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SWF Action (swf_action)

SWF Structure Info

Tag Flash Version:

1

SWF Structure:

/* basic definition of an action entry */
struct swf_action {
	unsigned char		f_action_id;
	f_action_has_length = (f_action_id & 0x80) != 0;
	if(f_action_has_length) {
		unsigned short		f_action_length;
		unsigned char		f_action_data[f_action_length];
	}
};

An action is defined with an identifier, and an optional size and data (pretty much like a tag).

Note that the optional size and data are defined only for actions with an identifier of 128 or more. The other identifiers are always defined by themselves. Actions without immediate data may still access data. In that case, the data is taken from the stack.

Please, see the action list for all the supported actions.

Action

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SWF Any Filter (swf_any_filter)

SWF Structure Info

Tag Flash Version:

8

SWF Structure:

/* the filter type */
struct swf_filter_type {
	unsigned char	f_type;
};

struct swf_filter_glow {
	swf_filter_type	f_type;		/* 0, 2, 3, 4 or 7 */
	if(f_type == GradientGlow || f_type == GradientBevel) {
		unsigned char		f_count;
	}
	else {
		f_count = 1;
	}
	swf_rgba		f_rgba[f_count];
	if(f_type == Bevel) {
		swf_rgba		f_highlight_rgba[f_count];
	}
	if(f_type == GradientGlow || f_type == GradientBevel) {
		unsigned char		f_position[f_count];
	}
	signed long fixed	f_blur_horizontal;
	signed long fixed	f_blur_vertical;
	if(f_type != Glow) {
		signed long fixed	f_radian_angle;
		signed long fixed	f_distance;
	}
	signed short fixed	f_strength;
	unsigned		f_inner_shadow : 1;
	unsigned		f_knock_out : 1;
	unsigned		f_composite_source : 1;
	if(f_type == Bevel) {
		unsigned		f_on_top : 1;
	}
	else {
		unsigned		f_reserved : 1;
	}
	if(f_type == GradientGlow || f_type == GradientBevel) {
		unsigned		f_passes : 4;
	}
	else {
		unsigned		f_reserved : 4;
	}
};

struct swf_filter_blur {
	swf_filter_type		f_type;	/* 1 */
	unsigned long fixed	f_blur_horizontal;
	unsigned long fixed	f_blur_vertical;
	unsigned		f_passes : 5;
	unsigned		f_reserved : 3;
};

struct swf_filter_convolution {
	swf_filter_type	f_type;		/* 5 */
	unsigned char	f_columns;
	unsigned char	f_rows;
	long float	f_divisor;
	long float	f_bias;
	long float	f_weights[f_columns × f_rows];
	swf_rgba	f_default_color;
	unsigned	f_reserved : 6;
	unsigned	f_clamp : 1;
	unsigned	f_preserve_alpha : 1;
};

struct swf_filter_colormatrix {
	swf_filter_type	f_type;		/* 6 */
	long float	f_matrix[20];
};

struct swf_any_filter {
	swf_filter_type			f_fitler_type;
	swf_filter_blur			f_filter_blur;
	swf_filter_colormatrix		f_filter_colormatrix;
	swf_filter_convolution		f_filter_convolution;
	swf_filter_glow			f_filter_glow;
};

A filter defines how to transform the objects it is attached to. The first byte is the filter type. The data following depend on the type. Because each filter is much different, they are defined in separate structures. You can attach a filter to an object using an ActionScript or the PlaceObject3 tag.

The following describes the different filters available since version 8.

PlaceObject2

Tag Info

Tag Number:

26

Tag Type:

Define

Tag Flash Version:

3

Brief Description:

Place, replace, remove an object in the current display list.

Tag Structure:

