Question

I have this AS3 slideshow code, that loads an XML with a list of images. What I’m looking for, is a way to skip the XML part, and just load all images in the folder “images”?

How can I add an constant boolean that decides if it should play the images random or not?
const RANDOM:boolean = true; …

// import tweener
import caurina.transitions.Tweener;

// delay between slides
const TIMER_DELAY:int = 2000;
// fade time between slides
const FADE_TIME:Number = 1;

// flag for knowing if slideshow is playing
var bolPlaying:Boolean = true;
// reference to the current slider container
var currentContainer:Sprite;
// index of the current slide
var intCurrentSlide:int = -1;
// total slides
var intSlideCount:int;
// timer for switching slides
var slideTimer:Timer;
// slides holder
var sprContainer1:Sprite;
var sprContainer2:Sprite;
// slides loader
var slideLoader:Loader;
// url to slideshow xml
var strXMLPath:String = "slideshow.xml";
// slideshow xml loader
var xmlLoader:URLLoader;
// slideshow xml
var xmlSlideshow:XML;

function initSlideshow():void { 
    // create new urlloader for xml file
    xmlLoader = new URLLoader();
    // add listener for complete event
    xmlLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, onXMLLoadComplete);
    // load xml file
    xmlLoader.load(new URLRequest(strXMLPath));

    // create new timer with delay from constant
    slideTimer = new Timer(TIMER_DELAY);
    // add event listener for timer event
    slideTimer.addEventListener(TimerEvent.TIMER, nextSlide);

    // create 2 container sprite which will hold the slides and
    // add them to the masked movieclip
    sprContainer1 = new Sprite();
    sprContainer2 = new Sprite();
    mcSlideHolder.addChild(sprContainer1);
    mcSlideHolder.addChild(sprContainer2);

    // keep a reference of the container which is currently
    // in the front
    currentContainer = sprContainer2;
}

function onXMLLoadComplete(e:Event):void {
    // create new xml with the received data
    xmlSlideshow = new XML(e.target.data);
    // get total slide count
    intSlideCount = xmlSlideshow..image.length();
    // switch the first slide without a delay
    switchSlide(0);
}

function fadeSlideIn(e:Event):void {
    // add loaded slide from slide loader to the
    // current container
    addSlideContent();

    // check if the slideshow is currently playing
    // if so, show time to the next slide. If not, show
    // a status message
    if(bolPlaying) {
    } else {
    }
    // fade the current container in and start the slide timer
    // when the tween is finished
    Tweener.addTween(currentContainer, {alpha:1, time:FADE_TIME, onComplete:onSlideFadeIn});
}

function onSlideFadeIn():void {
    // check, if the slideshow is currently playing
    // if so, start the timer again
    if(bolPlaying && !slideTimer.running)
        slideTimer.start();
}

function switchSlide(intSlide:int):void {
    // check if the last slide is still fading in
    if(!Tweener.isTweening(currentContainer)) {
        // check, if the timer is running (needed for the
        // very first switch of the slide)
        if(slideTimer.running)
            slideTimer.stop();
        // change slide index
        intCurrentSlide = intSlide;
        // check which container is currently in the front and
        // assign currentContainer to the one that's in the back with
        // the old slide
        if(currentContainer == sprContainer2)
            currentContainer = sprContainer1;
        else
            currentContainer = sprContainer2;
        // hide the old slide
        currentContainer.alpha = 0;
        // bring the old slide to the front
        mcSlideHolder.swapChildren(sprContainer2, sprContainer1);
        // delete loaded content
        clearLoader();
        // create a new loader for the slide
        slideLoader = new Loader();
        // add event listener when slide is loaded
        slideLoader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, fadeSlideIn);
        // load the next slide
        slideLoader.load(new URLRequest(xmlSlideshow..image[intCurrentSlide].@src));
    }
}

function nextSlide(e:Event = null):void {
    // check, if there are any slides left, if so, increment slide
    // index
    if(intCurrentSlide + 1 < intSlideCount)
        switchSlide(intCurrentSlide + 1);
    // if not, start slideshow from beginning
    else
        switchSlide(0);
}

function previousSlide(e:Event = null):void {
    // check, if there are any slides left, if so, decrement slide
    // index
    if(intCurrentSlide - 1 >= 0)
        switchSlide(intCurrentSlide - 1);
    // if not, start slideshow from the last slide
    else
        switchSlide(intSlideCount - 1);
}

function clearLoader():void {
    try {
        // get loader info object
        var li:LoaderInfo = slideLoader.contentLoaderInfo;
        // check if content is bitmap and delete it
        if(li.childAllowsParent && li.content is Bitmap){
            (li.content as Bitmap).bitmapData.dispose();
        }
    } catch(e:*) {}
}

function addSlideContent():void {
    // empty current slide and delete previous bitmap
    while(currentContainer.numChildren){Bitmap(currentContainer.getChildAt(0)).bitmapData.dispose(); currentContainer.removeChildAt(0);}

    // create a new bitmap with the slider content, clone it and add it to the slider container
    var bitMp:Bitmap =  new Bitmap(Bitmap(slideLoader.contentLoaderInfo.content).bitmapData.clone());
    currentContainer.addChild(bitMp);
}

// init slideshow
initSlideshow();

Answer 1

If you’re using PHP on your server something like

header('Content-type: applicaiton/xml;charset=utf-8');
$dir = dir('images');
echo '<images>', "\n";
foreach ($dir as $file) {
    if ($file == '.' || $file == '..') {
        continue;
    }
    echo '<image>', $file, '</image>', "\n";
}
echo '</images>';

should do the trick.

Just point your slideshow app at the PHP script and it’ll create the list dynamically.