Creating a Dynamic Playlist for Progressive Flash Video

There’s been a strong outcry for an article demonstrating an XML-driven playlist that does not require Macromedia Flash Communication Server. You wanted the flexibility to update your progressive Flash video (FLV) playlists without editing your Macromedia Flash source files. Ladies and gentlemen, let me present VideoSource Pro.

This version of the dynamic playlist code is adapted from the Flash Communication Server XML-driven playlist written by Chris Hock and Srinivas Manapragada, covered in detail in my other article, Creating a Dynamic Playlist for Streaming Flash Video. By changing a few lines of that code, I will show you how to create an XML-driven playlist of progressive FLV files, allowing you the flexibility to update your playlist without editing your Flash source file, and without requiring Flash Communication Server streaming.

I will outline the basic structure of this application in this article and explain the code that changes from the streaming example. For a more in-depth understanding of the code, please refer to my other article.

The basic framework of the VideoSource Pro application consists of the following components:

• An XML file as data source (playlist-demo-1.xml)
• A custom-made player for playback (VideoSourcePro.swf)
• External ActionScript files (VideoSourcePro.as, VideoThumb.as)

Requirements

To complete this tutorial you will need to install the following software and files:

Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004

Sample files:

• videosourcepro.zip (14.8 MB)

Download and unzip the contents of the videosourcepro.zip file to a new directory on your hard drive. Refer to the readme.txt file included in the ZIP file for more detailed instructions.

Prerequisite Knowledge

You should be familiar with Flash MX Professional 2004 and understand the basics of delivering video through Flash. You should also have a basic understanding of XML.