Version Information:

• Version: 1.5
• Release Date: 8/9/10

Download:

Like what you see? Want to use the VideoMax class in your own Flash projects? Click the button below to download the most recent version of VideoMax, including a demo file and full instructions.

License:

VideoMax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, and is free to use. Links back to hesslerdesign.com are always appreciated. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available by submitting a Contact Request.

Description:

VideoMax is a very lightweight, fast, flexible, and easy-to-implement custom Flash video player class that can be used in any ActionScript 3.0 file. It currently supports FLV and F4V file formats. Some of the key highlights of the VideoMax class are:

• Lightweight: Importing the VideoMax class and creating an instance adds only 12kb to overall file weight. Compare that to the built-in Adobe ‘flvPlayback’ component, which adds 58kb to the overall file weight. Do the math. That’s nearly 500% heavier than this VideoMax class.
• Easy to Use: With just 3 lines of code, you can import the VideoMax class, create an instance of the player, and add it to your Flash file. And because of its dynamically-built nature, there are NO Library components needed. That’s right, NONE. All of the assets included in the VideoMax class are 100% built from scratch with nothing but ActionScript 3.0 code.
• Customizable: You can change a number of attributes to your VideoMax instances, so you can have a video player that is as unique as the video it plays. The customizable attributes include Width, Height, Auto Load, Auto Play, Auto Rewind, Auto Size, Buffer, Looping, Control Bar visibility, Tint, Play Button overlay, End Frame visibility, and onStart/onComplete listeners.
• Communicative: By using the onStart and onComplete listener attributes (and accompanying parameter attributes), you can have VideoMax dispatch events that call functions back in the parent file when the video starts and/or ends.
• Self-Sufficient: With its robust set of default attributes, VideoMax takes care of wrapping up all of the loose ends. Once you create your VideoMax instance, you can sit back and relax, knowing that everything is taken care of, including control bar resizing and positioning, buffering, automatic video resizing within the player, and more. Just import the class, create the instance, assign it attributes, and add it to your file. VideoMax will take care of the rest for you.

Example:

Parameters & Attributes:

As you can see from the example and accompanying code above, VideoMax only takes 1 parameter, an Object, which is optional. This Object contains the specific (and optional) attributes to set in the VideoMax instance. The available attributes are:

• autoLoad(Boolean) – If true, video will start loading upon instantiation. If false, video will not begin to load until play() is called. This value will be overwritten by a true value for autoPlay. (Default = true)
• autoPlay (Boolean) – If true, will auto play the video. (Default = false)
• autoRewind (Boolean) – If true, will seek to the video start when the video is done. (Default = true)
• autoSize (Boolean) – If true, will automatically and proportionally scale the video inside the player. (Default = true)
• buffer (Number) – Number of seconds of buffer needed before the video plays. (Default = 3)
• loop (Boolean) – If true, video will auto-rewind (despite the autoRewind setting) and continue to loop playback. (Default = false)
• showControls (Boolean) – If true, control bar is visible and active. (Default = true)
• showMiniStatus (Boolean) – If true, mini status bar is visible when the control bar animates out. (Default = true)
• source (String) – The path to the video that you want to play. (Default = null)
• tint (Array of uint) – Array containing optional uint hex codes to tint (1) the control bar background elements, and (2) the control bar buttons and text elements. (Default = [0x000000, 0xffffff])
• height (Number) – The height of the VideoMax instance. (Default = 480)
• width (Number) – The width of the VideoMax instance. (Default = 640)
• playOverlay (Boolean) – If true, shows large Play button overlay over video when not playing. (Default = false)
• showFirstFrame (Boolean) – If false, and autoPlay is false, hides video’s first frame. (Default = true)
• showLastFrame (Boolean) – If false, and autoRewind is false, hides video’s last frame. (Default = true)
• showEndFrames (Boolean) – If false, and autoPlay and autoRewind are false, hides video’s first and last frames. Cancels out showFirstFrame and showLastFrame values, if set differently. (Default = true)
• onComplete (Function) – Function in parent file to be called when video completes. (Default = null)
• onCompleteParams (Array) – Array to pass in to onComplete function in parent file. (Default = null)
• onStart (Function) – Function in parent file to be called when video starts. (Default = null)
• onStartParams (Array) – Array to pass in to onStart function in parent file. (Default = null)

Public Methods:

With VideoMax, you can call a number of public methods from the parent file. These methods are outlined below.

