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Get Timer

SWF Action
Action Category: 
Movie
Action Details: 
0
Action Identifier: 
52
Action Structure: 
<n.a.>
Action Length: 
0 byte(s)
Action Stack: 
push 1 (n)
Action Operation: 
r := current_movie.get_timer();
push(r);
Action Flash Version: 
4

Get the current movie timer in milliseconds and push it on the stack. The current movie is defined with the Set Target action.

This is equivalent to the number of frames that have been played so far.

This action is similar to Get Property of frames loaded.

Declare Dictionary

SWF Action
Action Category: 
Objects
Action Details: 
0
Action Identifier: 
136
Action Structure: 
unsigned short    f_count;
string   f_dictionary[f_count];
Action Length: 
-1 byte(s)
Action Stack: 
n.a.
Action Operation: 
<n.a.>
Action Flash Version: 
5
See Also: 

Declare an array of strings that will later be retrieved using the Push Data action with a dictionary lookup. There can be a maximum of 65534 strings. The visibility of a dictionary is within its DoAction or other similar block of actions. Note that you should have only one Declare Dictionary. The dictionary is visible from everywhere in the DoAction. In other words, you can access it from functions1, With blocks, try/catch/finally blocks, etc.

When multiple Declare Dictionary actions are used, ...

DoABCDefine

Tag Info
Tag Number: 
72
Tag Type: 
Action
Tag Flash Version: 
9
Brief Description: 

New container tag for ActionScripts under SWF 9. Includes only actions. This tag is not defined in the official Flash documentation.

Tag Structure: 
struct swf_doabc {
	swf_tag			f_tag;		/* 72 or 82 */
	if(f_tag == DoABC) {
		unsigned long	f_action_flags;
		string		f_action_name;
	}
	swf_action3		f_action_record[variable];
};

*the version specified here is the version in which the tags appeared—however, actions of higher versions can be used with older version tags and thus this version doesn't indicate the version of all the actions used in this tag

The DoABC and DoABCDefine are available since version 9. These are similar to the old DoAction and DoInitAction, yet the actions use a way different declaration scheme and they include flags and a name. This new scheme helps greatly in simplifying the definitions of ECMAScript classes and accelerate the access to the code tremendously.

Note that the ...

DefineButton2

Tag Info
Tag Number: 
34
Tag Type: 
Define
Tag Flash Version: 
3
Brief Description: 

Define an action button. Includes a color transformation. 

Tag Structure: 
struct swf_definebutton2 {
	swf_tag		f_tag;		/* 34 */
	unsigned short		f_button_id;
	unsigned		f_reserved : 7;
	unsigned		f_menu : 1;
	unsigned short		f_buttons_size;
	swf_button		f_buttons;
	swf_condition		f_conditions;
};

The DefineButton2 is very similar to the DefineButton tag. The list of actions was however changed in a list of actions to execute on a condition. Whenever an event occur, the plugin checks for that condition within all the buttons which can possibly catch that event at the time. For all the matches it finds, the corresponding actions are executed.

The SSWF Project

The SWF Reference by Alexis is part of the free SSWF project.

This documentation is intended for people who want to program a Flash player, editor, or some similar tool handling Flash data.

The project comes with a complete C++ library that is designed to greatly simplify the generation and loading of Flash files.

Appendix A — The geometry in SWF — Edges

Edges are used to define a shape vector based and also coordinates where images need to be drawn. The edges are always coordinates from where ever your last point was to where ever you want the next point to be (a little like a turtle in LOGO).

Appendix A — The geometry in SWF — Matrix

The coordinates are often transformed with the use of a matrix. The matrix is similar to a transformation matrix in Postscript. It includes a set of scaling factors, rotation angles and translations.

When only the scaling factors are used (no rotation) then these are ratios as one would expect. If a rotation is also applied, then the scaling ratios will be affected accordingly.

SWF Condition (swf_condition)

SWF Structure Info
Tag Flash Version: 
1
SWF Structure: 
struct swf_condition {
	unsigned short		f_condition_length;1
	unsigned		f_condition_key : 7;
	unsigned		f_condition_menu_leave : 1;
	unsigned		f_condition_menu_enter : 1;
	unsigned		f_condition_pointer_release_ouside : 1;
	unsigned		f_condition_pointer_drag_enter : 1;
	unsigned		f_condition_pointer_drag_leave : 1;
	unsigned		f_condition_pointer_release_inside : 1;
	unsigned		f_condition_pointer_push : 1;
	unsigned		f_condition_pointer_leave : 1;
	unsigned		f_condition_pointer_enter : 1;
	swf_action		f_action_record[variable];
};
  • 1. The number of actions is variable, the f_condition_length parameter indicates the number of bytes and can be used to skip one condition and all of its actions at once. The action array must always be terminated by an End action entry (i.e 0x00).

A condition is defined in a DefineButton2 tag. It is a record of conditions. The record terminates when the size of the current (i.e. last) condition is zero. The length of that condition can be deduced from the total size of the tag minus the offset where the condition starts. Conditions are similar to events.

The f_key field represents a key code since version 4. The following table gives the code equivalence. Note that 0 means no key.

SWF Event (swf_event)

SWF Structure Info
Tag Flash Version: 
1
SWF Structure: 
struct swf_event {
	char align;
	if(version >= 6) {
		unsigned	f_event_reserved : 13;
		if(version >= 7) {
			unsigned	f_event_construct : 1;
		}
		else {
			unsigned	f_event_reserved : 1;
		}
		unsigned	f_event_key_press : 1;
		unsigned	f_event_drag_out : 1;
		unsigned	f_event_drag_over : 1;
		unsigned	f_event_roll_out : 1;
		unsigned	f_event_roll_over : 1;
		unsigned	f_event_release_outside : 1;
		unsigned	f_event_release : 1;
		unsigned	f_event_press : 1;
		unsigned	f_event_initialize : 1;
	}
	else {
		unsigned	f_event_reserved : 7;
	}
	unsigned		f_event_data : 1;
	unsigned		f_event_key_up : 1;
	unsigned		f_event_key_down : 1;
	unsigned		f_event_mouse_up : 1;
	unsigned		f_event_mouse_down : 1;
	unsigned		f_event_mouse_move : 1;
	unsigned		f_event_unload : 1;
	unsigned		f_event_enter_frame : 1;
	unsigned		f_event_onload : 1;
	unsigned long		f_event_length;1
	swf_action		f_action_record[variable];
};
  • 1. The number of actions is variable, the f_event_length parameter indicates the number of bytes and can be used to skip all the actions at once. The action array must always be terminated by an End action entry.

An event is defined in a PlaceObject2 tag. It is a record of events terminated with a set of zero flags. Events are similar to conditions.

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.

...
Value Name Version
0 Drop Shadow 8