Using Megazine for a projector file

[Rohan]

Hi all, just found this app and I'm excited to start using it.

I'm going to be using this as part of a projector file so I was wondering if anyone else has done this and whether its straight forward or difficult?

Most of the launching aspects seem to be geared towards placing the swf in a browser, but can I just load the swf from my projector file? Will that work?

Thanks in advance!

[Florian Nücke]

It will. The only "trouble" you'll run into, i.e. the only thing that won't work out of the box, is the positioning. The rest should work just fine.

[Rohan]

It will. The only "trouble" you'll run into, i.e. the only thing that won't work out of the box, is the positioning. The rest should work just fine.

Thanks Florian, this looks like a really great app. Any tips on how to get me started? I'm kind of new to AS3, basically what I have done so far is change the publish settings of my fla so that it is using Main as the document class.

What I basically need to do is launch the MegaZine as an external SWF from the projector file. I just need to be able to create an instance of it, and pass it the variables it needs like its xml file, interface file etc., I also need to be able to position it on my page accordingly.

Is this possible?

[Florian Nücke]

Well, as you're using a projector it's probably a better idea to use the MegaZine class directly, instead of using the Main as a document class, because this only adds features that won't work in projectors anyways (such as SWFAddress).

So, what I'd recommend is to just create a new instance in your AS, like so:

Code: [Select]

import de.mightypirates.megazine.MegaZine;
var mz:MegaZine = new MegaZine("path/to.xml");
addChild(mz);

// do stuff with the class, like (note that this will only work once the xml is loaded and parsed)
mz.gotoPage(5);
The created instance is a normal display object and can be positioned like any other (using the x and y properties, that is).

[Rohan]

Oh great! Thanks I'll give it a go now and let you know how it comes along

[Rohan]

Okay things are...working kind of.

I think I have a few issues with parsing XML in AS3...and also the positioning seems to be a bit strange. Here is my code:

Code: [Select]

import de.mightypirates.megazine.MegaZine;
import de.mightypirates.megazine.events.MegaZineEvent;
import de.mightypirates.megazine.*;

//get window dimensions
var myStage = this.stage;
myStage.scaleMode = StageScaleMode.NO_SCALE;
myStage.align = StageAlign.TOP_LEFT;
stage.displayState = StageDisplayState.FULL_SCREEN;

var winWidth = stage.stageWidth;
var winHeight = stage.stageHeight;

function matchScreen(element) {
element.width = winWidth;
element.height = winHeight;
}

//get XML
var xmlLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
var xmlData:XML = new XML();
 
xmlLoader.load(new URLRequest("xml/megazine.xml"));
xmlLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, LoadXML);

function LoadXML(e:Event):void {

xmlData = new XML(e.target.data);
Parse(xmlData);

}
 
function Parse(input:XML):void {

trace("XML:",input);

}

var mz:MegaZine = new MegaZine(xmlData,"fla/interface.swf");
addChild(mz);

//center the book
mz.x = winWidth/2;
mz.y = winHeight/2;

trace("book position before resize:",mz.x);

// on resize centering

stage.addEventListener(Event.RESIZE, resizeHandler);

function resizeHandler (e:Event):void {

var winWidth = stage.stageWidth;
var winHeight = stage.stageHeight;
mz.x = winWidth/2;
mz.y = winHeight/2;
trace("book position after resize:",mz.x);

}
The parsing isn't really working because my xml file looks like this:

Code: [Select]

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE book SYSTEM "http://megazine.mightypirates.de/megazine.dtd">
<book padgewidth="1000" pageheight="500">
<chapter>
<page>
here is some text
</page>
</chapter>
<chapter>
<page>
here is some more text
</page>
</chapter>
</book>
And none of that is coming through to the book. Trying to figure out how to parse the XML properly now. Is there anything I am doing really wrong here? Thanks so much for the help!

[Florian Nücke]

You don't have to parse the XML yourself at all. The constructor does not expect XML data, but the url to the XML file to load.

So instead do something like

Code: (actionscript3)

var mz:MegaZine = new MegaZine("xml/megazine.xml", "fla/interface.swf");