May 21st 2009 | Jens C Brynildsen

mProjector 4 Released

It's been silent on the Projector tools front for a while, but today ScreenTime Media announced the new version of mProjector. Version 4 supports both the Flash and Flex IDE as authoring tools and with Flex it even allows native debugging.

ScreenTime's mProjector has been a favorite of ours ever since our big Projector Tool Shootout. The thing we've always appreciated with the tool is how it just fits into our normal workflow. The mProjector API follows the same conventions as other well written Actionscript APIs, with well documented methods, events and properties. In version 4, this is taken further and you now have full Flex integration. Just add the mProjector SWC to get code completion, write your application and then debug it with the Flex debugger! Very neat!

As before, the new version isn't filled with hundreds of commands, but rather just the commands you are likely to need. The advantage of less commands is that since there's less code to break, the projectors are more stable than those of other tools we've tested. The drawback may of course be that you can't do everything with mProjector so if you need more specialized commands, there's a guide to developing your own plugins available. We've not yet needed that though.

The new version supports both AS2 and AS3 and development with Flash 8/CS3/CS4/Flex 3. As part of this update there's also been an update to the ScreenTime screensaver tool that adds support for Vista64, Flash 10 compatability and more.

We asked John Pattenden from Screentime Media a few questions about the release:

Q: Has Adobe's launch of AIR has changed how Screentime Media sees mProjector?

A: "I don't think AIR has changed how we see mProjector. mProjector still does what it always has, which is create full featured desktop applications from Flash. AIR is going to be the choice for some projects, but there are things that mProjector does that AIR cannot do - interact with the system, use the system tray, status menus, figure out information about other windows open on a machine and more. mProjector also supports both AS3 and AS2.

AIR also is not really an app but a runtime, and it requires users to install the AIR player, the feedback we've got from our customers is that they want to know that what they ship is what their customers get, without a 3rd party potentially getting in the way and changing or breaking something, or depending on internet connectivity. As always its really a question for the designer to pick the best tool for whatever project they are working on, in some case that will be AIR and in some cases it will be mProjector, we think they are largely complementary products, more choice is always good for end users."

Q: Why did it take such a long time from the Flash Player 9 release to get full AS3 support and Flex authoring?

A:It took much longer that we planned to get version 4 released for several reasons. Firstly we completely re-engineered the Windows version of mProjector from the ground up, and we are really happy with the results. That did take a lot longer than we expected. Support for some aspects of AS3 were also more complex than we initially thought.

Things that would bog down in version 3 now fly in version 4. We also have much cleaner code, so bug fixes and enhancements should happen much faster. We also spent significant time engineering revisions to Screentime for Flash our screensaver tool and an unexpectedly long amount of time working on Japanese localization issues. And we had to continue to support an fix bugs in mProjector 3 at the same time.

Documentation for v4 is currently being worked on, but you can start playing with it already. Click here to download the mProjector demo

Next story:
Beta versions of Flash Catalyst and Flex on Labs

Previous story:
Flash CS4 - Take 3

Comments

Posted by alpsoy on 05/21 at 02:19 PM

I don’t see any reason for using projector tools since the release of AIR.
When I was using them one of the basic problem was cross platform support and of course performance lacks. Also some antivirus products sometimes did not allow them to run.

It is obvious that there are things that projector tools can do and AIR can’t. But AIR has more advantages I think.

I don’t see myself using any projector tools in the future. If a project needs them, then somebody else can do it. It is all personal choice :)

Posted by Jens C Brynildsen on 05/21 at 02:44 PM

Maybe, but there’s many occasions where AIR can’t cut it? For instance - mProjector can interact with the OS in ways that AIR can’t like starting applications/documents, take screenshots, detect open windows, set screensaver/desktop wallpaper, dock the app, get the user id of the logged in user, send mail, do ftp… There’s just so much that AIR can’t do.

The distribution is also quite different. For instance - you can’t make a smooth distribution via CD-ROM when you’re using AIR. I’ve had that problem when making games that are sold over counter and the result was to use a Projector Tool. Also - an AIR file is really just a ZIP. AIR offers no protection, so if you care about keeping your code away from others (to hide highscore tricks in games and so on) you’ll need a Projector Tool.

