DISTRIBUTING YOUR FLASH CONTENT FOR THE POCKET PC

After creating your Macromedia content for the Pocket PC, you'll need to get as many people as possible to view it. There are many places online right now that are content hubs for Flash for Pocket PC content:

Flashenabled.com/mobile (www.flashenabled.com/mobile), a collection of inventions, applications, and fun with a Pocket PC focus (see Figure 2.42).

Figure 2.42. FlashEnabled.com

PocketPCFlash.net (www.pocketpcflash.net), one of the best resources on the web for Macromedia content for the Pocket PC (see Figure 2.43).

Figure 2.43. PocketPCFlash.net

Macromedia Gallery (www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer/pocketpc/gallery/), the place that started it all (see Figure 2.44). Macromedia has one of the best galleries of mobile content for Pocket PCs in the world!

Figure 2.44. The Flash Gallery for Pocket PC on Macromedia.com.

Generally, Flash files are distributed as Zip files with three types of files included (see Figure 2.45):

Figure 2.45. Zipping the files for distribution.

• The HTML file that will contain the Flash application

• The Flash file (SWF)

• A readme.txt file with setup instructions, purchase, and contact information

You may want to include a shortcut to the application (HTML file) to your application, but keep in mind that if the user changes its location to a storage card, the shortcut will not work.

This is often the first interaction a user will have with your content; because this is a part of the total user experience and overall usability, try to make the processes of getting the application up and running as easy as possible. Focus group and QA testing your application should help tease out any installation issues.

Developers also can distribute content with installers such as InstallShield with full-featured install and uninstall features. This is often used for mission-critical projects with budgets. Many developers who create Pocket PC applications for large clients use InstallShield Professional. For more information on InstallShield professional visit: www.installshield.com/isp/info/features.asp.

You can also use Pocket Setup from HelpStudio Software, which has similar features but costs less: www.pocketsoft.hpg.ig.com.br/pocketsetup/index.htm.

Pocket Setup comes in both standard and professional versions; review the features to determine which is the most appropriate version for your project.

Another similar application is Pocket PC Install: www.datamasta.co.nz/ppcinstall.htm.

And if you'd like to install your applications from the web for the Pocket PC directly, be sure to check out CEWebInstallX: www.doctorce.com/cewebinstallx_features.htm.

Lastly, you can also use a CAB file. Self-installing CAB files are provided as an alternative to installers. The CAB files can be placed on a variety of medias or on a Pocket PC directly. With a single tap, the software will self-install. You'll also need to create an INI and Setup executable. After you have your CAB files, SETUP.INI file, and a SETUP.EXE file to invoke the CE Application Manager, you simply need to put the files on a CF card, CD, disk, or in a Zip file for distribution to your users. Understanding the steps required to get these files can be quite a bit to absorb the first time you do an installation, but subsequent installations will go quickly because you can simply change a few values in your source files from any previous installation.

CAB files are very useful when you know the user may be beaming your content (see Figure 2.46). Pocket PCs cannot beam folders or multiple files at once, only one file at a time. If you can make it easier for your users to distribute your content for free, you've won half the battle of a successful application.

Figure 2.46. Beaming files on the Pocket PC.

For more information on CAB files visit: www.microsoft.com/mobile/developer/technicalarticles/installation.asp.

There are also ways to distribute your Flash content through content distributors such as Mazingo and MyCasio. Although AvantGo can be used to distribute some content, we're not going to cover AvantGo because it does not support any rich media and is primarily used for text transfer and some images. For more information about AvantGo visit: www.avantgo.com.

And for creating content for AvantGo channels visit: http://ami.avantgo.com/support/developer/channels/.

Mazingo (www.mazingo.net/) is a very exciting (and perhaps the best way) to distribute your Flash applications for all Pocket PCs online (see Figure 2.47). The name "Mazingo" comes from the concept of "Magazines to go." Pocket PCs can do some amazing things with text, audio, video, and other rich media, and Mazingo enables publishers and developers to reach readers with a very exciting and easy-to-use form of subscription content.

Figure 2.47. Mazingo is one of the best ways to distribute your content.

Mazingo offers Flash channels, which allow developers to have users subscribe to your Flash applications. This means that on every sync (or predetermined interval), the (updated) content will be transferred to the device.

