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

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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.