AIR is cool, but it can’t be and probably won’t ever be the “Do-it-all” for the desktop. It’s strengths is really in it’s ease of distribution, not cross-platform features.

Posted by pi-ra-mid on 11/30 at 10:14 PM

hello all.

i have a question if i may. i have just noticed a new folder on my c\drive called “mprojector3421535933” of which contains 5 files relating to a FlashPlayer….. hmmm?
the ‘properties’ info states that the folder/files was created yesterday (monday) at 10.45am, but i dont recall doing or installing anything like that, especially at that time of day.

i use/run win98SE of which dual-boots with xp, but only 98 has access to the internet.
the only thing i can think of was installing an flv player recently, but that doesnt seem to relate to this. also, seeing as how i am using win98, most things like ‘flash-players’ etc wont run on my machine.

i came across this site after doing a google for ‘mprojector’ and then going through the usual sign-up etc.
flash players and related stuff isnt really my cup-of-tea, and i am just trying to find out what the new folder is all about.

can anyone shed some light on this for me…? ta.

Posted by Brian on 12/01 at 06:27 PM

Hello pi-ra-mid,

The first time an mProjector app runs it unpacks a couple dlls to a folder it creates in the PC’s temp directory.

Posted by pi-ra-mid on 12/02 at 01:19 PM

Hello ” B “,,,

thanks for reply, but it didnt address what i wanted to know.

1)the directory wasnt made in the temp folder, but rather as a permanent resident directly on to my C
\: drive. (along with five files inside)

2)you didnt address what app did this? or, are there many capable of doing this?

3)was it anything to do with the flv player i d/loaded and installed?

4)i have the following media players… ‘jad basic, winamp, winmedia player, flv player, and another that i cant recall right now.. (oh, there is another flv player as well,, i think its called Riva.)

either way, and if it was the flv player, why did it place it directly onto my C:\ drive… from my experience these types of things usually go under Program Files etc.
also, when i did install the flv player, its exe was on my E:\drive and also got extracted on my E:\drive and also gets executed from there.

what i am trying to say “B”, is, what the heck is the folder doing directly on my C:\drive..?!

oh, and why is the word ‘Flash-Player’ involved in the whole thing? like i said, i use 98SE, and i am not allowed modern versions of Adobe or Flash and a myriad of other things on this machine.

ta for follow-up.

ps,, when is this site going to update to the newer way of proving a person isnt a Bot, ie, having to type in the ‘secret’ letters etc?

Posted by Jens C Brynildsen on 12/02 at 03:00 PM

@pi-ra-mid re: update to the newer way of proving a person isnt a Bot

It won’t happen. Due to this policy I currently have 0% spam. It’s simply much easier to approve people than to block bots and paid people. It’s a sad fact that in low cost countries there’s people employed just to post spam despite it having no effect on page-rank any longer.

On other sites I have with less traffic and just CAPTCHA to save the day, I’m spending hours just to delete spam. I could of course ease up on making registered readers having to type the text. I’ll consider that. You’re actually the first in more than 200 commenters that have mentioned this.

Posted by Brian on 12/02 at 11:21 PM

Dear pi-ra-mid,

I’ll do my best to give you more insight on this issue but I may fall short of your expectations.

In general, Flash developers use mProjector to create desktop applications from their Flash content. The app you are running was created by one of our customers and was built with an earlier version of mProjector. mProjector 4 no longer creates the folder you mention.

1) Not sure why our temp folder ended up on the root dir of C. It’s either because your 98SE machine’s temp dir path is set to “C:\” - look at the environment vars in your system control panel - or the API we used to retrieve the temp dir path isn’t supported on 98SE or isn’t working properly.

2 & 3) Not sure. Any app built with mProjector v2 and some versions of v3 will create this folder. Delete the folder and re-launch the FLV Player app, if the folder returns, you’ve found the culprit.

4) see 1) & 2)

re: ‘Flash Player’ - including a Flash Player is an mProjector compile option. If the developer chooses to include the player, it is extracted to the app’s temp folder at run-time.

Your best bet resolve this problem may be to contact the developer and have them recompile the application with our latest version. If the problem persists, we can add it to our bug list and fix it.

Kindest Regards,
Brian