As many of you have noticed, Flash Resource Manager does not work with Flash 8. This is because the path to the help files is hardcoded (at least for the first load) for Flash MX 2004.

I just played around with the source, and it was pretty easy for me to fix, so once I get the correct version of Visual Studio installed, I am going to try and update it so it will work with both Flash MX 2004 and Flash 8.

In the meantime, if you look in the install directory for the Flash Resource Manager, you should find a config directory with app.config file. This is an XML file that contains all of the settings for the app. You should be able to change the file paths here to get it to work correctly. I haven’t been able to get get this to work yet, but I wanted to post it here in case anyone wanted to try (post in the comments if you get it working).

UPDATE : Ritesh has confirmed in the comments that you can get it to work with Flash 8 by manually editing the config file.

UPDATE 2: I can’t get the app to work correct on the WIndows .NET 2.0 beta, so if you are having problems, that might be the issue.

I have released a new version of my Flash Resource Manager for Windows. Among other things, this release adds support for Flash MX 7.2 (Ellipsis).

Here is a complete list of changes:

• Added support for Flash MX 2004 7.2.
• Added option to not view help files installed by extensions.
• You can now set files as start page. You must enter a valid URI.
• Added home page link to go menu.
• Latest News link in go menu now goes to latest news, and not home page.
• Added version support to application settings. The application will only load settings if the settings were created by the same version of the application.

You can download the new version, as well as find out more information here.

CommunityMX.com has posted a couple of video tutorials on my Flash Resource Manager application.

The tutorials show:

• Installation
• Feature overview
• Customization
• Searching
• Creating custom search plugins

You can view the tutorials here.

You can find more information about Flash Resource Manager from here.

Owen Van Dijk has put together a step by step tutorial showing how to use the Flash Resource Manager to read the Flex docs.

This will also work with other HTML based docs, such as ColdFusion.

You can view the entire tutorial here.

You can find out more about Flash Resource Manager here.

I have released a new version of my Flash Resource Manager application. It includes a bunch of bug fixes, as well as the ability to highlight the search term in search results, and support for Livedoc based HTML docs (Flex, CF and Central have been tested).

Here is the change Log

• Added ability to add Macromedia HTML based docs (tested with Flex, ColdFusion and Central)
• Added Preferences > Help to manage, add and edit which HTML docs are included.
• Added Flash HowTo help books to default install.
• Added ability to search documents from the help tree context menu (will search for currently selected item).
• Added ability to search plugins from the help tree context menu (will search for currently selected item).
• Fixed bug where application window would not always have focus when launched.
• Added preference to toggle the collapsed state of a node when it is clicked.
• Fixed bug where regular expression check box was being ignore in searches (all searches were treated as regular expressions)
• Fixed bug where items were added to search filter even if index file was invalid. (Thanks Jason Merrill)
• Moved Flash docs to be contained within top level folders / nodes.
• Added ability to toggle which top level Flash documents / books are available (View > Preferences > Help).
• Improved start up time
• Search terms will now be highlighted when viewing search results (this is currently an experimental feature).
• Added back / forward browser buttons (I will implement browser features better in future releases)
• removed toolbar layout persistence into separate file. This should not be edited by hand.

You can find more information, view screenshots, and download the application from here.

Here is a sneak peak of the next beta build of my Flash Resource Manager application.

This screen shot shows the new support for Macromedia HTML based help (in this case Flex, ColdFusion and Central).


Click for full size image.

The new version will be available in the next couple of days.

I have just uploaded an updated to the Flash Resource Manager. This version includes a couple of fixes for users running non-English versions of Flash.

Specifically:

• Added ability to automatically determine Flash Authoring language
• Fixed problems with parsing non-English help XML documents

Note : You should no longer need to resave your help XML files into the correct encoding type.

If you are running an English version of Flash, there is not need to install this version.

It is recommended that you first un-install the previous version and then install the new version.

You can download the new version from here.

If you run into any issues, post them in the comments here.

As I posted last week, I have been playing around (in my free time) with building a small app for viewing the Flash documentation outside of the Flash IDE. Well, the first public version of the Flash Resource Manager is now available.

Flash Resource Manager
Beta 0.93
Last Updated July 26, 2004

Created by Mike Chambers

Default graphics and application icons created by Josh Dura.

Requirements
—————————————–

Requires Windows running the .NET framework. You can download the .NET framework (all 23 megs of it) from:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3&displaylang=en

Installation
—————————————–

It is recommended that you first uninstall previous versions of the application before installing a new version.

Features
—————————————–

This application is a standalone resource manager for Macromedia Flash. It offers a number of features, including:

• Ability to view Flash help outside of the Flash Help panel.
• Ability to open multiple tabs, and thus view multiple help items at a time.
• Very fast search that can be filtered by help book.
• Ability to search with regular expressions.
• Livedocs integration (only with ActionScript dictionary).
• Ability to write custom search plug-ins (based on FireFox search plug-in format).
• Ability to re-skin graphics, and switch between icon themes.
• Online integration so you always get the latest Flash community news.
• Ability to set window to always be on top.
• Support for Macromedia Livedoc HTML format.
• Highlight search terms in search results.
• Much, much more…

Screenshots
————————————————————————-

Help Preferences with Flex and ColdFusion Docs

Search Results with search term being highlighted.

