More on ExternalInterface

One of my first posts was about using ExternalInterface to call Flex from Authorware, and about how there is virtually no documentation on how to use this API to run functions inside a Flex swf from an ActiveX control embedded in an executable (in this case, Authorware). I've found some more anomalies which are worth jotting down for my own future reference and the reference of anyone who's bored enough to read my blog.

It seems that the <arguments> parameter does not recognize the full spectrum of data types supported by Flex. So far, I have found that if your Flex function expects an int or a Boolean argument, these values must be wrapped in a <number> tag. I guess Flex knows ExternalInterface can't handle these data types, and converts them from generic numbers into the appropriate data type by pfm in the background.

Ain't life grand?

AS3 Basics

I've been struggling a lot with the Flex documentation (can ya tell?), and a lot of it, I think, is because the people who write docs know the whole thing inside and out. So they don't realize that before they go off all half cocked telling you how to write the code in a package, they should probably take a moment or two to tell you where to put the package, what to call the package so it will work, and how you refer to it from within your code and MXML. That's just an example of my "issues" with the docs, but a very pertinent one.

I'd pretty much worked all those things out with a little creative "reading between the lines" and reading the same articles on the Developer's Center over and over. However, I finally stumbled across the free ActionScript 3 Cookbook Excerpts from O'Reilly, and let me tell you, it has really codified a lot of stuff I thought I'd figured out, as well as correcting some misconceptions as a result of the roundabout route I took to the figurin'. I have only read up to Chapter 2, which, incidentally, explains all that stuff about packaging. I think I'll be ordering this book tomorrow! Wonder if it comes in MS Reader format...?