Building a projector

So, a lot of people apparently want to be able to distribute their books on different paths than the internet, e.g. CDs. This quick (image!) tutorial will show you how to generate a so called projector, a Windows / Mac application that will run without the browser (.exe / .app). A translated version in Serbo-Croatian is also available. Many thanks to Vera Djuraskovic from webhostinggeeks for that!

= Video = A video showing the most important steps to build a Flash Projector File is available on the MegaZine3 Training Site.

= Prerequisites =

First off, be aware that you will need Adobe CS3 or Adobe CS4 for this. If you don't have it, I can't help you. There might be other programs doing something similar, but I never heard of any (and haven't looked).

Next, you will need the sources. Get the from the SVN repository (see the download section of the page). If you don't know how to use Tortoise or other clients ask google. It knows many things. Once you got the sources checked out, you will have some folders, among them one named "fla". This is where we will begin.

There is a way to build projectors for both windows and mac without using the Flash IDE. Once you have compiled your .swf, you can simply open it in Flash Player and Click File > Create Projector.

Note: the folder structure changed a bit, so the folders displayed in the images might differ from the ones you checked out.

Important: this apparently was not clear from the above description, but you need to check out the whole SVN tag / trunk. At least the  folder, as the .as files contained in it are absolutely necessary to compile the engine!

= Conquering the world, one step at a time =

Step 1
In the  folder you will see a file named. Open it in the Flash IDE.



Step 2
I have the German version of CS4, but if it looks a bit different for you, don't worry, nothing we need has changed a lot in the last versions.



Step 3
Firstly, opene the document properties, hotkey is Ctrl+J, or navigate to it via the menu as depicted below.



Step 4
Adjust the width and height to allow your book to fit in it, best allow it to have little free space (i.e. make it a bit larger than you page sizes). Especially in the height, to allow the navigation enough room. When you're done, press OK.



Automatic Fullscreen

 * Note: this step is optional.

If you wish your projector to immediately enter fullscreen mode when opened, open the "Actions" editor (Window->Actions or hotkey F9) and enter the following lines below the existing text:

In the newer versions of the  file they are already there, you'll just have to uncomment them by removing the two slashes at the beginning of the line. Afterwards it should look like this.



Step 5
Next, go to the publish settings of the document, hotkey is Ctrl+Shift+F12



Step 6
Here, remove the tick from "Flash (.swf)" and add it to "Windows-Projector (.exe)" if you want a player for windows, or "Macintosh-Projector" if you want one for Mac OS, respectively (or both). Then press "Publish" and wait a bit, the exe/app is being generated.



Step 7
Once done, you'll find a file named  in the fla folder. Use this file to replace you  and you can launch it and have your book displayed.



You can now also remove the  file as well as the   folder.