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Extending Macromedia
Flash MX 2004
Complete Guide and Reference
to JavaScript Flash

Keith Peters
Todd Yard

APress Media, LLC

 Extending Macromedia Flash MX 2004:
Complete Guide and Reference
to JavaScript Flash
Copyright © 2004 by Keith Peters and Todd Yard
Originally published by Apress in 2004
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior
written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-59059-304-2 ISBN 978-1-4302-5472-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4302-5472-0
Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every
occurrence of a trademarked name, logos, or image we use the names, logos, or images only in an editorial fashion
and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark.
The use in this publication of trade names, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is
not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.

www.springeronline.com.
For information on translations, please e-mail [email protected] or visit www.apress.com.
Apress and friends of ED books may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use. eBook
versions and licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Special Bulk
Sales-eBook Licensing web page at www.apress.com/bulk-sales.
The information in this book is distributed on an "as is" basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been
taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author(s) nor Apress shall have any liability to any person or entity
with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained
in this work.
The source code for this book is freely available to readers at www.friendsofed.comin the Downloads section.

Credits
President and Publisher: Copy Editor:
Paul Manning Ami Knox
Lead Editor: Compositor:
Ben Renow-Clarke Dina Quan
Technical Reviewers: Proof Reader:
Peter Elst Linda Seifert
Editorial Board: Indexer:
Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Ewan Buckingham, Michael Brinkman
Gary Cornell, Jonathan Gennick, Jonathan Hassell,
Michelle Lowman, James Markham, Matthew Cover Image Artist:
Moodie, Jeff Olson, Jeffrey Pepper, Frank Corne van Dooren
Pohlmann, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Cover Designer:
Dominic Shakeshaft, Matt Wade, Tom Welsh Anna Ishchenko
Coordinating Editor:
Tracy Brown Collins
 CONTENTS AT A GLANCE

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

About the Authors • • • • . . . . . • • • • • . . . . . . • • • • • xiii

About the Technical Reviewer. • • • . . . . . . • • • • • . . . . xiv

About the Cover Image . . . • • • • • . . . . . • • • • • . . . . . xv

Acknowledgments • . . . . . • • • • • . . . . . . • • • • • . . . xvii

Chapter 1: Introduction to Flash Extensibility . . . • • • • • . . . 1

Chapter 2: Custom Commands. . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Chapter 3: Custom Tools • . . . . . • • • • • . . . . . • • • • • • 65

Chapter 4: Timeline Effects . . . . • • • • • . . . . . • • • • • • 117

Chapter 5: XM L to UI . . . . • • • • • . . . . . . • • • • • 163

Chapter 6: Behaviors. . . . . . . . . . . 197

Chapter 7: WindowSWF and MMExecute •. • 239

Chapter 8: Flash from the Command Line . • 273

JSFL Reference • • • • • . . . . . • • • • • . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Index . . . . .• . . . . . . . . . . 437

ii i
 CONTENTS

Foreword . . . . . . . xi

About the Authors . . . . . . . xiii

About the Technical Reviewer. xiv

About the Cover Image. . xv

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Chapter 1: Introduction to Flash Extensibility . . . . . . . . . . . 1

What Is Flash Extensibility? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Timeline Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Advanced Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
What Extensibility Isn't . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
The Underlying Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
JSFL-JavaScript Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The DOM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
XML to UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Creating Your First Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
More Than Just a Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Tutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Sample Files and Supporting Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

v
CONTENTS

friends of ED Forums · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Styles Used in This Book . 16

Chapter 2: Custom Commands. . · .. . 19

The History Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · ..... 20
Commands Through the History Panel . . . . . · ................ 23
Specifying Fill and Stroke Colors . . . . . . . · ................. 25
JSFL Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · ................. 26
Coding It By Hand . . . . . . . 30
Timelines, Layers, and Frames. 34
Accessing the Output Panel .. 36
Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
User Input with XML to UI .. 42
Putting It All Together: Some Useful Commands ... · ................. 45
Selection to Grid .. 46
Text Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · ................ 52
Adding ActionScript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · ................ 59
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · ..... 63

Chapter 3: Custom Tools · .. . 65

Event-Based Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Standard Tool Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Setting Up a New Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Creating a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Grid Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Adding Options . 80
Custom Cursors . . . . 83
Snap to Grid. . . . . . 84
Constraining a Shape. 86
Enter the Matrix. . . . 88
Arrow Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
The Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Setting the Properties Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
3D Cube Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Packaging Extensions 112
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Chapter 4: Timeline Effects . . 117

