With ActionScript 3.0, you can debug a remote SWF file by using the stand-alone, ActiveX, or plug-in version of the Debug Flash Player, which you can find in the Animate install directory/Players/Debug/ directory. However, in the ActionScript 3.0 Debugger, remote debugging is limited to files located on the same localhost as the Animate authoring application, being played in the stand-alone debug player, ActiveX control, or plugin.
To permit remote debugging of the file, enable debugging in the Publish settings. You can also publish your file with a debugging password to ensure that only trusted users can debug it.
As in JavaScript or HTML, users can view client-side variables in ActionScript. To store variables securely, send them to a server-side application instead of storing them in your file. However, as a developer, you may have other trade secrets, such as movie clip structures, that you do not want to reveal. You can use a debugging password to protect your work.
Enable remote debugging of a SWF file and set a debugging password
In ActionScript 3.0 FLA files, code in frame scripts cannot be debugged. Only code in external AS files can be debugged with the ActionScript 3.0 Debugger.
1 Open the FLA file.
2 Select File > Publish Settings.
3 In the Publish Settings dialog box, click the tab (CS5) or category (CS5.5), and then select Permit Debugging.
4 Close the Publish Settings dialog box, and select one of the following commands:
• File > Export > Export Movie
• File > Publish
5 Leave the SWF file on the local machine to perform a remote debug session on the localhost, or upload it to your web server.
The SWF file contains no breakpoint information, so if you upload the file to a remote server you will not be able to step through code. Use the localhost to perform this task.
6 In Animate, select Debug > Begin Remote Debug Session > ActionScript 3.0.
Animate opens the ActionScript 3.0 Debugger and waits for a debug Flash Player to connect. You have 2 minutes to start the debug Flash Player. If more than 2 minutes elapse, repeat this step.
7 Open the SWF file in the debug version of the Flash Player plugin, ActiveX control, or stand-alone player. The debug stand-alone player is located in the Animate install directory/Players/Debug/ directory. Do not connect to a file on another machine, as debugger will not be able to receive any breakpoint information.
The debug session begins when the debug player connects to the ActionScript 3.0 Debugger panel.
Note: Remote debugging does not function if you select the Default Network Interface for AIR 3.4. Instead, select the options to provide Network Interface name and IP Address of the system.
Activate the Debugger from a remote location
1 Open the Animate authoring application if it is not already open.
2 Select Debug > Begin Remote Debug Session > ActionScript 3.0.
3 In a browser or in the debugger version of the stand-alone player, open the published SWF file from the remote location.
If the Remote Debug dialog box does not appear, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) in the SWF file to display the context menu, and select Debugger.
4 In the Remote Debug dialog box, select Localhost and select the file to open.
The display list of the SWF file appears in the Debugger. If the SWF file doesn’t play, the Debugger might be paused, so click Continue to start it.
Enabling Support for Custom Platforms
This article guides the plug-in developers on how to create Animate plug-ins to support custom platforms. To build a custom platform support plug-in, developers must download the Custom Platform Support Development Kit from the following location:
Download a sample plug-in from the following location and use it as a reference for building a custom support platform support plug-in:
CustomPlatformSupportDevelopmentKit.zipSampleCreateJSPlatform.zip A plug-in consists of the following elements:
• DocType adds a new document type for the custom platform in Animate and controls the authoring features.
• Publisher allows configuration of the publish settings and publishing the document to the custom platform.
For an overview of the Custom Platform Support feature, see Custom Platform Support.
Building a Animate custom platform support plug-in
You can develop a custom platform support plug-in using one of the following methods:
• Create a plug-in using the APIs in the custom platform support development kit.
• Customize the settings of the sample plug-in included in the development kit to suit your requirements.
Custom Platform Support plug-ins are packaged as .zxp files that can be installed with Animate CC. You can host the plug-in on the Adobe Add-ons page for users to download and install using the Creative Cloud application or distribute the plug-ins as .zxp packages to install them using Adobe Extensions Manager.
Software requirements
A developer needs the following software to build a plug-in using the custom platform support development kit.
• Microsoft Windows 7 or Apple Mac OS 10.8 and later
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 (for Windows) or XCode 4.5.2 (for Mac)
• Animate CC 2014.1 (October)
• Eclipse IDE for C/C++ Developers
• Adobe Extension Builder 3.0
• Adobe Extension Manager 7.2.1.6
API reference documentation for plug-in developers
The custom platform support development kit contains the following elements:
• FCM (Flash Component Model): The header files contained in the development kit define a framework called FCM, which is responsible for plug-in management.
• DocType: This contains a set of interfaces that helps you to add a new document type to the Animate start page and allows you to enable or disable features for the custom document type.
• DOM (Document Object Model): This contains a set of interfaces that helps you to access the contents of the animate document in the form of a DOM.
• Publisher: This contains a set of interfaces that provides hooks to the publish workflows.
For complete information about the APIs in the custom platform support and examples of how to use them to build your plug-in, see Custom Platform Support API Reference.
Creating a custom platform support plug-in
You can create a custom platform support plug-in as follows:1 Download the Custom Platform Support Development Kit.