• play() – Resets the buffer, and reloads the video from the source location. Use when updating buffer length, or changing the source location for your video.
• resume() – Resumes playback from the current playhead location. Use when the video has been paused or stopped, as it will NOT completely reload the video like the play() method does.
• pause() – Pauses playback.
• stop() – Stops playback and returns the playhead to the beginning of the video. Since there is no built-in stop button in the Control Bar, use this method for stopping and resetting the video to the start.
• reset() – Stops playback, resets source to null, and hides video.
• mute(Boolean) – Mutes/Unmutes sound, based on the passed Boolean value into the function. A ‘true’ value mutes sound. A ‘false’ value unmutes sound.
• getDuration() – Returns the duration of the video as a Number.
• getElapsed() – Returns the elapsed time as a Number.
• setSize(width, height) – Sets video width and height, which are passed in as parameters. Passed width and height need to be typed as Numbers. (Default = 640, 480)
• setAutoLoad(Boolean) – If true, video will start loading upon instantiation. If false, video will not begin to load until play() is called. This value will be overwritten by a true value for autoPlay. (Default = true)
• setAutoPlay(Boolean) – If true, sets video to auto play. (Default = false)
• setAutoRewind(Boolean) – If true, video seeks to the start when the video is done. (Default = true)
• setAutoSize(Boolean) – If true, video will automatically and proportionally scale the video inside the player. (Default = true)
• setLoop(Boolean) – If true, video will auto-rewind (despite the autoRewind setting) and continue to loop playback. (Default = false)
• setTint(cbHex,btnHex) – Sets Control Bar tint. Passed parameters are uint values for (1) background elements, and (2) button and text elements. (Default = 0×000000, 0xffffff)
• setVolume(Number) – Sets volume level. A setting of 0 is mute, and 1 is 100%. This value can be more than 1, though audio quality may suffer. (Default = 1)
• setBuffer(Number) – Sets the number of seconds of buffer needed before the video plays. (Default = 3)
• showControlBar(Boolean) – Shows/Hides control bar inside of player. (Default = true)
• showMiniStatusBar(Boolean) – Shows/Hides mini status bar that shows when control bar is not visible. (Default = true)
• showVideo(Boolean) – Shows/Hides video inside of player. (Default = true)

Instructions:

To use VideoMax in your Flash project, you must import the VideoMax class into your file, create a new instance, and add it to the display list.

Setting VideoMax attributes can be done in two different ways, as seen in the two examples outlined below.

1. Setting Object Attributes on Creation (RECOMMENDED):
   import com.hd.VideoMax;
var vm:VideoMax = new VideoMax({width:640, height:480, tint:[0x1c1c1c, 0xffffff], source:"sample.flv"});
addChild(vm);
2. Setting Individual Attributes After Creation:
   import com.hd.VideoMax;
var vm:VideoMax = new VideoMax();
vm.setSize(640, 480);
vm.setTint(0x1c1c1c, 0xffffff);
vm.autoLoad = true; // OR vm.setAutoLoad(true);
vm.autoPlay = true; // OR vm.setAutoPlay(true);
vm.autoRewind = true; // OR vm.setAutoRewind(true);
vm.autoSize = true; // OR vm.setAutoSize(true);
vm.buffer = 10; // OR vm.setBuffer(10);
vm.loop = true; // OR vm.setLoop(true);
vm.playOverlay = true;
vm.showControls = true;
vm.showMiniStatus = true;
vm.showFirstFrame = false;
vm.showLastFrame = false;
vm.showEndFrames = false;
vm.source = "sample.flv";
vm.play();
addChild(vm);

NOTE: In Example 2, vm.play() needs to be called AFTER setting the attributes, even if the autoPlay attribute is set to true. This is because the autoPlay attribute’s default value is set to ‘false’. So when the VideoMax object is set, it will NOT play the video until instructed. Also, since you are setting attributes after creating the VideoMax instance, the attributes need to be recalculated, which happens when the ‘play()’ function is called. Lastly, if using Example 2, you do not have the ability to add ‘onStart’ and ‘onComplete’ commands, along with their accompanying parameters, unless you pass them as part of the attributes when creating the VideoMax instance.

Share the News:

Do you like VideoMax? Share the news by clicking on one of the buttons below.

Feedback:

Did you notice a bug? Have suggestions, questions, or need clarification? Please let me know. Add a comment below, or submit a Contact Request. I appreciate any and all feedback.