Flash External API

F-IN-BOX supports the Flash External API, which enables two-way communication between a Flash movie and the host application.
Unlike fscommand, External API calls are synchronous and allow direct data exchange.

Call an ActionScript Function from an Application

In the Flash movie, register a function using ExternalInterface.addCallback:

import flash.external.*;
 
ExternalInterface.addCallback("CallMeFromApplication", this, InternalFunction);
 
function InternalFunction(str: String): String {  
    TextArea1.text = str;  
    return "The function was called successfully";  
}

In the application, use FPCCallFunction or FPCCallFunctionBSTR to call this function:

C++ Example (FPCCallFunction)

TCHAR szResponse[1024] = { 0 };
DWORD dwLength = sizeof(szResponse) / sizeof(szResponse[0]) - 1;
 
FPCCallFunction(
    m_hwndFlashPlayerControl,
    _T("<invoke name=\"CallMeFromApplication\" returntype=\"xml\"><arguments><string>Some text for FlashPlayerControl</string></arguments></invoke>"),
    szResponse,
    &dwLength
);
 
AfxMessageBox(CString(_T("The function returned: ")) + szResponse);

C++ Example (FPCCallFunctionBSTR)

BSTR bstrRequest = SysAllocString(
    L"<invoke name=\"CallMeFromApplication\" returntype=\"xml\"><arguments><string>Some text for FlashPlayerControl</string></arguments></invoke>"
);
 
BSTR bstrResponse;
 
if (S_OK == FPCCallFunctionBSTR(m_hwndFlashPlayerControl, bstrRequest, &bstrResponse)) {
    USES_CONVERSION;
    CString str = OLE2T(bstrResponse);
    AfxMessageBox(CString(_T("The function returned: ")) + str);
    SysFreeString(bstrResponse);
}
 
SysFreeString(bstrRequest);

Call an Application Function from a Flash Script

From the Flash side, use ExternalInterface.call:

on (click) {
    _root.TextArea1.text = flash.external.ExternalInterface.call("SomeFunction");
}

On the application side, handle notification FPCN_FLASHCALL:

C++ Example

LRESULT WindowProc(UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) {
    if (WM_NOTIFY == message) {
        LPNMHDR lpNMHDR = (LPNMHDR)lParam;
 
        if (m_hwndFlashPlayerControl == lpNMHDR->hwndFrom) {
            switch (lpNMHDR->code) {
                case FPCN_FLASHCALL: {
                    SFPCFlashCallInfoStruct* pInfo = (SFPCFlashCallInfoStruct*)lParam;
 
                    CString str;
                    str += _T("The request is: '");
                    str += pInfo->request;
                    str += _T("'");
 
                    AfxMessageBox(str);
 
                    COleDateTime now = COleDateTime::GetCurrentTime();
                    FPCSetReturnValue(
                        m_hwndFlashPlayerControl,
                        _T("<string>Current time is: ") +
                        now.Format() +
                        _T("\r\nThis info is returned from the handler</string>")
                    );
 
                    return 1;
                }
            }
        }
    }
    return 0;
}