Getting Started

F-IN-BOX, DLL Edition is a wrapper around the official Macromedia / Adobe Flash Player ActiveX (swflash.ocx / flash.ocx).
It does not implement its own rendering engine but instead extends the features of the official ActiveX control, removing several of its limitations.

Creating an F-IN-BOX window

Create an HFPC handle.
- To use the system-registered Flash ActiveX, call FPC_LoadRegisteredOCX.
- To load Flash ActiveX from memory (for example, from resources), use FPC_LoadOCXCodeFromMemory.
These functions load the control code and register an F-IN-BOX window class.
Obtain the class atom using FPC_GetClassAtom. Pass this atom to CreateWindow / CreateWindowEx or use FPC_CreateWindow directly to create a window.
After all windows associated with a given HFPC are destroyed, call FPC_UnloadCode to unload the Flash code.

Supported window types

Child window, Window Mode
Standard child window rendering.
Child window, Transparent Mode
Allows capturing frames with an alpha channel.
Popup window, Transparent Mode
Enables creating semitransparent, non-rectangular windows based on Flash content (useful for custom GUI).

Example

HFPC hFPC;
HWND hwndFPC1, hwndFPC2, hwndFPC3;
 
hFPC = FPC_LoadRegisteredOCX();
 
if (NULL == hFPC)
   return; // Failed to load Flash ActiveX
 
hwndFPC1 = 
   FPC_CreateWindow(hFPC, 
                    0, 
                    NULL, 
                    WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, 
                    nLeft, 
                    nTop, 
                    nWidth, 
                    nHeight, 
                    hWnd, 
                    NULL, 
                    NULL, 
                    NULL);
 
hwndFPC2 = 
   CreateWindow((LPCTSTR)FPC_GetClassAtom(hFPC), 
                NULL, 
                WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | FPCS_TRANSPARENT, 
                rc.left, 
                rc.top, 
                rc.right - rc.left, 
                rc.bottom - rc.top, 
                hWnd, 
                NULL, 
                NULL, 
                NULL);
 
hwndFPC3 = 
   CreateWindowEx(WS_EX_LAYERED, 
                  (LPCTSTR)FPC_GetClassAtom(hFPC), 
                  NULL, 
                  WS_POPUP | WS_VISIBLE, 
                  rc.left, 
                  rc.top, 
                  rc.right - rc.left, 
                  rc.bottom - rc.top, 
                  NULL, 
                  NULL, 
                  NULL, 
                  NULL);
 
if (NULL != hFPC)
{
   FPC_UnloadCode(hFPC);
   hFPC = NULL;
}

Loading a movie

Movies can be loaded from files, URLs, resources, or memory.

File or URL: Use FPC_LOADMOVIE or FPC_PUTMOVIE.
Memory block: Use FPCLoadMovieFromMemory / FPCPutMovieFromMemory (suitable for smaller movies).
Resource: Use FPCLoadMovieFromResource / FPCPutMovieFromResource.
Streaming (large or slow sources): Use FPCLOADMOVIEUSINGSTREAM / FPCPUTMOVIEUSINGSTREAM.

These return an IStream that you should write content into and release when complete.

Example (resource)

// Load movie from resource
FPCPutMovieFromResource(hwndFlashPlayerControl, NULL, _T("MOVIE"), _T("SWF"));

Example (streaming with thread marshalling)

IStream* pStream;
FPCPutMovieUsingStream(hwndFlashPlayerControl, &pStream);
 
// Marshal the stream to another thread
IStream* pStreamForMarshalling;
CoMarshalInterThreadInterfaceInStream(IID_IStream, pStream, &pStreamForMarshalling);
 
pStream->Release();
pStream = NULL;
 
DWORD dwThreadId;
HANDLE hThread = 
   CreateThread(NULL, 
                0, 
                &FlashContentProviderThread, 
                (LPVOID)pStreamForMarshalling, 
                0, 
                &dwThreadId);
CloseHandle(hThread);
 
DWORD WINAPI FlashContentProviderThread(LPVOID lpParameter)
{
   CoInitialize(NULL);
 
   IStream* pStreamForMarshalling = (IStream*)lpParameter;
   IStream* pStream;
 
   CoUnmarshalInterface(pStreamForMarshalling, IID_IStream, (void**)&pStream);
 
   while (...)
      if (S_OK != pStream->Write(...))
         break;
 
   pStreamForMarshalling->Release();
   pStream->Release();
 
   CoUninitialize();
}

Notes

Since Adobe Flash reached End of Life (EOL) in December 2020, most modern systems no longer have Flash Player ActiveX installed by default. This makes the ability of F-IN-BOX to load the Flash ActiveX control code from memory (using FPC_LoadOCXCodeFromMemory) especially important, as it allows applications to remain functional without requiring system-wide installation or registration of Flash.