MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004 - FLASH LITE AUTHORING GUIDELINES FOR THE I-MODE... Instruction Manual

Flash Lite Authoring Guidelines

for the i-mode Service by NTT DoCoMo

Trademarks

Add Life to the Web, Afterburner, Aftershock, Andromedia, Allaire, Animation PowerPack, Aria, Attain, Authorware,

Authorware Star, Backstage, Bright Tiger, Clustercats, ColdFusion, Design In Motion, Director, Dream Templates,

Dreamweaver, Drumbeat 2000, EDJE, EJIPT, Extreme 3D, Fireworks, Flash, Fontographer, FreeHand, Generator, HomeSite,

JFusion, JRun, Kawa, Know Your Site, Knowledge Objects, Knowledge Stream, Knowledge Track, LikeMinds, Lingo, Live

Effects, MacRecorder Logo and Design, Macromedia, Macromedia Action!, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia M Logo and

Design, Macromedia Spectra , Macromedia xRes Logo and Design, MacroModel, Made with Macromedia, Made with

Macromedia Logo and Design, MAGIC Logo and Design, Mediamaker, Movie Critic, Open Sesame! , Roundtrip, Roundtrip

HTML, Shockwave, Sitespring, SoundEdit, Titlemaker, UltraDev, Web Design 101, what the web can be, Xtra are either

registered trademarks or trademarks of Macromedia, Inc. and may be registered in the United States or in other jurisdictions

including internationally. Other product names, logos, designs, titles, words or phrases mentioned within this publication may be

trademarks, servicemarks, or tradenames of Macromedia, Inc. or other entities and may be registered in certain jurisdictions

including internationally.

This guide contains links to third-party Web sites that are not under the control of Macromedia, and Macromedia is not

responsible for the content on any linked site. If you access a third-party Web site mentioned in this guide, then you do so at your

own risk. Macromedia provides these links only as a convenience, and the inclusion of the link does not imply that Macromedia

endorses or accepts any responsibility for the content on those third-party sites.

i-mode, the i-mode logo, NTT DoCoMo, and DoCoMo are trademarks or registered trademarks of NTT DoCoMo, Inc.

NTT DoCoMo and Other Third-Party Information

Apple Disclaimer

APPLE COMPUTER, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, REGARDING THE

ENCLOSED COMPUTER SOFTWARE PACKAGE, ITS MERCHANTABILITY OR ITS FITNESS FOR ANY

PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES IS NOT PERMITTED BY SOME STATES.

THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS WARRANTY PROVIDES YOU WITH SPECIFIC

LEGAL RIGHTS. THERE MAY BE OTHER RIGHTS THAT YOU MAY HAVE WHICH VARY FROM STATE TO

STATE.

translated, or converted to any electronic or machine-readable form in whole or in part without prior written approval of

Macromedia, Inc.

Acknowledgments

Director: Erick Vera

Producer: Barbara Nelson

Writing: Paul Goldman

Editing: Lisa Stanziano

Print Design and Production: Adam Barnett

First Edition: March 2003

Macromedia, Inc.

600 Townsend St.

San Francisco, CA 94103

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

About the i-mode service by NTT DoCoMo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

CHAPTER 2: Developing Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Navigation and key events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

i-mode compatible HTML . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

ActionScript and properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Network access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Screen size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Movie size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Performance Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Interactive versus Inline content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

CHAPTER 3: Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Embedding sound in Flash Lite movies for i-mode phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

MFi sound substitution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Associating an MFi sound file with an ActionScript sound symbol . . . . . . . . . . 16

Accessing sound on main and movie clip Timelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

CHAPTER 4: Testing Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

DoCoMo’s i-mode HTML Simulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

APPENDIX A: Supported ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

APPENDIX B: Supported Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

APPENDIX C: Warning and Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

APPENDIX D: References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Macromedia websites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

4 Contents

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Macromedia has created a new profile of the Flash Player called Macromedia®Flash™Lite,

designed for consumer mobile devices, including phones for the i-mode service by NTT

DoCoMo. This format is designed to run optimally on devices with limited memory, processor

speed, and display area. Content created for Flash Lite is most similar to Flash Player 4 content.

The Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 User Guide for Flash Lite describes, in general, tools

and guidelines for authors creating Flash Lite movies. This document contains authoring

information specific to creating movies for i-mode phones.

