Honesty time, dear readers: I don't think this is going to be an actual review. As Velveeta is to real cheese, there may be some review-like qualities to what follows, but considering the current all-out assault on Flash and everything it stands for, it may be beneficial to take a larger view of what Adobe has done in Web Premium CS5, namely the inclusion of not one, not two, but three separate tools for creating Flash content.

Our XML-based quiz document is really going places. We explained it and then loaded it into Flash in the first two installments, so logically it's time to make some sense of it using Flash's superheroic XML parsing abilities. I really can't stress enough how much better XML parsing is under ActionScript 3, because if things hadn't changed, there certainly would have been a nice padded cell waiting for me at Bellevue right about now. So join me as I share the joy of reading XML in Flash with you, the most loyal reader.

Flash wrappers, as I tend to call the genre of software Screentime's mProjector belongs to, have been around almost as long as Flash itself. Whatever the reason for their rise (the decline of Director, needing offline access to online content, etc.), there are still several options out there for turning your Flash content into desktop applications. And while Adobe's own AIR technology seems to get all the press, there is no reason why mProjector shouldn't be considered one of the top dogs in cross-platform Flash desktop app creation.

Ah, the simple, venerable trace command. Everyone who has ever written even a single line of ActionScript -- from the newbiest of designers to the most seasoned programming professional -- has doubtless become intimately familiar with this most basic, approachable, and useful command. But love turns to hate if you ever need to see what's going on when your Flash movie is playing in a browser, where seeing a simple trace can rapidly become an exercise in frustration. Fret no longer, fearless readers, as this guide aims to get everyone in on that sweet, sweet browser tracing action.

Let's face facts, folks: sometimes just scaling your entire Flash movie to an arbitrary window size won't cut it. A prime example of one of those times would be if you're using Flash to create Web-based applications, where your users would rightfully expect to have the application interface scale intelligently to the size of their browser window. Flex Builder can do this through a simple GUI panel, but the process is a little more involved if you're using Flash CS4 Professional, which is where we'll pick things up.

It's been a while, but Adobe's announcement of Flash Platform Services for Distribution (which we'll shorten to AFPSD for the duration) begs for the not-quite-famous "fake FAQ" treatment, where your humble host asks made-up questions of, well, himself in an attempt to make further sense of the official AFPSD press release. With that as the setup, let's get to those "frequently asked questions."

One might naturally assume that a series of articles about building a Flash quiz engine may actually impart some knowledge about, oh, say, Flash. With that in mind, in this installment we're going to rectify the absence of any Flash in part one by firing up Flash and writing some ActionScript 3, with the exciting goal of loading the XML document we produced last time. Without further ado, let's dive right in.

In the first installment of a multi-part series, we’re going to begin the process of creating an XML-based quiz engine using ActionScript 3 in Adobe Flash CS4. We’ll start slowly today by figuring out what features we want to include and how those features will translate to the structure of the XML template we’ll eventually use to populate the Flash playback engine. So, to kick things off, let’s ask the obvious question: what do we want this thing to do?

I have bad news for those out there who were expecting Flash CS4 to, well, suck: It doesn't. Far from it. Adobe certainly seems to have responded to the pressure of having viable Flash competition by delivering a polished upgrade that is chock full of thoughtful improvements and useful new features. So despite the fact that I've spoiled the ending, I hope you'll come along as we explore the latest and greatest in the most recent release of the Flash authoring tool.

Such is the nature of the upgrade cycle: just as creative types were getting used to the CS3 line, Adobe goes and announces CS4. And while you've likely seen myriad press releases and first looks and other introductory stuff by now, here are a few "below the fold" observations based on the the experiences I've had with the CS4 betas over the last several weeks.