Flash Lite for S60 QuickStart

Flash Lite in S60 - a flashier user experience

Flash is a multimedia authoring tool originally brought to prominence by Macromedia in the late 1990's. Macromedia merged with Adobe in 2006. Based on vector graphic and time line animation, its success has been largely due to the ease of learning curve, and its evolving and extending ActionScript language. Developing applications in Flash is extremely fast and the time from idea to market is short.

Flash Lite is the cut-down version of Flash that has been designed to run on mobile devices. Most of the cutting down has been done on effects that would not be visible on the small displays of mobile devices or on functionality that is too resource-heavy for a mobile device. Additionally, some functionality has been added, like handling softkeys and numeric keypad events as well as acquiring the IMEI code or network and battery status of the device.

Flash Lite is preinstalled in all the latest Nokia devices. Most of the little older ones either have it or it can be installed for free from Adobe. Please check the Flash Lite version of your device at Forum Nokia.

What you should already know

You should have a certain level of understanding about designing applications for the mobile context. The screen is smaller and the input is different than in a desktop PC. Also, since you probably will be using the ActionScript language, which is very closely related to JavaScript, it’s a big help if you are at least familiar with basic programming terminology such as functions and variables as well as object-oriented programming. It is possible to create quite complex Flash Lite applications without a single line of code, but if you want to create some logic and complexity behind your beautiful user interface, ActionScript is needed.

If you already haven't, get a quick overview by taking a peek at Flash Lite technology landing page before you proceed.

First just play with the tools

1. Get Flash Professional from Adobe (free trial available).
2. Make sure you have the latest updates to both Adobe Device Central and Flash.

At this point you do not need to program yet, just build and run an existing application:

3. Simply follow the instructions in the Getting Started section of the Flash Lite Developer's Library to understand how the development process goes. The section also describes the contents of a typical Flash Lite project.

Then start studying Flash Lite programming

Check out the eLearning, read the documentation, get code snippets and examples:

Flash Lite eLearning module
Adobe's resources
Flash Lite articles in Forum Nokia Wiki
Flash Lite Developer’s Library
Other resources about Flash Lite

If you need help

Flash Lite issues in general:

GoogleGroup
FlashMobileGroup
Yahoo Group

Nokia-specific Flash Lite discussion boards:

Adobe's site
Forum Nokia discussion board

Which version of Flash should I publish my SWF in?

If you went through the steps above, you already know that SWF (pronounced as “swif”) is the file format of the compiled Flash files. The format is the same for both Flash and Flash Lite. The Flash Lite players are backwards compatible with earlier versions, so to be able to support the largest device base for a commercial Flash Lite application, it is recommended you publish as Flash Lite 1.1. Please note that this limits you to ActionScript 1 as well. If you wish to use XML sockets and ActionScript 2, publish as Flash Lite 2.1. Most phones that are shipped with earlier versions can be updated to Flash Lite 2.1 or all the way up to Flash Lite 3.

Want to make money with it?

Forum Nokia can offer plenty of advice about promoting your applications. Whether your application has global, regional, or local appeal, Forum Nokia can help you find the right channels.

Read more about going to market »

What else could you do?

If you have done all you can with ActionScript and fsCommands and want to use platform services, such as camera, GPS, sensors, calendar, contacts, messaging, etc. you have three options:

1. You can create a server application with native Symbian C++, Python, Java, or similar and talk to it through localhost.
2. You can use a 3rd-party application such as Kunerilite, Flyer, or Janus.
3. Or you can wait until the phones supporting the Service API are released.

Have fun!

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