About the i-mode service by NTT DoCoMo

The i-mode service by NTT DoCoMo is a mobile phone service in Japan that provides its

customers with both voice and comprehensive data services. With an i-mode phone, users can

exchange i-mode e-mail and obtain information from i-mode menu sites and i-mode compatible

Internet sites.

The i-mode phone contains a browser that displays i-mode compatible HTML web pages.

Beginning with the 505i phones, you can view Macromedia Flash Lite movies from the i-mode

browser. You can also use the phones’ My Picture and Standby Screen applications to view Flash

Lite movies. Although a number of manufacturers produce 505i phones, all of them support the

same Flash Lite functionality.

Getting started

To create Flash Lite movies for i-mode phones, you need to install Macromedia Flash MX

Professional 2004, available from the Macromedia website. (See Appendix D, “References,”

on page 47, for links to the Macromedia website.) . Read the Macromedia Flash MX Professional

2004 User Guide for Flash Lite for an overview of Flash Lite and basic authoring information.

To test your completed Flash Lite movies for i-mode phones, you should obtain the i-mode

HTML Simulator from the DoCoMo website. (See Appendix D, “References,” on page 47.) The

Simulator is an application tool that emulates the operation of an i-mode phone and allows you

to test the validity of Flash Lite movies. Though useful, the Simulator is no substitute for testing

on actual i-mode phones—only testing on actual phones will give you a true picture of your Flash

Lite movie’s performance.

6 Chapter 1: Introduction

CHAPTER 2

Developing Content

Starting with the 505i phones, the i-mode service by NTT DoCoMo supports the ability to view

Flash Lite movies. The same Flash Lite functionality is available on all 505i phones, regardless of

manufacturer. This chapter describes considerations for creating Flash Lite movies that run on i-

mode phones, from general functionality to performance and size constraints.

The 505i phones support Flash Lite in both English and Japanese. However, there are a few

exceptions to the standard Flash Lite specification. To review the standard specification, see the

Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 User Guide for Flash Lite. The exceptions to the standard

are detailed in this document.

Navigation and key events

Flash Lite for i-mode uses three keys for navigation: Up, Down, and Select. The Left and Right

keys are reserved for the i-mode browser. These three keys correspond to the Shift+Tab, Tab, and

Enter keys on the desktop versions of the Flash Player.

The keys 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, *, and # are also available. These correspond to the same keys

on the desktop versions of the Flash Player. You can attach ActionScript to these keys and the

Enter key as you would normally in Flash. ActionScript attached to other keys is ignored.

Text and fonts

Flash Lite includes support for both device and embedded fonts. You can use embedded fonts to

give you more control over the design of your movie, but doing so increases the SWF file size.

Using the device font for text limits you to a single font, but helps keep your file size small.

When using device fonts, Flash Lite limits special text formatting for dynamic text fields to

justification (left, center, right) and color. Formatting options such as superscript, subscript,

kerning, bold, and italic are not supported.

Flash Lite does not support input text fields—input text fields are not selectable and cannot be

used to enter text.

8 Chapter 2: Developing Content

Emoji

i-mode phones support special pictographic characters called Emoji. The following characters are

examples of Emoji:

These are encoded by replacing characters in the standard Shift-JIS table. As long as the phone’s

font supports Emoji encoded as standard Shift-JIS characters, Flash Lite can display them.

When authoring using Flash, you first need to ensure that you have Shift-JIS fonts installed on

your desktop authoring system. You also need to select a Shift-JIS font for the text fields in which

you want to display Emoji characters.

Note: The phone’s font set controls the color and appearance of Emoji characters.

For further information about Emoji, see Appendix D, “References,” on page 47.

i-mode compatible HTML

i-mode browsers can directly run Flash Lite movies, or movies can be embedded in i-mode

compatible HTML web pages.

The i-mode compatible HTML specification is based on a subset of HTML 2.0, HTML 3.2, and

HTML 4.0 specifications that DoCoMo extended with tags and attributes for special use on

mobile phones. As an example, extensions include the tel URL protocol, which is used to link to

a phone number and let users initiate a phone call.

For information on i-mode compatible HTML, see Appendix D, “References,” on page 47.

ActionScript and properties

Flash Lite for i-mode supports most Flash 4 ActionScript commands. The following are notable

exceptions:

•Use the add operator instead of the &command to concatenate strings.

