Table of Contents
Introduction.
I. GETTING STARTED.
1. The Flavors of Generator.
Authoring Extensions. Authoring-extensions platforms and
requirements. Developer Edition. Developer Edition platforms and
requirements. Enterprise Edition. Enterprise Edition platforms and
requirements. Points to remember.
2. Generator Under the
Hood.
The role of the SWT. Offline and Online Generator. Offline mode.
Online mode. JRUN and servlets. Generator's servlet engine. Cache
is king. The caching process. Types of caching. Caching and
performance. Security. Performance. Mode and performance. Points to
remember.
II. USING GENERATOR.
3. Generator's Authoring Environment.
Installing the authoring extensions. Generator interface elements.
Generator objects. Generator Objects panel. Generator panel.
Generator Environment button. Generator variables. Generator
Publish Settings. Designers vs. Generator. Points to remember.
4.
Generator Variables.
A new kind of variable. How Generator variables work. Creating and
defining Generator variables. Advanced text replacement. Using
Flash and Generator variables together. Points to remember.
5.
Generator Commands.
The commands. Generator commands vs. ActionScript. Set Alpha. Set
Brightness. Set Tint. Set Custom Color. Set Color. Transform.
Replace. Replicate. Points to remember.
6. Meet the Generator
Objects.
What is a Generator object? Are objects SmartClips? Using Generator
objects. Inserting graphics with Generator. Inserting symbols.
Inserting a Flash movie file. The art of the chart. GIF it up.
Creating clustered bar charts with Generator. Inserting stock
charts. Pie charts. Inserting sounds. Table, List, and Ticker
objects. Table object. Creating lists and tickers. Multipage lists.
Using the Radio Button object. The Plot object. Using database data
with objects that have required column names. Custom objects.
Select Box object. Tree/Hierarchical Menu object. Insert Date/Time.
Insert Text. XML Column Data Source object. Advanced Data Source
object. Insert Flash Variables object. The Insert Image object.
Installing custom objects on the server. Points to remember.
7.
Generator Data Sources.
What is a data source? Name/Value data source format. Column data
source format. Formatting data within the data source. Data source
sources. Native data sources. Text-based data sources. Retrieving a
data source from a database. Retrieving a data source from a Java
class. Points to remember.
8. Using Middleware with
Generator.
Why use middleware with Generator? When to use middleware.
Generator data sources. Integrating middleware with Generator.
Middleware with URL strings. Middleware with data sources.
Middleware in front of Generator. Creating Generator data sources
using middleware. Sending data through the URL. Middleware as a
Generator data source. The Generator wrapper. Input. Output. Points
to remember.
III. DEPLOYMENT.
9. Generator Offline.
What is Offline Generator? Offline everywhere. Making the most of
offline mode. Creating Flash movies. Creating GIF, JPEG, PNG, and
QuickTime files. Extracting text from movies. Creating image maps.
Creating projectors. Creating more than one file from a single
command. Specifying parameters. Setting the debug message level.
Creating a log file. Undocumented message embedding. Scheduling
Offline Generator. Creating a batch file. Windows' Task Scheduler.
Cron. Offline online. Server-side includes. StarFish. Points to
remember.
10. The Generator Administration.
Servlet and Caching. The Generator Administration Servlet. Using
the Administration Servlet. Using the Administration Servlet with
SSL. Information panel. Server Environment panel. Generator
Statistics panel. Servlet Properties panel. Logging Level. Max
Threads. External Font Location. Default Symbol File. User Class
Path. Request Time Out. Generator caching. How It Works. Generator
processing with all caches enabled. Request cache. Font cache.
Media cache. File cache. Cache settings panels. Max Size. Recycle.
Expire After. Cache Force. Check Modified. Use Index File.
Modifying cache settings. Request Cache panel settings. Font Cache
panel settings. Media Cache panel settings. File Cache panel
settings. Using URL parameters to set caching preferences. Global
Cache settings panel. Logging Level. Log Cycle. Max Cycled Logs.
Flush. Log Hits. Expire After. Force. Reset. Modifying the Global
settings in the Properties file. Points to remember.
11. Other
Development Tools.
Using Dreamweaver with Generator. Inserting Generator objects with
Dreamweaver. Extensions and the Macromedia Exchange for Flash.
Installing extensions. Managing extensions. The JDBC/ODBC
data-source helper. WildForm SWfx. FlashJester Creator. Points to
remember.
12. Creating Content for Mobile, Handheld, and Net
Devices.
