Mike Swanson: SWF to WPF Converter

Dudes,

Looks really cool!

The link doesn't work on the article though, sends me to MS IT OWA.

Begun the vector wars has !

It's as if a thousand Adobe developers scream in terror and are then suddenly silenced.

This looks interesting

macbirdie wrote:

It's as if a thousand Adobe developers scream in terror and are then suddenly silenced.

Until it supports ActionScript I don't think anyone is *too* worried.  Of course a XAML-SWF converter would be spectacular and allow Microsoft to take advantage of the huge installation base of Flash.

I'd always thought the SWF spec proprietary though, I'm surprised it is as open as it appears to be.


Edit: Having thought a little more about it, isn't there a Javascript implementation for the CLR? ActionScript is essentially the same (EcmaScript) - although I guess it would involve reworking all of the existing Flash AS apis.

Rossj wrote:

This looks interesting
isn't there a Javascript implementation for the CLR?

Dude, do you forget JScript.NET?

Sheva

Rossj wrote:

I'd always thought the SWF spec proprietary though, I'm surprised it is as open as it appears to be.

For context, Adobe does make the Flash file format specification available: http://www.adobe.com/licensing/developer/. Unfortunately, their license was too restrictive for my needs, so I had to use other publicly available information on the internet (and there's a lot of it) to build the SWF2XAML tool. It's also important to note that I've built a converter, not a player. My goal is not to play back Flash content.

The inspiration for this tool came from many of the early adopters I've been working with over the past couple of years. A lot of them have content in the form of SWF files, and they want to use some of that content in their WPF applications. In many cases, they no longer have the original Flash project files (.FLA). So, this tool was built to help solve those needs.

A previous version of the Vista Smalltalk interpreter used a Javascript-like syntax, and I still have the Antlr syntax for it. It should be fairly simple to modify it for ActionScript.

The interpreter is designed for (hopefully) running in WPF/e.

https://vistasmalltalk.wordpress.com/
http://vistascript.net/vistascript/docuwiki/doku.php

Time to sell your Adobe shares!

FYI...I just posted a short 11½ minute walk-through of the tool.

mswanson wrote:



Rossj wrote: I'd always thought the SWF spec proprietary though, I'm surprised it is as open as it appears to be.

 In many cases, they no longer have the original Flash project files (.FLA). So, this tool was built to help solve those needs.

So now it's easier to pillage someone else’s work? Great... Ahh… gotta love the irony here MS helping people steal copyrighted art work and port it to a useable format.

Just cause they may say they no longer have the fla doesn’t mean they had it to begin with. I can’t believe I’m reading this.

Sourcecode wrote:

So now it's easier to pillage someone else’s work? Great... Ahh… gotta love the irony here MS helping people steal copyrighted art work and port it to a useable format.

Just cause they may say they no longer have the fla doesn’t mean they had it to begin with. I can’t believe I’m reading this.

Believe it, Sourcecode. In a few very large cases that I'm aware of, third-parties were hired to deliver thousands of small Flash animations, but they never thought to obtain the original FLA files. Today, when they're considering an update to WPF, they find themselves out of luck. This tool allows them to preserve some of their investment in those assets.

mswanson wrote:



Sourcecode wrote: So now it's easier to pillage someone else’s work? Great... Ahh… gotta love the irony here MS helping people steal copyrighted art work and port it to a useable format. Just cause they may say they no longer have the fla doesn’t mean they had it to begin with. I can’t believe I’m reading this.

Believe it, Sourcecode. In a few very large cases that I'm aware of, third-parties were hired to deliver thousands of small Flash animations, but they never thought to obtain the original FLA files. Today, when they're considering an update to WPF, they find themselves out of luck. This tool allows them to preserve some of their investment in those assets.

I don't want to cause any grief for you but I really need to post something about this in the coffehouse to get other opinions. It’s not as much a tool problem as a double standard thing that really kind of itches me wrong.

Please come and join the discussion there.

For those who want to follow the discussion with Sourcecode, here's a link to the Coffeehouse thread.

I'll take the words of "OmegaSupreme" and "macbirdie" and say

Begun the vector wars has and a thousand Adobe developers scream in real terror and are then suddenly silenced!

Good, no..., Great job Mike!

The ability to convert from one format to another is, to me, always a win-win situation.  The source software continues to be a viable content development platform (e.g. designers continue to get to work in Adobe product suite) and new software is afforded a migration/conversion path from existing technologies (e.g. VS guys can work with existing content). 

It's sad to me that vendors don't see these scenarios as opportunities.  I mean, wouldn't it be nicer to see the headline "Microsoft and Adobe work together to ensure seamless integration between Flash and Expression design tools"?  Wouldn't you be more inclined to accept a solution that used either company's technology than to eschew all current formats for a new one?

I for one think a tool like this ought not be a tool, but rather an implicit feature in both Expression/Orcas and Flash.  Making customers conform to your product line is so, 1999.

I really agree. I think if one looks at the way industries are moving towards open file formats, you'll see this more and more in all kinds of areas.

Sourcecode wrote:



I don't want to cause any grief for you but I really need to post something about this in the coffehouse to get other opinions. It’s not as much a tool problem as a double standard thing that really kind of itches me wrong.

Here's one interesting story:

http://www.advogato.org/article/101.html