The idea of bringing the rich internet application out of the browser and onto the computer would extend the possibilities of flex. It would be great to have a framework that you can develop flex applications within that is cross platform. And, it would have the functionality that Java Web Software provides such as checking for newer versions and downloads them.
Given the current state of the player and possible solutions, maybe the approach would be to use the Gecko SDK and embed an optimized version of the Firefox browser as the basis of such framework. I've never done this but it should work if the flash player was written in XPCOM. The biggest advantage is that Adobe develops the player for this open source browser so it would be supported. It would also give you the ability to develop flex apps for both OSX and Windows. Updates would be done by downloading the swf's and having a version file on the server. So, you could get all of the advantages of using the Active X without being tied to Microsoft and have all of the additional rendering power and support packages that it built into Firefox already. And if it was open source with a license that allows commercial use, there could be an online community that expands the system functionality that is currently tied because of wild web surfing. I think this solution would be really interesting. Patrick --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, "hank williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On 7/11/06, FineLine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Thanks ryanm, I hadn't heard of this implementation before, probably > > because > > not much has been published about it (that I can find) since its release > > in > > 1996. This doesn't fill me with confidence that it would be a workable > > solution for embedding Flash content in native OSX apps. > > > On a mac you wouldnt use activeX but the flash mac plugin. Quite a few > companies do this in order to make what are called projectors, which are > stand alone shells that let you create standalone apps that run via flash. > ActiveX really *is* dead on the mac. The two primary browsers dont support > it and IE hasnt been upgraded in years. An open source project that does > this is called screenweaver. If you want to make your own, you might want to > look at their code as a base. Otherwise I would suggest using a projector > like screenweaver or one from mdm or northcode. The will allow you to > integrate any native platform stuff you need including C or C++. > > Regards > Hank > > > > I guess this isn't really what Flex is made for anyway. It just seems like a > > nice tool to develop visual components that can be used inside other > > programs. It works fine on Windows with an ActiveX host (in my case, Omnis > > Studio), but I can't see a way on Mac. Presumably, even if I did build an > > ActiveX integration layer, I would still need to recompile the Flash > > Player > > ActiveX control from the source on Mac anyway - not something we have > > access > > to. > > > > Anyway, thanks for the idea, I learnt something new. > > > > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > > Behalf Of ryanm > > Sent: Wednesday, 12 July 2006 5:27 AM > > To: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com > > Subject: Re: [flexcoders] Mac equivalent of ActiveX > > > > > Open source != open specs. > > > > > You can get source on the web if you look for it. > > > > > Isn't IE on the Mac dead these days anyway ? > > > > > Not even close. Funny how the dev geeks always seem to think so > > (wishful > > > > thinking?), but server stats say otherwise. > > > > ryanm > > > > > > > > -- > > Flexcoders Mailing List > > FAQ: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/files/flexcodersFAQ.txt > > Search Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Flexcoders Mailing List > > FAQ: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/files/flexcodersFAQ.txt > > Search Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- Flexcoders Mailing List FAQ: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/files/flexcodersFAQ.txt Search Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/flexcoders/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
