wait. At least I have so many R2 scripts 
which I would like to improve... I really don't have to wait for 
R3.. with R3 I will be able to do other optimizations but these are 
not necessary for the functionality.

Oldes.. i think your work is great, but where's the advantage over 
using a Flash IDE?

I would like to see you how you create the swf from above in Flash 
IDE... I don't say that IDE is bad... I just need something else 
sometimes... and it's fun for me:) And I'm sure I don't want to write 
apps in MXML.. It's not funny at all. Anyway... making MXML output 
would be much more easier than producing SWF files directly. Anyway... 
I have Flex as well.. it has 196MB. My dialect has 95kB

it would be less, but the comments are not compressed:)

And I have Import-swf command in the dialect (not documented yet 
as I still change it a little bit). I'm using it to include large 
animations made in IDE. As I have a caching mechanism already, I 
can include it in my dialect and control it in miliseconds, don't 
have to wait many seconds to compile all the animation in the IDE 
every time when I change a bit of a code.

And I'm not limited with restrictions which you have when you use 
includes from external files - I have one file at the end.

I can see the potential.. just thinking how difficult it would be 
to create complex layouts.. as opposed to just drag 'n drop with 
Flash IDE

It is possible to create drag'n'drop editor in the dialect as well.. 
but first I have other goals. And maybe one day you will be able 
to create layout from Rebol VID too.

Just keep up the good work Oldes.

Oldes, is there something special about the getURL command. I have 
a function in "doAction" and it clearly gets to it as the cmsg is 
displayed, but I can't get it to actually go to another URL. My flash 
settings are good because your "horse" link works. Any ideas? Thanks,

Actually, it had something to do with the keyword "_self" ...it  
didn't like it. Now all I have to do is figure out where to attach 
the code to. Thanks.

Actually .  .. that's not cool at all.


What's REALLY cool is the new adobe flex plugin for Apache...   hand 
Apache some mxml, and it generates the .swf automatically  ..  
Wow.

I smell a Kommonwealth Flex IDE by the middle of next week ;)