•Button mouse events such as dragOver,dragOut, and releaseOutside cannot be used to

trigger ActionScript attached to buttons. However, in addition to keypress events, the events

press, release, rollOver, and rollOut can be used to trigger ActionScript when attached

to buttons and accessed through key-based navigation.

•Draggable movie clip functions and properties (for example: startDrag, stopDrag, and

_dropTarget properties) are not supported.

•Use the eq operator to compare strings and the == operator for numeric comparison.

•URL encoding must be done manually using ActionScript. The escape() ActionScript

function is not a Flash 4 function and is not available in Flash Lite.

•The fscommand() function is not supported.

•The default Quality level for Flash Lite during playback is medium and there is no support for

bitmap smoothing.

ActionScript and properties 9

•The getURL() function can only be called once per keypress, and can only be used for the

http, mailto, https and tel protocols. Only the first getURL() call in a keypress statement

block is executed; all subsequent getURL() calls in the same block are ignored.

•A button action can be assigned to launch an e-mail composition window with the address,

subject, and body text fields already populated. There are two methods to do this. Method 1

can be used for either Shift-JIS or English character encoding, while method 2 only supports

English character encoding.

Method 1

Set variables for each of the desired parameters, for example:

on (release, keyPress "#") {

subject = "email subject";

body = "email body";

getURL("mailto:[email protected]", "", "GET");

}

Method 2

Define each parameter within the getURL action, for example:

on (release, keyPress "#"){

getURL("mailto:[email protected]?subject=email subject&body=email

body");

}

•Key events can only be attached to the keys 0-9, #, *, and the Enter key.

•The loadMovie(), loadVariables(),loadMovieNum(),and loadVariablesNum()

functions are not supported.

•The MaxScroll and Scroll text-scrolling properties are not supported.

•Sound functionality is limited to event sound. An event sound can only be triggered to play

when it is attached to a keypress event. Only the first event sound in a keypress statement block

is played, and all other subsequent sounds in the same block are ignored.

•There is no synchronized audio, so the _soundBuffTime property is not supported.

•The range of valid integer numbers that can be represented is -2,147,483,648 to

2,147,483,647.

•Math functions are not natively supported. In Flash Lite, the methods and properties of the

Math object are emulated using approximations and may not be as accurate as the non-

emulated math functions supported in Flash Player 5 and above.

•The following Math functions can only be used with constants, not variables: Math.acos(),

Math.asin(), Math.atan(), Math.atan2(), Math.cos(), Math.pow(), and Math.tan().

•The _url property is not supported.

•The Number() and String() functions are not supported.

Note: Flash 4 ActionScript does not support arrays. However, they can be emulated using the

eval() function. For more information, see Macromedia TechNote 14219, “How to use Eval to

emulate an array,” at www.macromedia.com/go/flash_support (English) or

www.macromedia.com/go/flash_support_jp (Japanese).

ActionScript commands that are not recognized are ignored. For a detailed listing of supported

ActionScript and properties, see Appendix A: “Supported ActionScript” on page 25 and

Appendix B: “Supported Properties” on page 37.

10 Chapter 2: Developing Content

Sound

Flash Lite for 505i phones does not support the standard Flash Player audio formats—Raw,

ADPCM or MP3. Instead, only MFi (Melody Format for i-mode) is supported. In addition, each

manufacturer’s 505i phone supports the standard MFi format, plus its own proprietary

extensions.

Flash Lite does not support streaming sound, sound mixing, or looping of sound. Only event

sound is supported and only one sound can be played at a time.

For detailed information about embedding sound into Flash Lite movies for i-mode phones, see

Chapter 3, “Sound,” on page 15.

Network access

The Flash Lite specification for i-mode supports the getURL() function in a restricted manner.

The getURL() function is ignored unless the user first presses one of the following keys: 0-9, *, #,

or the Select key. Only the first getURL() call in a keypress statement block is executed; all

subsequent getURL() calls in the same block are ignored.

The getURL() function can be used to load another SWF or HTML page (http), a secured (SSL-

Secure Sockets Layer) HTTP page (https), send e-mail (mailto), or dial a phone number (tel).

