Connect .swf with media9

Question

I found out that it is possible to call external javascript in an browser with my interactive .swf document using the ExternalInterface provided by Adobe. That means, that with e. g. button clicks I can trigger javascript commands (yes, I am aware of the media9 mediabuttons.) However, that doesn't seem to be possible in an LaTeX-generated .pdf, as one can only import the .swf document itself without the additional js-commands.

If that weren't the case, I could connect my .swf to media9 and therefore to other interactive graphics as well.

Is there a workaround or another possibility to achieve this?

EDIT: Let's add an example: Connect the hslider from this example to media9.

EDIT: Extend that example:

This is the slider in mxml:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml"
                initialize="init();">

    <mx:Script><![CDATA[

        public function change():void {                
            flash.external.ExternalInterface.call("anim[’my_anim’].frameNum = 10","");
        }

        ]]></mx:Script>

    <mx:HSlider id="aSlider" width="100%"
                minimum="0.1" maximum="3" value="0.1"
                dataTipPlacement="top"
                snapInterval="0.01" tickInterval="0"
                labels="[a=0.1,3]"
                allowTrackClick="true"
                liveDragging="true"
                change="change();"/>
</mx:Application>

As you can see, it should, for the sake of simplicity, just set the frameNum of another animation my_anim (created with the animation package) to 10. However I can include this .swf with media9 without any problems, but there is no response to sliding.

What I am doing is probably nonsense, but my intention should now be clear.

Answer 1

This example demonstrates SWF to PDF-JavaScript communication using Flash's ExternalInterface. The embedded Flash app slider.swf is a simple slider that changes the animation object's frameNum property.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{animate,media9}

\begin{document}
\begin{animateinline}[label=my_anim,step]{1}
\multiframe{10}{i=0+1}{
  \fbox{\Huge\i}
}
\end{animateinline}

\includemedia[activate=pageopen,width=0.5\linewidth,height=12ex]{}{slider.swf}
\end{document}

The precompiled Flash app can be downloaded here: https://agrahn.gitlab.io/swf/slider.swf

Its source file slider.mxml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml">
  <mx:Script><![CDATA[
    public function change():void {                
      flash.external.ExternalInterface.call("eval", "anim.my_anim.frameNum = "+String(int(aSlider.value)));
    }
  ]]></mx:Script>

  <mx:HSlider id="aSlider" width="100%"
    minimum="0" maximum="9" value="0"
    snapInterval="1" tickInterval="1"
    labels="[0,9]"
    allowTrackClick="true"
    liveDragging="true"
    change="change();"
  />
</mx:Application>

is compiled to SWF using Flex (flex.apache.org)

mxmlc -strict -warnings -compiler.as3 -static-link-runtime-shared-libraries -compiler.optimize -keep-generated-actionscript slider.mxml