Testing the Movie

If you are developing on the server, select Control, Test Movie in Flash MX. This compiles your movie to a SWF file and opens it in Flash Player 6 within Flash MX. Go ahead and log in with your name. After you click Login, you will see your name in the list shown in Figure 3.7.

If this does not work, here are some troubleshooting tips:

• Ensure your Flash Communication Server is running by logging in to the administrator and pinging it. If it is not running, go to the Maintenance tab and click Start. You can also start the server through the Windows Start menu by selecting Programs, Macromedia Flash Communications Server MX, Start Service.

• In Flash MX, ensure that the applications folder myFirstApp is correctly referenced in the Application Directory property of SimpleConnect.

• In Flash MX, ensure that you have the peopleList_mc instance referenced in the SimpleConnect Properties panel.

• Open the main.asc file on the server and make sure that the only line in it is load("component.asc"); . If it is not, fix the error, and then restart the Communication Server. Note that each time you change the main.asc file, you must reload the application. Reloading applications properly will be covered in Chapter 5, "STEP 5: Monitoring and Managing the Server." For now, simply restart the service through your Administration Console.

• If you chose an alternate install, you must ensure that the applications folder has access to the scriptLib folder. This will be discussed in detail in Chapter 14, "Server Administration." You can edit the application.xml file in the /conf/ folder to confirm the absolute location of the scriptLib folder.

Testing Remotely and on Mac OS

If you are working with Flash MX in Mac OS, or on a workstation separate from the server, you will need to change the SimpleConnect reference to the server. Make sure you are calling it by a fully qualified host name, IP address, or computer name as follows (see Figure 3.8):

 rtmp://[IP Address][:port]/myFirstApp 

Figure 3.8. The Properties panel for the simpleConnect component. Place the URI of your Flash Communication Server in the Application Directory property.

If more than one computer will be communicating with the server using this application (and there usually will be), you must declare the full server domain name or IP address in this field. You must also reference the server this way if you are using a Mac to develop the application.

Tip

To determine the domain name of your Windows server, contact your network administrator or do the following:

1. From the Start, Programs, Accessories menu, open a command prompt.

2. Enter IPCONFIG and note the IP address that is displayed.

   Note

   IP addresses starting in 192 or 127 or 10 (for example, 192.168.0.1) will not be accessible on the public Internet. These addresses are used for internal VPNs or LANs that might use a dynamic IP address range. If your testing computers are connected to the same network, you will be fine; however, if you want to have computers access your application outside your network, you may be required to reconfigure firewalls and ports. In this instance, your network administrator should be contacted.

3. When you have your IP address or domain name, change the application folder to reference your server as follows:

    rtmp://[IP Address][:port]/myFirstApp 

To use the name of your server for the connection, follow these steps:

1. On the desktop, right-click My Computer.

2. Select the Network Identification tab. Your Full Computer Name is displayed here.

3. Change the application folder to reference your server as follows:

    rtmp://[Full Computer Name][:port]/myFirstApp 

Now, take the test one step further by inviting another computer to connect (see Figure 3.9). Close the Flash player so that you return to Flash MX. To be certain that you have the IP address or computer name set in the SimpleConnect properties, select File, Publish (or press Ctrl+F12) to publish this application and generate an HTML file.

Figure 3.9. This example shows nine users connected using two computers.

On Computer A access the myFirstApp.html file and run it in a web browser. You should see your application running within the browser context. Log in to the application with your name.

On Computer B access the same myFirstApp.html file and run it within a web browser. You should see the first user in the PeopleList. Log in to the application using someone else's name (just don't tell them).

You should now see both names appear on the screen of both computers. Take the test one step further by adding a third user. On one of the computers, open a new browser window, with the HTML file loaded. Log in, and now you should see three users connected to the server.