Publishing a Flash movie as a Mazingo channel is easy, but it requires a special setup. For starters, the audience needs the following installed:

• Flash Player for Pocket PC

• Mazingo version 1.20 or later

Because Flash for the Pocket PC only plays inside HTML pages, you must transfer an HTML and SWF file by following these steps:

1. Build an HTML cover page (cover.htm).

2. Build an HTML container page with a .fhtm extension (container.fhtm).

3. Make the Flash SWF file (youradhere.swf).

4. Submit your site to Mazingo.

A basic cover page has a link to the container page, and whatever text and artwork you like. You should make it clear to the user that the Flash Player is required to view the animation, and tell your users how to get it.

The container page is loaded into the browser and plays the Flash file. Here's an example of how it would be coded. Notice the special tag near the end of the file, which is necessary so Mazingo can find the SWF and transfer it to the device:

 <HTML>  <BODY bgcolor="#000000" TOPMARGIN=0 LEFTMARGIN=0 MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0  STYLE="margin: 0px">  <OBJECT class  codebase="http://active.macromedia.com/flash2/cabs/swflash.cab#version=4,0,0,0"  ID=anystring WIDTH=240 HEIGHT=240>  <PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="youradhere.swf"> <PARAM NAME=quality VALUE=high>  <PARAM NAME=scale VALUE=exactfit> <PARAM NAME=bgcolor VALUE=#000000>  </OBJECT>  <this tag loads the Flash file in Mazingo: href="youradhere.swf">  </BODY>  </HTML> 

When you submit your site, keep in mind the following fields:

• Source Location. Set this to the URL of the cover page.

• Link Depth. Set this to 2. One level for the container page, and one level for the animation itself.

• Submission. If you need to test your animation channel before submitting it live, email [e-mail], and Mazingo will set up a temporary account for you where you can test the animation before submitting it.

Another similar way to distribute content is MyCasio (www.mycasio.com). MyCasio gives developers and content providers an easy way to distribute a variety of entertaining rich media content, as well as business and personal services for users (see Figure 2.48). With its unique "grab & go" system, the MyCasio service provides a one-stop-shop for mobile users to easily access and download business applications and information services and includes digital music, pictures, animation, video, and games. This service is a value-added service to owners of Casio Pocket PCs and Casio electronics.

Figure 2.48. MyCasio! Another great place to distribute your content.

Creating MyCasio content is a straightforward process, but has some specific requirements. Be sure to check the MyCasio web site on a regular basis as some information may change.

The user will need:

• A Casio device that supports MyCasio

• The Flash Player for Pocket PC

• A MyCasio Account

• Access to the MyCasio content you create

As the content provider you will need to provide the following:

• A server with the proper mime types

• A page with a link to a .infc xml data file that is the location of the content

• Content

You'll also want to work with MyCasio to promote your MyCasio content.

The following is the process in which information from MyCasio content is transferred to a Casio device:

1. User clicks meta-file link (INFC) on content provider's site. The link is to an XML file with an .infc extension. That file contains the location of the files that will be downloaded to the Casio device.

2. The Browser downloads meta-file and launches "Click Agent" due to extension and/or mime type associations. See the mime type information in the next section to set up the mime type.

3. The Click Agent asks user for confirmation to add the content.

4. Click Agent reads contents of meta-file. (Click Agent does not verify contents of meta-file.)

5. Click Agent sends contents of meta-file to the Backpack. The Backpack is where users can store all their content entries.

6. The Backpack reads the XML data from the INFC file.

7. Backpack adds entries to the backpack on the device.

On the server side, proper mime type associations and extensions are required to deploy MyCasio content. A special INFC file is used to tell the MyCasio application on the desktop and device where the content is and then places it on the device. To properly support the new file type, the file must have the .infc extension and all web servers that will host these files must have the "application/infolio-cagent" mime type associated with the .infc extension. If the INFC file is being generated dynamically, then the server script should specify the mime-type in the response header.

• Type: application

• Sub-type: infolio-cagent

• Extension: .infc

The meta file (INFC) that you link to will use the following XML format:

• The root element will be "ITEMS". This element will contain one or more ITEM tags.

• The ITEM tag will designate a record.

The ITEM tag will have these required child tags:

• TITLE. The descriptive name of the media file.