struct swf_placeobject2 {	/* and swf_placeobject3 */
	swf_tag			f_tag;		/* 26 or 70 */
	/* NOTE: the following flags can be read as one or two bytes also */
	if(version >= 8) {
		unsigned	f_place_reserved : 5;
		unsigned	f_place_bitmap_caching : 1;
		unsigned	f_place_blend_mode : 1;
		unsigned	f_place_filters : 1;
	}
	if(version >= 5) {
		unsigned	f_place_has_actions : 1;
	}
	else {
		unsigned	f_place_reserved : 1;
	}
	unsigned		f_place_has_clipping_depth : 1;
	unsigned		f_place_has_name : 1;
	unsigned		f_place_has_morph_position : 1;
	unsigned		f_place_has_color_transform : 1;
	unsigned		f_place_has_matrix : 1;
	unsigned		f_place_has_id_ref : 1;
	unsigned		f_place_has_move : 1;
	unsigned short		f_depth;
	if(f_place_has_id_ref) {
		unsigned short		f_object_id_ref;
	}
	if(f_place_has_matrix) {
		swf_matrix		f_matrix;
	}
	if(f_place_has_color_transform) {
		swf_color_transform	f_color_transform;
	}
	if(f_place_has_morph_position) {
		unsigned short		f_morph_position;
	}
	if(f_place_has_name) {
		string			f_name;1
	}
	if(f_place_has_clipping_depth) {
		unsigned short		f_clipping_depth;
	}
	/* 3 next entries since v8.0 */
	if(f_place_filters) {
		unsigned char		f_filter_count;
		swf_any_filter		f_filter;
	}
	if(f_place_blend_mode) {
		unsigned char		f_blend_mode;
	}
	if(f_place_bitmap_caching) {
		/* WARNING: this is not defined in the Macromedia documentation
		 * it may be that it was part of the blend mode whenever the person
		 * who defined this byte was testing (I copied that from somewhere else!).
		 */
		unsigned char		f_bitmap_caching;
	}
	/* since v5.0 */
	if(f_place_has_actions) {
		unsigned short		f_reserved;
		if(version >= 6) {
			unsigned long	f_all_flags;
		}
		else {
			unsigned short	f_all_flags;
		}
		swf_event		f_event[<variable>];
		if(version >= 6) {
			unsigned long	f_end;	/* always zero */
		}
		else {
			unsigned short	f_end;	/* always zero */
		}
	}
};

1. Assuming that this PlaceObject2 references a DefineSprite, this name becomes the name of this instance of the sprite. This feature enables you to place the same DefineSprite multiple times in your display list each time using a different name.

This tag will be used to specify where and how to place an object in the next frame. The PlaceObject is much different and is presented separately.

The f_depth field is used to indicate at which depth the character is inserted in the current frame. There can be only one object per depth value (thus a maximum of 65536 objects can appear on a single frame).

The f_place_has_move and f_place_has_id_ref flags are used to indicate what to do at the given depth. The following table presents what happens depending on the current value.

f_place_has_move ...

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DefineBitsLossless

Tag Info

Tag Number:

20

Tag Type:

Define

Tag Flash Version:

2

Brief Description:

A bitmap compressed using ZLIB (similar to the PNG format).

Tag Structure:

struct swf_definebitslossless {
	swf_long_tag		f_tag;		/* 20 or 36 */
	unsigned short		f_image_id;
	unsigned char		f_format;	/* 3, 4 or 5 */
	unsigned short		f_width;
	unsigned short		f_height;
	if(f_format == 3) {
		unsigned char	f_colormap_count;
		if(f_tag == DefineBitsLossless) {
			swf_rgb		f_colormap[f_colormap_count];
		}
		else {
			swf_rgba	f_colormap[f_colormap_count];
		}
		unsigned char	f_indices[((f_width + 3) & -4) * f_height];
	}
	else {
		if(f_tag == DefineBitsLossless) {
			swf_xrgb	f_bitmap[f_width * f_height];
		}
		else {
			swf_argb	f_bitmap[f_width * f_height];
		}
	}
};

Format No. (bits)	Color Format	Comments
Without Alpha	With Alpha
3 (8 bits⁽¹⁾)	RGB

SoundStreamBlock

Tag Info

Tag Number:

19

Tag Type:

Define

Tag Flash Version:

2

Brief Description:

A block of sound data (i.e. audio samples.) The size of this block of data is defined in the previous SoundStreamHead tag. It is used to download sound samples on a per frame basis instead of all at once.

Tag Structure:

struct swf_soundstreamblock {
	swf_long_tag		f_tag;		/* 19 */
	unsigned char		f_sound_data[variable size];
};

The SoundStreamBlock tag defines the data of a sound effect previously defined with a SoundStreamHead or a SoundStreamHead2 tag.

WARNING: This tag requires you to save the swf_tag structure in long format whatever the size of the data (i.e. f_tag_and_size & 0x3F == 0x3F always true even if the size is 62 or less.)

The data depends on the SoundStreamHead[2] definition and is variable in size. Please, see the DefineSound tag for more information about sound data.

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SoundStreamHead

Tag Info

Tag Number:

18

Tag Type:

Define

Tag Flash Version:

2

Brief Description:

Declare a sound effect which will be interleaved with a movie data so as to be loaded over a network connection while being played.

