So, I have taken on a small project to modify a little php/html app in some trivial cosmetic ways. The ways in which I need to modify it are so trivial and cosmetic I didn’t really worry about it until kind of the last minute, at which point I discover it’s not just a php/html app. There’s Flash in there. Crap!
I’ve been trawling gloomily through the interwebs looking for ways I can make these trivial changes without selling my soul to Adobe. So far I’ve found
a free web-based flash generator that you can only create on, not modify any existing stuff
a nice looking IDE which appears to have been nuked with extreme prejudice from all its download sites at some time in the past
a bunch of stuff that runs under linux, not Windows
Anyone got any recommendations? All I want to do is change a couple of labels! Aaargh!
Using Adobe Flash is fine if you have access to the original source material, such as the original Flash file (.fla). But Flash files can be compiled into .swf files when they’re placed on the web. If all you have is one of those, you’ll need to break it apart to get at the parts. To do that, you need a ‘Flash decompiler’.
I don’t know of any free SWF decompilers, but I’m not by any means a web design guru. Sothink does an excellent job, but is $79.99 for the full version, and I don’t believe the trial is full-featured.
How complex is the app, and how strong is the need to stick with Flash? Have you considered converting to HTML5? Once you have the Flash trial installed, you could try using Swiffy to convert the application to HTML5. In some cases it’ll “Just Work” if the application isn’t too complex.
Flash is a “write only” medium used by terrible web designers as a job security measure. If they were good web designers, they could keep customers by doing excellent work.
It’s not quite that bad, gaffa. Flash works quite well for its original purpose, which was animation. But at some point Macromedia and Adobe got the idea that entire websites could be created using only Flash, which made them less portable, less maintainable, and less readable by screen readers.
Now Adobe Edge Animate has appeared, which to my untrained eyes looks like the Flash development tool (complete with animation stage and timelines), but creates HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS.
oh, I’d LOVE to get rid of the flash altogether! I’m just not sure if the things that the flash is doing are doable by html. But I’m willing to give it a bloody good try!
Seeing exactly what the flash is doing behind the scenes would certainly help with that. That swiffy site looks like just what I need
(I went hunting for flash decompilers and found one with a trial version that seemed to have good reviews. Six out of the seven animations in this app crash the thing instantly - including the one I need to change of course )
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