Timeline Effects vs. Commands. 118
Blur Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Creating Timeline Effects . . . . . . . . 123
Slide Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Removing an Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Move in Circle Effect . . . . . . . 133
Easing the Pain of Development. 141
Checkerboard Transition Effect . 142

vi
 CONTENTS

Custom Effect UI and Preview 149

Summary . . . . . . . . . 160

Chapter 5: XML to UI . 163

XML to UI in Action .. . · ........ 164
The Beauty of XML .. . · ........ 166
Elements . . . . 167
Attributes .. . 167
Character Data 167
Comments. 167
Root . . . . 168
Declaration 168
XML to UI tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Layout Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Control Tags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Creating a Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
SWF in a Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Dialog Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
<dialog> 177
<hbox> .. 178
<vbox> .. 178
<separator> 179
<grid>, <columns>, <column>, <rows>, <row> 180
<spacer> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Dialog Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
<button> . . . . . . . . 182
<checkbox> 183
<radiogroup>, <radio> 184
<label>, <textbox> .. 184
<colorchip>, <popupslider> 186
<menulist>, <menupop>, <menuitem>, <listbox>, <listitem> 188
<targetiist> . . . . . . 189
<flash>, <property> . 191
Dialog Designer 193
Summary . . . . . . . . . 195

Chapter 6: Behaviors . 197

Exploring Behaviors . . . ..... . · ........ 198
Behind the Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · ................ 201
Snippet Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · ................. 203
Root Preloader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · ................ 204
Button Action Behaviors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · ................. 207
Drag and Throw Physics in Flash . . . . . . . · ................ 207
Designing the Drag Dialog Box . . . . . . . 212
Throwing Behaviors Around . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Keeping Things in Check . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Dynamic Properties with SWF Dialog Boxes . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

vii
CONTENTS

A Flash Component Interface 222

Custom Right-Click Menu .. . 226
Behavior Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Following the Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........ 237

Chapter 7: WindowSWF and MMExecute · 239

What's New with WindowSWF? . 241
MMExecute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . 242
Case Study 1: Message Window . . . . . . . . . . . · . 243
Creating the Interface 244
Interface Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Custom Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Case Study 2: Search and Replace . . . . . . . . . . · . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
User Interface . . . . . 251
Finding a Phrase . . . . 252
Continuing the Search 260
Replacing Phrases . . . 265
Recursion, Recursion, Recursion! 268
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Chapter 8: Flash from the Command line . · 273

Why the Command Line? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........ 274
How to Execute a JSFL File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Calling Flash from the Command Line 275
Calling the JSFL File Directly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Executing a File from Its Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Adding Content via the Command Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Saving and Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Closing Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Processing Existing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Handling External Files from JSFL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Abstracting It Even Further with Batch Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Echoing Data. . . . 285
Getting Arguments . . . . . . . . 286
Creating a JSFL File . . . . . . . . 286
Executing Files from a Batch File. 288
Handling Multiple Arguments 288
Summary . . . . 290

JSFL Reference · 293

Bitmaplnstance . 296
Bitmapltem . . . 297
CompiledCliplnstance 298
Componentlnstance 300
Components Panel 300
Contour . . . . . . . 300

viii
 CONTENTS

Document .. 301
DrawingLayer . 333
Edge .. . 336
Effect . . . . . 338
Element . . . . 339
EmbeddedVideolnstance 343
Fill . . . . . 343
Flash . . . . 345
Folderltem 353
Fontltem 353
Frame .. 353
Half Edge 358
Instance. 359
Item .. 360
Layer .. 363
Library .. 365
LinkedVideolnstance . 372
Math ... . 372
Matrix ... . 373
OutputPanel 375
Parameter. 376
Path . . . . . 378
Screen ... . 380
ScreenOutline 383
ScreenType 386
Shape ... 388
Soundltem 390
Stroke ... 391
Symbollnstance 396
Symbolltem. · 401
Text . . . · 403
TextAttrs · 410
TextRun . .413
Timeline. · 414
Tool Functions · 424
ToolObj · 426
Tools .. . · 429
Vertex .. . · 432
Videoltem · 433
XMLUI ... · 433

Index . . . . . . 437

ix
 FOREWORD

If I were to tell you that the latest version of Flash can and will increase your productivity lev-
els by speeding up the development process and eradicating all those tedious, repetitive
tasks that you waste valuable development time on, over and over again, I would imagine
that you would be interested in hearing a little more about it. If you find yourself craving the
lowdown on these new and exciting capabilities, then you have opened the right book.

How long does it take for you to add a stop action to each of one or more frames in a time-
line? Or how long does it take for you to convert a few graphic symbols into movie clip sym-
bols? There isn't really a definitive answer, but what I am getting at is that it takes too long,
or longer than it should. It is boring and nobody enjoys doing it, but developers all do it reg-
ularly without even thinking about it-these are the mundane and repetitive tasks that you
often encounter when building any Flash movie. These activities and many more account for
a lot of the time you spend developing or designing; you don't spend enough time doing the
kind of work you enjoy.

The key feature that sold Macromedia Flash MX 2004 to me and my employer has to be the
fact that by utilizing the new extensibility layer in Flash MX 2004 it is possible to build or
record macro-like scripts that will perform a particular sequence of interactions-a task. You
can then play back this task, at a later date with the click of a button, to automatically repeat
that sequence of interactions. But that's not all you can do; we've barely scratched the
surface ...

In the relatively short time I have had Flash MX 2004, it has allowed me to reduce the
amount of time I spend doing the boring, tedious stuff in my day-to-day work, and increase
the amount of time I have to work on the more interesting and challenging tasks.

