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Adobe [Shockwave] flash editor?

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
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I have a CD with several hundred pages of tech info. Each page of tech info is a pdf file, image only (not text).

Problem is that the only way to access each pdf file is by using a ten year old flash menu. Otherwise, you have to drill down into the folders and "guess" what the file is by a numeric filename.

Here's what I want to do:

Look "inside" the .swf flash file itself, and see how the files are referenced. I want to make a simple html menu to all the files.

Maybe there's an app to simply "open" the swf file and "export" the tree to text or html?

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Tom
 
I don't know any way to deal with the SWF file, so my suggestion is to make a copy of the whole thing and start renaming the PDF files with meaningful names and/or sorting them into folders (with good names).
If you have Acrobat, you could also combine them into manuals and create new indexes. But I don't think the free Reader will do that. Acrobat is kind of expensive new, but you might poke around and see if you can find a used one cheap. The newer ones do have some nice features, but I'm still using Acrobat 7 and it does the job well enough.
 
Thanks Randall. I may have to do exactly what you suggest. Daunting, to say the least.

The advantage of "de-constructing" that flash menu system: the links to the pdf files - with identifying "manual page" names - are built in. So if I could "see" the links I could copy them to a simple html page.

The problem is that the tech manual CD was made ten years ago, and is hard-wired to look for Acrobat Reader 4 and Netscape 6. If you don't have those on your HD, you have to either (1) find them and install them, or (2) jerry-rig a way to open the flash menu. And the flash menu is hard-wired to look for Reader 4 and Netscape 6. Vicious circle.

Tom
 
Is this one of those car parts manuals from Greer and Associates? The one I have is a piece of crap the way they used DRM.
 
Thanks Greg. The company (Mercedes-Benz) contracted out the CD back in the late 1990s. So I can't tell who actually designed/produced the disk.

But it is a parts and maintenance manual. Every single pdf file is reached either by (1) using the nested flash menus, or (2) opening each pdf file manually (various pdf readers).

The manual pages aren't under copyright any more, but the CD is.

I think the solution would be to find a swf "de-compiler", to spill the contents into various components. The entire group of pdf files is accessed via a 400K file "mainmenu.swf". I'm betting that if I could look inside that file, I could find the directory/file structure and make an html page to accomplish what the flash page does.

Onward through the fog.
Tom
 
My manual is from the British Trust for the Austin Healey, so probably not the same contractor. About half the time I load the CD into the computer, it refuses launch. When it works and I'm closing it down is when the Greer logo pops up.
 
I've a CD from CarDisc for the Alfa. I feel your frustration, Tom. I used a Post-It note for a "cheat sheet" with the page filenames and what it contains, just on things I needed to grab without having to go through all the "sections". Like an Easter egg hunt.
 
I feel your frustration, Tom.

You ain't kiddin'! Going through five flash screens just to choose the model and year of the car. Then hunt and peck through individual file choices like (1) front wheel adjustment (2) front wheel alignment (3) wheel alignment (4) wheel setup and adjustment.

argh.

I'm doing the same - bookmarking each pdf file so I can find it when I need it. But I usually just print the pdf to have it in hand. Problem is the "choose and hope" system of finding what I need.

One of my favorite examples: (1) Solex carb overview (2) Solex carb introduction (3) carb overview (4) carb removal (5) Solex carb setup (6) carb idle and mixture adjustment (7) idle speed and mixture setup.

The mind boggles.

By the way, I finally found a Windows flash editor app which runs through Wine. The trial version can pull a *lot* of stuff out of the flash files - but I can't find any actual references to any pdf files. The scripts and ".as" files are just as cryptic to me as the flash menus themselves. Eltima Decompiler Trillix. Elegant and clear - but doesn't seem to find what I need.

Onward through the fog.

Tom

 
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