Tutorial: how to create flash movie using SWF Scout library and Visual C++

How to create SWF animation movie file from Visual C++ using SWF Scout library:

"Hello, World!" example

You can download the source code of this example here: swfscout_vc.zip

See also: adding PNG image (visual c++ source code) - swfscout_add_png_visual_c.zip (100 KB)

This tutorial will teach you how to create simple SWF flash movie animation from VC++ using SWF Scout library.

1) Install SWF Scout library on your computer and run Visual C++

2) Select the "New.." command from "File" menu (as it is shown below) to run :

3)The New Project Wizard dialog will appear on the screen. Select "Win32 Console Application" project type and enter "HelloWorld" as the Project name as shown on the screenshot below:

4) The wizard will ask what kind of Console Application you want to create. Select A "Hello, World!" application and click Finish:

VC++ will show the summary information for a new project. Click OK:

Visual C++ will generate the application code for simple console application

Source code editor window will appear. To edit main() function just open the class tree on the left and double click on "H elloWorld Classes" | "Globals" | "main (int argc, char* argv[1])":

VC++ will open main() function:

5) To use SWF Scout from VC++ application you have to tell the compiler to import type library information into the project.

To import the type library just add #import compiler directive after #include directive:

#import "SWFScout.tlb"
using namespace SWFScout;

and then HelloWorld.cpp will look like this:

6) The code snippet that will generate SWF flash animation should be placed in main() function body.

// HelloWorld.cpp : Defines the entry point for the console application.

#include "stdafx.h"

#import "SWFScout.tlb"

using namespace SWFScout;

int main(int argc, char* argv[])

{

// initialize OLE

HRESULT hr = CoInitialize(NULL);

// check for errors

if (FAILED(hr)) {

MessageBox(0,"OLE initialization errp","error",MB_OK);

return -1;

}

// declare SWFScout object

IFlashMovie* Movie = NULL;

long Shape, Font, Text;

CLSID clsid;

// get inuque ID for IFlashMovie interface

hr = CLSIDFromProgID(OLESTR("SWFScout.FlashMovie"), &clsid);

// check for errors

if (FAILED(hr)) {

MessageBox(0,"Can't get CLSID for interface","error",MB_OK);

goto Uninit;

};

// create FlashMovie object

hr = CoCreateInstance(clsid, NULL, CLSCTX_ALL,__uuidof(IFlashMovie), (LPVOID*)&Movie);

// check for errors

if (FAILED(hr)) {

MessageBox(0,"Can't create Movie object","error",MB_OK);

goto Uninit;

}

// initialize library

Movie->InitLibrary("demo", "demo");

// start movie generation

Movie->BeginMovie(0,0,640,480, 1, 12,6);

// start document generation

Font = Movie->AddFont("Arial", 18, true, false, false, false, 0); // add font

// create and place text

Text = Movie->AddText("Hello, World!", 0, 0, 0, 255, Font, 0, 100, 250, 160);

Movie->PlaceText(Text, Movie->CurrentMaxDepth); // place text into current depth

Movie->PLACE_FadeOut(0.5); // fade out text

Shape = Movie->AddShape(); // add new shape

Movie->SHAPE_Rectangle (0, 140, 150, 285); // draw rectangle

Movie->SHAPE_SetSolidColor(50, 255, 50, true, 255); // set solid fill for shape

Movie->PlaceShape(Shape, Movie->CurrentMaxDepth); // place shape into current depth

Movie->ShowFrame(10); // show 10 frames

Movie->EndMovie(); // end movie generation

Movie->SaveToFile("c:\\Shapes.swf"); // save generated SWF into file

// disconnect from library

Movie->Release();

// uninitialize OLE libraries

Uninit:

CoUninitialize();

return 0;

}

This code will generate SWF flash animation file that will be saved as "c:\shapes.swf" file

Hint:

you can simply copy and paste the code from the sample above into VC++ code editor window:

7) Run the application by pressing F5 (or use "Build" | "Debug" | "Go")

VC++ will compile and run "Hello, World!" application. It will generate Shapes.swf file on C:\ disk

You can view generated flash file (.SWF) using Internet Explorer or another application that is capable of viewing and playing of flash animations.

You can download the source code of this example here: swfscout_vc.zip

See also: adding PNG image (visual c++ source code) - swfscout_add_png_visual_c.zip (100 KB)