Question

I’ve got two flash movies on a page. Using the Flash IDE I’d like to implement remote debugging when a particular movie loads. My problem is that the debugger attaches to the first loaded movie – not the one I want.

Thanks,
Josh

Answer 1

Release SWFs will not attempt to connect to a remote debugger (or any debugger, for that matter), so if there’s a SWF you want not to connect, one approach would be to issue it as a release SWF. (In the Flash IDE, that means publishing with the Permit Debugging option unchecked, whereas in Flex Builder, it means Export > Release Build.)

That’s one option. Another, or an additional one, would be to choose which SWF to connect to your debugger, which takes a little finagling — and is probably easier done than explained. 😉 Essentially what you want to do, though, is load up an instance of your HTML page first, have it just sitting there waiting, then start your Flash debugger, and then finally, back in the HTML page, right-clicking the SWF you do want to debug, choosing the Debugger option, and connect to your running debugger instance that way. It’s a somewhat more manual process, and you lose some ability to debug through the startup sequence, but it could work out for you, depending on your needs. Running only one debug SWF on a page would probably be the ideal way to go, though, especially if you need to connect early on.

But I don’t believe there’s a way to specify, at the SWF level, not to attempt to connect to a debugger when a debugger is listening and the player’s been set up to connect automatically. I could be wrong on this, though, so if someone knows otherwise, please chime in.

Hope it helps! Post back with questions and I’ll try to help out as I can.