Flash Editing Software Recommendations

[Robert Clark]

Can anyone recommend any inexpensive software for editing .swf files? I only need to edit the files themselves to customize the rendering of charts within a web viewer. Adobe Flash CS3 Professional would be overkill. Any thoughts?

[mr_vodka]

Its been a while since I actively used Flash but it used to be that you could only edit the .fla files not the actual swf. I dont know if this has changed over the years.

[Robert Clark]

I am under the impression that they can be edite, or at the very least a new file can authored/created based upon an existing file.

I have a database that tracks monthly benchmark performance and I want to utilize the charting function to better represent trends without digging into the data. The sample files (WV.html and WV.swf) from FileMaker allow me to do this, but I need to customize the line chart to my formatting needs. I have two barriers:

1) I don't know all the syntax needed to manipulate the existing .swf file (e.g. axis labels, background colors).

2) I think that I need to edit the actual .swf file, or create a new one, in order to adjust size of the chart, etc. to fit my needs.

[mr_vodka]

Well I am sure that they "can" be edited with third party reverse engineering software; just as pretty much anything can be accessed illegally.

The .fla files would be the raw files pretty much and the .swf would be the compiled file. Technically, you can probably do it. Legally, it may not be wise considering you would be going into someone else's intellectual rights and modifying it.

Adobe link

[Genx]

Whether or not you can edit it even with reverse engineering software will depend on the security settings used by FMI at compile time... I'm pretty sure i tried importing it at first but they've passworderised it so...

[new2fm]

Try SWF Decompiler from Sothink (www.sothink.com) is the rigth tool for swf back editing

[thegooglemoogle]

Hi,

Open Source Flash is the best resource for free Flash development programs. I have used many of them successfully. There are plenty of options there for you to try out & see which best suites your needs.

Best,

thegooglemoogle

[Randy Decker]

Perhaps you can direct me to the swf files you want to edit. Then maybe I can give you a better response. Flash SW is not going to give you access to the library used to create the swf file. But I guess you know that.

Edited July 22, 2007 by Guest

[Randy Decker]

Nope. Fla files contain the library of assets used to create the swf. So then swf files can be edited but since you don't have access to the original assets the results may be unusable.

Edited July 22, 2007 by Guest