Application showing livedocs support

Application showing latests Flash community news and info.

Search results from Regular Expression based search.

Search the macromedia.flash.actionscript newsgroup via a search plugin.

Change Log
—————————————–

July 26, 2004

• Added support for Flash MX 2004 7.2.
• Added option to not view help files installed by extensions.
• You can now set files as start page. You must enter a valid URI.
• Added home page link to go menu.
• Latest News link in go menu now goes to latest news, and not home page.
• Added version support to application settings. The application will only load settings if the settings were created by the same version of the application.

April 15, 2004

• Added ability to add Macromedia HTML based docs (tested with Flex, ColdFusion and Central)
• Added Preferences > Help to manage, add and edit which HTML docs are included.
• Added Flash HowTo help books to default install.
• Added ability to search documents from the help tree context menu (will search for currently selected item).
• Added ability to search plugins from the help tree context menu (will search for currently selected item).
• Fixed bug where application window would not always have focus when launched.
• Added preference to toggle the collapsed state of a node when it is clicked.
• Fixed bug where regular expression check box was being ignore in searches (all searches were treated as regular expressions)
• Fixed bug where items were added to search filter even if index file was invalid. (Thanks Jason Merrill)
• Moved Flash docs to be contained within top level folders / nodes.
• Added ability to toggle which top level Flash documents / books are available (View > Preferences > Help).
• Improved start up time
• Search terms will now be highlighted when viewing search results (this is currently an experimental feature).
• Added back / forward browser buttons (I will implement browser features better in future releases)
• removed toolbar layout persistence into separate file. This should not be edited by hand.

April 8, 2004

• Added ability to automatically determine Flash Authoring language
• Fixed problems with parsing non-English help XML documents

Change Log
—————————————–

• The application does not always have focus when it starts.
• Search highlighting is experimental. Some search terms will break the HTML. (If you know Regular Expressions well, and want to help, let me know).

Adding Macromedia HTML Help
—————————————–

Flash Resource Manager now has the ability to use Macromedia help in downloadable Livedoc HTML format. This has been tested with the following docs:

Macromedia Flex

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flex/

Macromedia ColdFusion

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/coldfusion/

Macromedia Central

http://www.macromedia.com/go/central_sdk

In order to add the docs to the application:

1. Download and unzip the docs.
2. Open the Resource Manager Application.
3. Open View > Preferences Help.
4. In the HTML section, press the Add button.

5. Navigate the appropriate XML file within the download docs. There will normally be 2. In general, you want the one with the product name in the file name. The application will validate that you have selected the correct format.

   For example, the Flex XML file is:
   Htmldoc/000_flex.xml

6. The default name for the doc will be the XML file name. Type in the name you want it to appear as.
7. Click ok, and restart the application.
8. The new docs should now appear.

If you test it with docs other than the products mentioned above, let me know and I will add it to the list.

Creating new themes
—————————————–

To create a new icon theme, copy the themes/Default folder to a new folder within the themes directory. You can then change the images within the directory. Any bitmap image type should work (bmp, gif, jpg, png). You can set the mask color as well as other information about the theme, within the index.xml file included within your theme directory. Images should be 16×16.

The theme name is determined by the name of the theme’s directory.

Creating new search plug-ins
—————————————–

You can add new search plug-ins by placing them within the search/ directory. Flash Resource Manager uses a subset of the FireFox search plug-in format (which itself is based on the Apple Sherlock plug-in format). It currently only supports GET based plug-ins.

You can read the FireFox plug-in docs at:
http://mycroft.mozdev.org/deepdocs/quickstart.html

Note, the plug-ins must be well formed XML. Many of the FireFox plug-ins are not well formed, and thus you may have to fix them. If you are not sure, just look at one of the existing plug-ins.

Reporting bugs
—————————————–

If you find a bug or have a suggestion, please send it to mesh@macromedia.com. If you experience an application crash, please also send the logs/error.log file, as well as a description of your computer setup, and what you were doing when the application crashed.

Tips
—————————————–

CTRL-Click on a node to open it in a new tab.

SHIFT-Click on a node to open it in a new browser.

If the app seems to be using a lot of memory, try to minimize and then maximize it.

You can customize which buttons appear on the tool bar. The layout will be saved between sessions.

Notes
—————————————–

Resources menu is not yet complete.

Special Thanks
—————————————–
Chafic Kazoun
Robin Debreuil
Jason Merrill
Christian Cantrell
Owen van Dijk

THIS APPLICATION WAS NOT CREATED BY AND IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH NOR SUPPORTED BY MACROMEDIA.

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Download

————————————————————————-

Download Flash Resource Manager Beta 0.93

Post suggestions, feature requests and bugs in the comments.

I have been working on a new app in my free time over the past couple of weeks, and am getting close to finishing up the first version. I thought that I would post some screenshots, and give a sneak preview of it.

The application is basically a standalone Flash Help panel and resource finder. Here are some beta screenshots:


Reference Panel showing help, multiple tabs and livedoc context menu.

Search panel, showing search results and regular expression support.

Plugins search panel (you can add your own plugins) and preferences panel (showing theme tab).

Btw, if you can think of a good / cool name, post it in the comments.

More info soon…