Testing the Application

In the beginning of this tutorial, you copied your FLV files to your Flash Media Server installation. You will now need to place your ActionScript and interface files in your web-accessible folder for testing.

These three files should be in your web-accessible folder on your server or localhost:

• VideoSource2.swf
• SteelExternalAll.swf (or the skin SWF of your choice)
• playlist-demo-1.xml

Because you already copied your Flash video files to FMS earlier in the article, you are ready to test your application. Using your favorite browser, navigate to VideoSource2.swf to test your playlist, now magically complete with thumbnails. Figure 4 shows the live application in action, loading Flash video files and generating thumbnails.

Figure 4. Final live SWF file in action

Creating Variations on a Theme

You’ve explored simple video clip playlist navigation using XML, but you could extend this basic framework to other applications as well:

• Video clip navigation: Using cue points and some additional ActionScript, populate your playlist with scenes from a single video clip.
• Client playlists: Create an on-demand playlist using cue points to insert an ad before each clip plays.
• Synchronized captions and graphics: Again using the all-powerful cue points and some clever ActionScript, coordinate the display of relevant captions or other graphics with certain points in your FLVs.
• Guaranteed thumbnails: Add XML data that specifies the starting frame of the video so that you can accommodate video files that begin with a blank frame.

Where to Go from Here

You have created a powerful XML playlist application that you can easily update, reuse, and reskin to your heart’s content. Some very useful features that you could add include bandwidth detection, cue points, and video preloaders. Take this basic framework and be creative!