Screen size

The i-mode phone screen size is one of the most important factors to keep in mind when

developing Flash Lite movies for i-mode phones. Generally, content looks better scaling up, rather

than scaling down, so it is best to create content for the smallest screen area. The screen area

available to Flash Lite varies from phone model to phone model, and across the applications

featuring Flash Lite. In order for a Flash Lite movie to look the best in the browser on all 505i

phones, a resolution of 240x240 is recommended. The screen area available to Flash Lite in the

My Picture and Standby Screen applications varies depending on the specific 505i phone.

Detailed information on the screen area available to Flash Lite on i-mode phones is available on

the DoCoMo website. (See Appendix D, “References,” on page 47).

Movie size

There are limitations on file size and run-time memory usage for Flash Lite movies running on i-

mode phones. There is a prescribed limit on how large a web page can be, whether it includes

Flash Lite movies or not. For 505i phones, this limit is 20KB. Full details can be found at the

DoCoMo website (see Appendix D, “References,” on page 47). This limit applies to an i-mode

page’s HTML, SWF content, and all graphic images combined. Web pages larger than this limit

cannot be downloaded to an i-mode phone and no error message appears. This limitation also

applies to Flash Lite movies played directly in the browser without being embedded in an i-mode

compatible HTML file.

The run-time memory available to Flash Lite movies running on i-mode phones is limited and

may vary from model to model. Generally, for the 505i phones, this limit is not less than

200KB. Because Flash MX Professional 2004 does not provide a mechanism for checking a

phone’s run-time memory consumption, Macromedia strongly recommends that you test all

content on actual i-mode phones.

This manual suits for next models

Table of contents

Other MACROMEDIA Software manuals

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-LEARNING FLASH LITE 1.X ACTIONSCRIPT User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA DREAMWEAVER 8-GETTING STARTED WITH... User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-DIRECTOR SCRIPTING Service manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-USING DIRECTOR Mounting instructions

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA STUDIO 8-EXPLORING STUDIO 8 User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA FLEX-GETTING STARTED WITH FLEX User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA FIREWORKS 2-USING FIREWORKS Mounting instructions

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004-FLASH JAVASCRIPT DICTIONARY User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA COLFUSION MX 7-GETTING STARTED BUILDING COLDFUSION... User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-USING DIRECTOR Mounting instructions

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA BREEZE 5-MANAGER User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-FLASH Operation instructions

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION 5-CFML User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-GETTING STARTED WITH FLASH LITE User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION MX 61 - INSTALLING COLDFUSION MX FOR IBM WEBSPHERE APPLICATION... User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-USING FLASH VIDEO ENCODER Mounting instructions

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA FLASH REMOTING MX-USING FLASH REMOTING FOR FLASH MX 2004 ACTIONSCRIPT... Mounting instructions

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-EXTENDING FLASH User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA DIRECTOR MX 2004-GETTING STARTED WITH... User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA COLDFUSION 4.5- TO CFML User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA FLASH 8-DEVELOPING FLASH LITE 2.X User manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA BREEZE-USING THE BREEZE PLUG-IN FOR MICROSOFT... Mounting instructions

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA BREEZE 5 Operator's manual

MACROMEDIA

MACROMEDIA DREAMWEAVER MX 2004-EXTENDING DREAMWEAVER User manual

Popular Software manuals by other brands

COMPRO

COMPRO COMPROFM manual

Muratec

Muratec OFFICEBRIDGE ONLINE user guide

Oracle

Oracle Contact Center Anywhere 8.1 installation guide

Adobe

Adobe 65007312 - Photoshop Lightroom Programmer's guide

Avaya

Avaya NULL One-X for RIM Blackberry user guide

HP ProLiant BL420c user guide

PS Audio

PS Audio PowerPlay Programming manual

Brady

Brady LOCKOUT PRO 3.0 Administrator's guide

Avaya

Avaya Interaction Center user guide

Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus Silver Edition Guide book

Novell

Novell GROUPWISE 8 - INTERNET AGENT manual

Oracle

Oracle Application 9i Configuration guide

Acer

Acer RDM user guide

Canon

Canon Vixia HF21 instruction manual

Canon

Canon ZR950 instruction manual

Samsung

Samsung Auto Backup user manual

Polycom

Polycom Vortex EF2201 Application note

Brocade Communications Systems

Brocade Communications Systems Brocade 8/12c user manual