Tag Structure:

struct swf_soundstreamhead {
	swf_tag			f_tag;		/* 18 or 45 */
	unsigned		f_compression : 4;
	unsigned		f_sound_rate : 2;
	unsigned		f_sound_size : 1;
	unsigned		f_sound_stereo : 1;
	unsigned		f_reserved : 4;
	unsigned		f_playback_rate : 2;
	unsigned		f_playback_size : 1;
	unsigned		f_playback_stereo : 1;
	unsigned short		f_sample_size;
	if(f_compression == 2) {
		signed short	f_latency_seek;
	}
};

The SoundStreamHead[2] tags define a sound effect which is to be loaded with a set of SoundStreamBlock tags. It defines the sound once and for all.

Streaming sound has a strong side effect when playing a movie: it will force a synchronization between the images and the audio. Thus some images may be dropped if the drawing isn't fast enough.

DefineSound

Tag Info

Tag Number:

14

Tag Type:

Define

Tag Flash Version:

2

Brief Description:

Declare a sound effect. This tag defines sound samples that can later be played back using either a StartSound or a DefineButtonSound. Note that the same DefineSound block can actually include multiple sound files and only part of the entire sound can be played back as required.

Tag Structure:

struct swf_definesound {
	swf_tag			f_tag;		/* 14 */
	unsigned short		f_sound_id;
	unsigned		f_sound_format : 4;
	unsigned		f_sound_rate : 2;
	unsigned		f_sound_is_16bits : 1;
	unsigned		f_sound_is_stereo : 1;
	unsigned long		f_sound_samples_count;
	unsigned char		f_sound_data[<variable size>];
};

A DefineSound tag declares a set of samples of a sound effect or a music.

The sound samples can be compressed or not, stereo or not and 8 or 16 bits. The different modes are not all available in version 2, although the same tag is used in newer versions with additional capabilities.

The f_sound_is_16bits is always set to 1 (16bits samples) if the samples are compressed (neither Rawnor Uncompressed).

The f_sound_rate represents the rate at which the samples are defined. The rate at which it will be played on the target computers may differ. The following equation can be used to determine the ...

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DoAction

Tag Info

Tag Number:

12

Tag Type:

Action

Tag Flash Version:

1

Brief Description:

Actions to perform at the time the next show frame is reached and before the result is being displayed. It can duplicate sprites, start/stop movie clips, etc.

All the actions within a frame are executed sequentially in the order they are defined.

Important: many actions are not supported in Adobe Flash version 1. Please, see the reference of actions below in order to know which actions can be used with which version of Adobe Flash.

Tag Structure:

struct swf_doaction {
	swf_tag			f_tag;		/* 12 and 59 */
	if(f_tag == DoInitAction) {
		unsigned short	f_action_sprite;
	}
	swf_action		f_action_record[variable];
};

The DoAction tag will be used to execute a set of actions in place. Usually, actions are used on buttons to add interactivity to the SWF movies. In version 1 you had only one dynamic branch (WaitForFrame). In version 4 you can test many different things such as a position, angle or sound track cursor position. Since version 5, SWF has a complete scripting language supporting string and arithmetic operations.

SWF Type Definitions

This documents makes use of structure definitions that very much look like C structures. It is important to note that this is not all that true since the data saved in a SWF file are very specific and they don't follow the default, inflexible (as in static,) C definitions.

The following pages define the basic types used in this document. The comments explain in more details how each type is used.

Note that except for bit fields, all types start on a byte boundary. Nothing will be aligned on more than one byte.

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DefineBitsJPEG

Tag Info

Tag Number:

6

Tag Type:

Define

Tag Flash Version:

1

Brief Description:

Define a JPEG bit stream.

Tag Structure:

struct swf_definebitsjpeg {
	swf_long_tag		f_tag;		/* 6, 21, 35 or 90 */
	unsigned short		f_image_id;
	if(f_tag == DefineBitsJPEG3 + f_tag == DefineBitsJPEG4) {
		/* sizeof(f_encoding_tables) + sizeof(f_image_data) + 2 when JPEG4 */
		unsigned long		f_offset_to_alpha;
	}
	if(f_tag == DefineBitsJPEG4) {
		unsigned short fixed	f_deblocking_filter_parameter;
	}
	if(f_tag != DefineBitsJPEG) {
		/* when DefineBitsJPEG, use JPEGTables instead */
		unsigned char		f_encoding_tables[<variable size>];
	}
	unsigned char		f_image_data[<variable size>];
	if(f_tag == DefineBitsJPEG3 || f_tag == DefineBitsJPEG41) {
		unsigned char		f_alpha[<variable size>];
	}
};

1. JPEG4 optionally accepts the f_alpha field. [To be verified]