• URL. The full URL to the media file.

• CHANNEL. Destination channel of the media file.

• PARTNER. Partner string of the owner of this media file (content partner, not user).

The ITEM tag may also have these optional child tags:

• EXT. Final extension of the media file.

• MIMETYPE. The final mime-type of the media file.

• COST. The monetary cost associated with the media file.

• SIZE. The expected size of the media file.

• MD5. The expected MD5 checksum of the media file.

The four required tags are all that is currently implemented. The optional tags will be implemented in the future to support e-commerce and more robust download verification. Check with MyCasio for the latest information.

If a tag is present it must not be empty. (It must at least contain a space.)

Sample XML data (INFC) file:

 <ITEMS>    <ITEM>      <TITLE>Your Ad Here</TITLE>      <URL>http://www.contentpartner.com/mediafiles/youradhere.swf</URL>      <CHANNEL>myapp</CHANNEL>      <PARTNER>Flashenabled</PARTNER>    </ITEM>  </ITEMS> 

The following is the meta-file format detail that helps explain the sample XML file tags. Consult MyCasio.com for more information.

Tag name	Format	Required	Comment
ITEMS		Yes	Root tag (no data).
ITEM		Yes	Child of ITEMS. Specifies one file.
TITLE	Plain text field (max length 100)	Yes	Child of ITEMS. Specifies the descriptive title to use for the media.
URL	Encoded URL format (max length 255)	Yes	Child of ITEM. Specifies the URL to the media. The media file must include a valid extension.
CHANNEL	See table below	Yes	Child of ITEM. Destination channel for the media file
PARTNER	Plain text name (max length 20)	Yes	Child of ITEM. The string being used to identify the content partner. This can be any string. MyCasio admin screens will not consolidate records under multiple strings, so pick a string and stick to it!
EXT	Win32 extension	No	In a future release, the extension field can be used to specify the final extension when the URL is a reference to a CGI script.
MIMETYPE	Mime-type	No	In a future release, the mime-type can be used to specify the final mime-type when URL is a reference to a CGI script.
COST	0.00	No	In a future release, the cost field designates the cost associated with the download of this file.
SIZE	Number	No	In a future release, the file size can be provided. This may be useful to users with limited bandwidth.
MD5	MD5 format (max 30 chars)	No	In a future release, the MD5 can be provided to verify a successful download.

The following channels are currentlysupported, included are the descriptions. Be sure to visit MyCasio for more information:

 mymusic     "my music" channel  myanim     "my animation" channel  myebook     "my ebook" channel  mymovie     "my movie" channel  mypic     "my pictures" channel  mygame     "my games" channel  myapp     "my applications" channel  myinfo     "my information" channel 

The following is a sample HTML page with link to the INFC file sample as previously described:

 <html>  <head>  <title>Flashenabled MyCasio Channel</title>  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">  </head>  <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">  Welcome to the Flashenabled MyCasio Channel, <a href="fecasio.infc">click here</a> to get  the latest content from flashenabled.com to your Casio!  </body>  </html> 

If all works well, the Flash movie will be rendered inside the Backpack application. If you're having trouble getting this to work, visit MyCasio.com or download the sample files.

On the Flashenabled.com/book site we included a MyCasio sample channel page. Be sure to check it out (and subscribe to it) if you have a Casio device and MyCasio account.

Using the Auto Run Feature to Install and Transfer Files on the Pocket PC

This final option is not for the weak of heart; in fact we're not totally sure this works all the time. Pocket PCs can Auto Run files and applications on CF cards inserted into the Pocket PC. Auto Run must be turned on by going to the Start menu, Settings, and clicking the System tab, and then the Auto Run icon. Note: Not all Pocket PCs will have the Auto Run functionality; consult the device documentation for more information.

Creating the Auto Run content is somewhat of a mystery that's not fully documented. That said, we're going to point you to the best places. For more information on Auto Run, search eVB (Embedded Visual Basic) with the "Using Auto Run on the Pocket PC" as the search term. Also, more information can be found about Auto Run by visiting http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/wcesetup/htm/instapps_23.asp.

On the Flashenabled.com/book site we've included an Auto Run sample that basically allows a developer to install the Flash Player for Pocket PC (CAB file installer), an HTML file, and SWF automatically from a CF card.