Flash everywhere. Why Flash? User interface and device content
design guidelines. Content is king. Reusability. Familiar,
consistent user interface. Personalized content. Multilanguage
support. Know thy device. Device speed. Resource conservation.
Input methods. Screen economy. Fonts and text. Stack the deck.
Colors and images. Color considerations for TV. Sound. Animation.
HTML. Size does matter. Test, test, and test. Manhattan map
project. Loaded, the movie. On the map. The data source. Points to
remember.
13. Generator for Video.
Flash and QuickTime. Installing QuickTime. QuickTime Pro. Things
you can't do. How it's done. Importing and using video in Flash.
Adding Flash and Generator content to video. Adding interactivity
to video. Publishing your video for the Web. Points to remember.
IV. ADVANCED TOPICS.
14. The Generator SDK and API: Extending Generator.
The Generator SDK. Installing and configuring Java. Compiling your
first object. Understanding the Config file. Using custom Generator
objects in Flash. Creating an advanced Insert Text object. Creating
the InsertText Config file. Using the Insert Text custom object.
Installing custom objects on the Generator Server. Points to
remember.
15. Installing and Running Generator with Custom
Configurations.
Supported platforms. Why run on unsupported platforms? General
guidelines. Using Generator with Apache and Resin. Points to
remember.
16. Other Tools that Deliver Dynamic Flash
Content.
The other Generators. Swift-Generator. Supported Platforms. Price.
Web site. Feature-by-feature comparison with Generator. SwiffTools.
Supported platforms. Price. Web site. Features. Flash Turbine.
Supported platforms. Price. Web site. Feature-by-feature comparison
with Generator. SAXESS Wave (VisWeb). Supported platforms. Price.
Web site. Features. FormFlash. Supported platforms. Price. Web
site. Features. PopChart Image Server. Supported platforms. Price.
Web site. Feature-by-feature comparison with Generator. ReportMill.
Supported platforms. Price. Web site. Feature-by-feature comparison
with Generator. Points to remember.
17. Generator Developer
Resources.
DashBoard. Generator Web sites. Generator data sources. Generator
news groups. Generator mailing lists. Generator white papers. Flash
Web sites. Flash news groups. Flash mailing lists. Flash and
Generator classes. Flash and Generator events. Flash books. Other
server-based tools for delivering dynamic Flash content. Device
resources. Programming and back-end resource Web sites. ASP Web
sites. Apache Web sites. ColdFusion Web sites. iPlanet Application
Server Web sites. Java. JavaScript. JSP Web sites. JRun. Linux.
MySQL. Oracle. PHP. Solaris. SQL Server. XML. World Wide Web
Consortium. Programming and back-end resource news groups.
Programming and back-end resource books. Points to remember.
V. APPENDIXES.
Appendix A: Data-Source Summary for Generator Objects.
Appendix B: Generate Options.
Appendix C: HEX Values for URL Encoding.
Index.Promotional Information
Macromedia Generator 2 is the next step for the Web, providing
automatically updated, graphically dynamic content. Generator is an
ideal solution for companies who need to deliver dynamic, graphical
content to customers who require fast downloads and personalized
content. Free authoring templates in the development environment
allow Flash designers to work with Generator, the dynamic graphics
server, to access content from any database and display information
graphically. Companies such as Ford, iCast, CBS, and FitforAll.com
have used Generator and Flash to create constantly updated and
personalized charts, maps, banners, and headlines.Flash and
Generator Demystified is the complete resource for mastering the
intricacies of Flash and Generator. Users will learn how to create
designs in Flash, create authoring templates, and how to serve them
up with Generator. The companion CD contains demo versions of both
Generator and Flash, along with sample tutorials, templates, and
images.
About the Author
Phillip Torrone is director of New Media for Braincraft,
an award winning Web media and design firm in New York City, whose
clients include AT&T, Compaq, UPS, and Lucent Technologies.
From creating the first 100% flash-based online bank to creating
Flash-enabled cell phones, devices, and automobiles, Phillip is
considered an industry leader for Macromedia's Flash product.
Chris Wiggins, Creative Director at Braincraft, has been
designing in Flash since Flash 2, and has been designing in
multimedia for 6 years.
Mike Chambers in an expert in creating Web applications
using Flash and Generator. He has recently been working on
expanding Generator's functionality through the Generator SDK,
creating and releasing more than ten new objects. He also has
extensive experience programming with Java, JSP, ASP, PHP, and Cold
Fusion. He created and maintains a Generator resource site at
www.markme.com.