Flash Local Content Updater

[This is an FYI post and is a copy paste from the Adobe Flash Player Downloads page :)]

The Local Content Updater (LCU) is a free command-line utility that can add, remove, or check for local-with-networking privileges, operating on one or many SWFs. This tool allows you to change the security sandbox that the SWF file operates in when it is played as a local file in Flash Player 8 and above. <!–For more information, see the article Security Changes in Flash Player 8. –>

• Download the Macromedia Flash Local Content Updater for Windows (ZIP, 65K)
• Download the Macromedia Flash Local Content Updater for Macintosh (TGZ, 59K)
• Download the Macromedia Flash Local Content Updater for Linux (TGZ, 36K)

C++ source code for the Local Content Updater is also available. Download the source code if you wish to see how the Local Content Updater works, port it to another platform, investigate bugs, integrate it into scripts, etc.

• Download the Macromedia Flash Local Content Updater source for Windows (ZIP, 15K)
• Download the Macromedia Flash Local Content Updater source for Macintosh/Unix (TGZ, 11K)

Checkout the FlashPlayer Security Sandbox details here [http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/html/05B_Security_04.html#124443]

Silverlight app uses Flash to work :)

I installed google chrome some time back. I would reserve my comments about the browser for a different post, but the my favorite feature is the task manager. Today, someone forwarded me the Windows Ads campaigns page, primarily for the I am a PC campaign (which uses Flash video 🙂 ).

I went to see the Bill Gates-Seinfeld campaign. You probably wont be able to see it as you don’t Silverlight or it is not supported for your browser/OS. Don’t bother installing, it is much easier to catch the videos on youTube (Shoe Circus | New Family).

Anyway, I was on the page and i see this…

Hmm.. Flash Player in a Silverlight page? I went on a right click spree and couldnt find it. Then i check out the embed tag on the video-bar and here’s what i get…

Is MS loading a SWF within Silverlight and conning people?? I decided to check it out. I embed the code into an html and ran it and i get this…

I still don’t know if my initial hypothesis was right, though the pre-loading suggests that the soapbox player is done in Flex. Next step was to check out the DOM to see where Flash was on the page. Thanks to Firebug, this was easy work. Here’s what I found (click the image to see a bigger version)

There is a div in the page called clipboardPlaceHolder. This contains a faceless swf that is used to access the system clipboard to copy the embed code into the system clipboard. I did some googling and found that Silverlight does a sloppy job with Clipboard access. There’s something in Silverlight that can access clipboard, but it only works on IE ;). Here’s the thread from the Silverlight forum.

Yes. This script doesn’t work in non-IE browsers.

Please read the following links if you wonder why it doesn’t work. .

* http://www.mozilla.org/editor/midasdemo/securityprefs.html
* IE Clipboard Stealing

The best solution that I have so far is “Using Flash clipboard”. If you want to implement this in your Silverlight, you can get the swf file…

So much for the multi-browser claim. It seems to me that they are trying to show as if Silverlight has capabilities that it actually does not… What next?

Free passes for Academia for mx:devsummit

I have some free passes with me for mx:devsummit that i have set aside for academia (students and faculty). Here’s how you can get them:

• If you are a student, go ahead and register here on my site [http://raghunathrao.com/announcements/events/StudentRegistrations.html] if you are a student
• If you are part of the faculty, please drop me a mail [raghunath.rao@gmail.com] so that i can personally call and invite you.

Hurry… passes on a first-come-first-serve basis. More info about the event here [http://www.endtoend.in/ete2008/adobe/ria/micro/]

Do you want to do a Flex/AIR Demo in mx:devsummit ?

Calling for Flex/AIR Demos at the <mx:devsummit/>. If you have a cool Flex/AIR Demo to show to the world, here’s your chance. This is open for companies and individuals.

Here’s a brief of the demos:

• You get 4 mins on stage
• No PPT, dive right to the demo and talk about the application
• We have a total of 45 mins, so we can realistically have 7-8 demos.

Here’s what you need to do:

• Sign in for the event at the event website[http://www.endtoend.in/ete2008/adobe/ria/micro/registration.php]
• Sign up for the demos at this app on my website [http://raghunathrao.com/announcements/events/DemoRegistrations.html]

I will contact you and then we can take this forward.

WikiDot Flex Geeks – your community window to get discounts for mx:devsummit

Thanks to Priyank Kapadia of the Pune Flex User Group for the timely creation of WikiDot Flex Geeks.

In reply to my last post, Priyank went ahead and created a wiki which can help you form community-driven groups from your city, so that you can avail group discounts for the event.

Go to the wiki (it has edit permissions for all) and put your name down in the table corresponding to your city. If your city is not listed, go ahead and add it.