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Version 2.2

The FlashSound API (FSAPI) is a custom JavaScript class for streamlining issues related to controlling playback of "sound only" SWF loaded in an embedded flash player. The FSAPI enables a web developer to focus on creating content rather than dealing with browser/player compatibility issues and the idiosyncrasies of using JavaScript to interact with embedded plug-ins and ActiveX controls.

The purpose of the FSAPI is to enable sonification of conventional web pages using the flash player without relying on the proprietary graphic presentation of flash. There are several advantages to using the flash player in this way.

• adding sound to conventional web sites without relying upon a proprietary graphic presentation technology.
  
• the flash player is almost ubiquitous in adoption, so a vast majority of users will experience interactive sound in a conventional web page with needing to download the Flash player.
  
• no need to create a separate Flash version of a web site to take advantage of Flash streaming and interactive sound.

Streamlining Embedded Player Javascript
The FSAPI streamlines the process of controlling the flash player from JavaScript. First, it checks for browser/player compatibility, if the user's configuration passes these tests then it uses JavaScript to write out the appropriate object/embed html tags to embed a hidden "sound only" swf. This minimizes hassles for users whose browser configuration is not compatible with your SWF content. View the logic flow chart pdf for more information on the structure of the FSAPI.

Each FlashSound instance inherits its JavaScript API by having an associated Flash player and SWF. Further more, it checks for player readiness before making direct calls to the native Flash JavaScript API to prevent errors in case the player is not yet ready for script control. Finally, it includes several custom methods and properties beyond the original Flash JavaScript API to simplify development.

Compared to the Native Flash JavaScript API
The FlashSound API makes use of the native Flash JavaScript API for playback. However the FSAPI adds features to the original API so that coding is simplified, minimizes error messages and methods behave in a manner similar to their Flash ActionScript counterparts. The FlashSound API has additional custom methods and properties for using JavaScript to detect and embed the flash player. The FlashSound API does not support the complete native Flash JavaScript API. Instead it supports the methods and properties that are relevant to playing sound only movies.

Read Scripting with Flash at the Macromedia web site, if you want to learn more about the native Flash JavaScript API.