Question

I have the following code

///Get BitmapData from library in SWC
var ClassReference:Class = getDefinitionByName(products[i].producticon+"Data") as Class;
// Create new BitmapData Instance From it
var bitMapS:BitmapData = new ClassReference();
// Create new Class that contains Bitmap Data
var IconBitmap:Class =  new AndroidAsset(bitMapS) as Class;
// Get String name from Class
var s:String = getQualifiedClassName(IconBitmap);
trace(s);

I get null in the trace. How do I make a dynamic class that I can refer to for this bitmap similar to how your reference a class from and embedded media?

Answer 1

I’m not sure I understand you question exactly, but it sounds like you want a way to get a copy of this bitmap data in a manner similar to creating a new instance of a class. If that’s the case, you could do something like this :

//grab the name of the asset as a string
var bitmapDataAssetName:String = products[i].producticon+"Data";
//get the asset definition from the SWC
var CustomBitmapDataClass:Class = getDefinitionByName(bitmapDataAssetName) as Class;

//store it in an associative array or dictionary for use later
var myBitmaps:Array = [];
myBitmaps[bitmapDataAssetName] = CustomBitmapDataClass;

//then instantiate new bitmaps from the class definition that's stored in your array
var testBitmapData:BitmapData = new (myBitmaps[bitmapDataAssetName] as Class)() as BitmapData;

So, in a practical use scenario, your array of symbol definitions would be a member variable on some BitmapManager class or something. Then if you wanted to make it accessible from anywhere in your application, just make it a singleton, and presto – you can instantiate a new library asset from your SWC anywhere you need it with a call like this:

var localBitmapData:BitmapData = new (BitmapManager.instance.definitions[theNameOfTheBitmapIWant] as Class)() as BitmapData;

Or, a better way to do that would to be to add a method to BitmapManager like

public function getBitmapAsset(assetName:String):BitmapData {
    var symbolDefinition:Class = myBitmaps[bitmapDataAssetName] as Class;
    return new symbolDefinition() as BitmapData;
}

so you could just call it up like this :

var localBitmapData:BitmapData = BitmapManager.instance.getBitmapAsset("theNameOfTheBitmapIWant");

Hope that helps (if that was even you question to begin with) 😛