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Using File Object for Video on Demand and MP3 Playback

Using File Object for Video on Demand and MP3 Playback

Flash Media Server 2 offers a unique combination of traditional streaming media capabilities and a flexible development environment for creating and delivering media experiences to your audiences. These include traditional media like video on demand, live web-event broadcasts, and MP3 streaming, as well as rich media communication applications like video blogging, video messaging, and multimedia chat environments.

One new feature of Flash Media Server 2 is the File Object feature, which enables real-time read/write file access to a defined sandbox on your server, enabling content management systems and database applications without using Flash Remoting. This is a simple example that you can expand for use with File Object applications.

In this article, you will learn about a rather simple application that lets you display FLVs and MP3s on demand with predefined components you build using Flash Professional 8. This application automatically grabs FLVs and MP3s from a specific location on your server but is extensible for other uses. For example, to customize this application for a photo album using JPEGs, you would just redefine the filter so it calls JPEGs.

This application demonstrates new File Object properties on the server side and works in conjunction with the DataGrid, FLVPlayback, and MediaPlayback components on the client side. It demonstrates an alternative to XML-driven playback lists. If you wish to learn more about XML FLV lists, check out Lisa Larson’s article, Creating a Dynamic Playlist for Streaming Video.

Requirements

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

Flash Professional 8

Flash Media Server 2

Tutorials and sample files:

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