2 Extract the contents of the kit to your computer.
3 Open a new project in VisualStudio or Xcode and include the header files in the development kit to your software development project. To quick-start the creation of your custom platform support plug-in, you can use the following sample plug-in available under the SampleCreateJSPlatform directory as the base code for your plug-in project.
For example, the SampleCreateJS plug-in files are at SampleCreateJSPlatform\Plugin\SampleCreateJS\project\
4 Make necessary changes for your target platform.
5 Compile the code to generate a plug-in (.dll or .plug-in).
Packaging the custom platform support plug-in
You can generate a distributable package of the custom platform support plug-in as follows:
1 Open the sample Eclipse file or in the Eclipse New Project wizard, create a new Application Extension Project.
Provide a name for the project, then click Next.
2 On the New Adobe Application Extension Project panel, choose Adobe Animate as the target application and click Next.
3 Change the extensions of the plug-in files that you had created from .dll to .fcm on Windows and from .plug-in to .fcm.plug-in on Mac and add the plug-in files to the project (ExtensionContent/plugins/lib/win for Windows and ExtensionContent/plugins/lib/mac for MAC).
4 Configure your extension by modifying the manifest.xml. To open the manifest file, right-click on the extension in project explorer and select Adobe Extension Builder 3 > Bundle Manifest Editor and select the the manifest tab in Bundle Manifest Editor present at EclipseProject\.staged-extension\CSXS.
5 To enable editing the manifest.xml, right-click inside the window and select Open with > XML editor. The two tags that you must concentrate on are: ExtensionList and DispatchInfoList:
A typical ExtensionList tag looks as below:
<ExtensionList>
<Extension Id="PluginID" Version="1.0" />
<Extension Id="PublishSettingsID" Version-"1.0" />
</ExtensionList>
This tag contains the list of extensions in the final ZXP package in which each extension has a unique string as its ID.
In this case, the .dll or .plugin file created in the previous section is included in an extension. Then, the other extension is used for configuring the Publish Settings UI of the Publisher. In the sample, ExtensionList tag the extension with the extension ID PluginID contains the .dll/.plugin file and the extension with the ID PublishSettingsID configures the publish pettings UI of the publisher.
The DispatchInfoList tag contains details about each extension mentioned in the ExtensionList. The following is an example of DispathInfoList:
<DispatchInfoList>
<Extension Id="PluginID">
<DispatchInfo >
<Resources>
<MainPath>./plugin/fcm.xml</MainPath>
</Resources>
<Lifecycle>
<AutoVisible>true</AutoVisible>
</Lifecycle>
<UI>
<Type>ModalDialog</Type>
<Menu>CreateJS</Menu>
<Geometry>
<Size>
<Height>200</Height>
<Width>200</Width>
</Size>
</Geometry>
</UI>
</DispatchInfo>
</Extension>
<Extension Id="PublishSettingsID">
<DispatchInfo >
1 For the extension containing the .dll or the .plugin file, you can ignore all the tags except the MainPath tag. The MainPath tag contains path to the file fcm.xml relative to the ExtensionContent folder. You must rename the .dll file to .fcm and placed inside the win folder beside the fcm.xml. Similarly, if you are working on the Mac environment, rename the .plugin file to .fcm.plugin and place it inside the mac folder beside the fcm.xml.
2 The HTML extension to configure the publish settings user interface is an HTML extension to Animate. To know more about HTML extensions to Animate, see Creating HTML Extensions .
3 Ensure that the lower value of the version attribute in the Host tag is 14.0, the minimum (inetrnal) version of Animate CC with Custom Platform Support.
1 Switch to the Script Explorer view, right-click on your project and choose Export > Adobe Extension Builder 3 >
Application Extension. The Export Wizard appears.
2 You must have a certificate to sign the extension package. Browse to an existing certificate or click Create to create a new certificate.
3 Click Finish to compile the project. Eclipse generates a plug-in file with .zxp extension, which you can host on the Adobe Add-ons site.
Distributing your custom platform support plug-in
You can distribute the custom platform support plug-in by hosting it on the Adobe Add-ons page and monetize it. Your in package goes through an Adobe review and approval process before it is listed on the page. You can host a plug-in as follows:
1 Log in to the Adobe Add-ons page using your Adobe user ID and password.
2 On the left panel, under Become a producer, click the link Go to the producer portal.
3 Click the Sign-up button if you are not signed up as a producer.
4 For detailed instructions on how to sign up as a producer and host your plug-ins, see Getting Started with the Producer Portal.
5 Complete the following steps in the producer portal workflow as documented in the Getting Started page:
1 Package your product in a single file.
2 Enter information about the product and upload the file.
3 Add marketing assets.
4 Preview your product.
5 Submit your product for approval.
6 After approval, your plug-in is listed under the Animate product category on the Add-ons page.
• If you are a user who wants to install a plug-in, create a custom platform document, and publish it using Animate, see Working with Custom Platform Support Plug-in .
• For complete information about managing Adobe extensions, see Downloading and Installing Extensions .
Feature requests and bug reporting
Fill the following form if you want to send any questions, concerns, product bugs, or feature requests to the Animate product team:
Adobe Feature Requests and Bug Report Form