mx.core.ByteArrayAsset - Adobe® Flex® 4 Language Reference (Flex 4)

Package	mx.core
Class	public class ByteArrayAsset
Inheritance	ByteArrayAsset ByteArray Object
Implements	IFlexAsset

Language Version:

ActionScript 3.0

Product Version:

Flex 3

Runtime Versions:

Flash Player 9, AIR 1.1

ByteArrayAsset is a subclass of the flash.utils.ByteArray class which represents an arbitrary sequence of byte data that you embed in a Flex application.

The byte data that you are embedding can be in any kind of file, and the entire file is always embedded. You cannot embed the bytes of a particular asset that is in a SWF file, although you can embed an entire SWF file.

The MXML compiler autogenerates a class that extends ByteArrayAsset to represent the embedded data.

To embed an arbitrary file, you declare a variable of type Class, and put [Embed] metadata on it, using the MIME type application/octet-stream. For example, you embed a text file like this:

  [Bindable]
  [Embed(source="Story.txt", mimeType="application/octet-stream")]
  private var storyClass:Class;

The compiler autogenerates a subclass of the ByteArrayAsset class and sets your variable to be a reference to this autogenerated class. You can then use this class reference to create instances of the ByteArrayAsset using the new operator, and you can extract information from the byte array using methods of the ByteArray class:

  var storyByteArray:ByteArrayAsset = ByteArrayAsset(new storyClass());
  var story:String = storyByteArray.readUTFBytes(storyByteArray.length);

You must specify that the MIME type for the embedding is application/octet-stream, which causes the byte data to be embedded "as is", with no interpretation. It also causes the autogenerated class to extend ByteArrayAsset rather than another asset class.

For example, if you embed a PNG file without specifying this MIME type, the PNG data will be automatically transcoded into the bitmap format used by the player, and a subclass of BitmapAsset will be autogenerated to represent it. But if you specify the MIME type as application/octet-stream, then no transcoding will occur, the PNG data will be embedded as is, and the autogenerated class will extend ByteArrayAsset.

Public Properties

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	Property		Defined By
		bytesAvailable : uint [read-only] The number of bytes of data available for reading from the current position in the byte array to the end of the array.	ByteArray
		constructor : Object A reference to the class object or constructor function for a given object instance.	Object
		defaultObjectEncoding : uint [static] Denotes the default object encoding for the ByteArray class to use for a new ByteArray instance.	ByteArray
		endian : String Changes or reads the byte order for the data; either Endian.BIG_ENDIAN or Endian.LITTLE_ENDIAN.	ByteArray
		length : uint The length of the ByteArray object, in bytes.	ByteArray
		objectEncoding : uint Used to determine whether the ActionScript 3.0, ActionScript 2.0, or ActionScript 1.0 format should be used when writing to, or reading from, a ByteArray instance.	ByteArray
		position : uint Moves, or returns the current position, in bytes, of the file pointer into the ByteArray object.	ByteArray
		prototype : Object [static] A reference to the prototype object of a class or function object.	Object

Public Methods

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	Method		Defined By
		ByteArrayAsset() Constructor.	ByteArrayAsset
		clear():void Clears the contents of the byte array and resets the length and position properties to 0.	ByteArray
		compress(algorithm:String):void Compresses the byte array.	ByteArray
		deflate():void Compresses the byte array using the deflate compression algorithm.	ByteArray
		hasOwnProperty(name:String):Boolean Indicates whether an object has a specified property defined.	Object
		inflate():void Decompresses the byte array using the deflate compression algorithm.	ByteArray
		isPrototypeOf(theClass:Object):Boolean Indicates whether an instance of the Object class is in the prototype chain of the object specified as the parameter.	Object
		propertyIsEnumerable(name:String):Boolean Indicates whether the specified property exists and is enumerable.	Object
		readBoolean():Boolean Reads a Boolean value from the byte stream.	ByteArray
		readByte():int Reads a signed byte from the byte stream.	ByteArray
		readBytes(bytes:ByteArray, offset:uint = 0, length:uint = 0):void Reads the number of data bytes, specified by the length parameter, from the byte stream.	ByteArray
		readDouble():Number Reads an IEEE 754 double-precision (64-bit) floating-point number from the byte stream.	ByteArray
		readFloat():Number Reads an IEEE 754 single-precision (32-bit) floating-point number from the byte stream.	ByteArray
		readInt():int Reads a signed 32-bit integer from the byte stream.	ByteArray
		readMultiByte(length:uint, charSet:String):String Reads a multibyte string of specified length from the byte stream using the specified character set.	ByteArray
		readObject():* Reads an object from the byte array, encoded in AMF serialized format.	ByteArray
		readShort():int Reads a signed 16-bit integer from the byte stream.	ByteArray
		readUnsignedByte():uint Reads an unsigned byte from the byte stream.	ByteArray
		readUnsignedInt():uint Reads an unsigned 32-bit integer from the byte stream.	ByteArray
		readUnsignedShort():uint Reads an unsigned 16-bit integer from the byte stream.	ByteArray
		readUTF():String Reads a UTF-8 string from the byte stream.	ByteArray
		readUTFBytes(length:uint):String Reads a sequence of UTF-8 bytes specified by the length parameter from the byte stream and returns a string.	ByteArray
		setPropertyIsEnumerable(name:String, isEnum:Boolean = true):void Sets the availability of a dynamic property for loop operations.	Object
		toLocaleString():String Returns the string representation of this object, formatted according to locale-specific conventions.	Object
		toString():String Converts the byte array to a string.	ByteArray
		uncompress(algorithm:String):void Decompresses the byte array.	ByteArray
		valueOf():Object Returns the primitive value of the specified object.	Object
		writeBoolean(value:Boolean):void Writes a Boolean value.	ByteArray
		writeByte(value:int):void Writes a byte to the byte stream.	ByteArray
		writeBytes(bytes:ByteArray, offset:uint = 0, length:uint = 0):void Writes a sequence of length bytes from the specified byte array, bytes, starting offset (zero-based index) bytes into the byte stream.	ByteArray
		writeDouble(value:Number):void Writes an IEEE 754 double-precision (64-bit) floating-point number to the byte stream.	ByteArray
		writeFloat(value:Number):void Writes an IEEE 754 single-precision (32-bit) floating-point number to the byte stream.	ByteArray
		writeInt(value:int):void Writes a 32-bit signed integer to the byte stream.	ByteArray
		writeMultiByte(value:String, charSet:String):void Writes a multibyte string to the byte stream using the specified character set.	ByteArray
		writeObject(object:*):void Writes an object into the byte array in AMF serialized format.	ByteArray
		writeShort(value:int):void Writes a 16-bit integer to the byte stream.	ByteArray
		writeUnsignedInt(value:uint):void Writes a 32-bit unsigned integer to the byte stream.	ByteArray
		writeUTF(value:String):void Writes a UTF-8 string to the byte stream.	ByteArray
		writeUTFBytes(value:String):void Writes a UTF-8 string to the byte stream.	ByteArray

Constructor Detail

ByteArrayAsset

()

Constructor