Recently, my company was developing an interactive world map for one of our clients. They
wanted users to be able to roll over each country and have its name appear in a tooltip. They
provided us with a vector world map, so we imported it into Flash, and split each country
onto a separate layer, giving the layer the name of the country.

We then wrote a command that would go through this Flash movie, select the shape on each
layer, convert it into a button, and add a rollover state to that button, which simply changed
the color of the country. The command then added a little bit of ActionScript to activate the
tooltip and display the name of the country on rollover.

xi
FOREWORD

With Flash MX 2004, we were then able run this command on the entire project, and
within five minutes our world map was finished, leaving me free to start work on my next
project, get a haircut, walk the dog, wash the car, and build a sandcastle! Can you imagine
how much longer it would have taken to do this manually? Not to mention how boring it
would have been to select each of the 192 countries and convert them all into buttons,
adding a rollover state and the required ActionScript to each one. It'd probably easily take
the best part of a full working day!

As if this weren't enough to get excited about, there's more. If you put what you learn
from this book into practice, and develop an extension that you feel can be utilized by
your peers, then you now, as a Flash developer, have a new commercial avenue-packag-
ing an extension and selling it to the world. I have jumped on this opportunity and plan to
release a Flash extension that adds auto-saving capabilities to Flash MX 2004 in the very
near future. Developing this extension was a breeze using the new scripting language and
other enhancements that the new extensibility layer provides. There is nothing stopping
you doing the same.

This book will take you, step by step, through each of the various types of Flash exten-
sions-Timeline Effects, commands, custom tools, and Flash panels, giving you all the gory
details in a clear and jargon-free manner. Starting off with the basics and steadily working
up to the more complex tools and techniques, Extending Flash MX 2004: Complete Guide
and Reference to javaScript Flash is loaded with practical examples and code snippets to
help you along the way. And the latter part of the book consists of a complete reference
to the JavaScript API, which you can rely on when you head off and start to build and dis-
tribute your own Flash extensions.

I applaud the authors-both experienced developers-who have managed to cover such

an immense subject very accurately and concisely, creating the only book you will ever
need at your desk when creating Flash extensions. I for one am very excited at the thought
of all the crazy new features that Flash users will be distributing throughout the Flash com-
munity in the not-so-distant future, after reading this book.

I wish you luck and happy reading!

Guy Watson, a.k.a. FlashGuru

www.flashguru.co.uk

xii
 ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Keith Peters lives in the vicinity of Boston, MA, in the USA with his
wife, Kazumi, and their new daughter, Kristine. He has been work-
ing with Flash since 1999, and has coauthored many books for
friends of ED, including Macromedia Flash MX Studio, Flash MX
Most Wanted: Effects and Movies, and the ground breaking Flash
Math Creativity. In 2001, Keith started the experimental Flash site
www.bit-l01.COm, on which he regularly posts new cutting-edge,
open source experiments. The site recently won an award at the
Flashforward 2003 Flash Film Festival in the Experimental category.
In addition to the experiments on the site, there are several highly
regarded Flash tutorials that have been translated into many languages and are now posted
on web sites throughout the world. Keith is currently working full time doing Flash develop-
ment and various writing projects.

Todd Yard studied acting at London's Mountview Theatre School

and performed in New York, Los Angeles, and on tour nationally
before settling in New York to pursue graphic design and web
application programming full time. Since 1999, Todd has taught
classes in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash, contributed as an author
to eight friends of ED Flash books including Macromedia Flash MX
Studio and Flash MX Application and Interface Design, served as
technical editor for Flash MX 2004 Games Most Wanted, and has
written more than a few Flash, Photoshop, and Illustrator tutorials
for computer magazines in the UK. His personal web site,
www.27Bobs.com. has been featured in a number of articles and international festivals,
including the Flashforward Film Festival in Amsterdam and the Electronic Language
International Festival in Brazil. Todd now works as lead Flash programmer at Ego? in
New York City, in addition to his freelance writing, coding, and animation projects.

xiii
 ABOUT THE TECHNICAL REVIEWER

Peter Elst is a freelance multimedia application developer and runs

a small business called MindStudio, which specializes in Flash devel-
opment and content management tools. As a Team Macromedia
volunteer, contributor to various community resources, and
speaker at several international venues, he happily spends any
spare time he has on replying to e-mailed questions and posting on
his personal weblog (www.peterelst.com).

xiv
 ABOUT THE COVER IMAGE

Corne van Dooren designed the front cover image for this book.
After a typically vague editorial brief along the lines of: "Make us
something cool and space-age, with architecture and the Earth,"
Corne was inspired to extend the cover of the companion title
Flash MX Designer's ActionScript Reference (also from friends of ED),
and take it in a different direction suitable for this new Flash
Extensibility technology. With a colorful background as an avid
cartoonist, Corne discovered the infinite world of multimedia at the
age of 17-a journey of discovery that hasn't stopped since. Corne
spends much of his time with most of the well-known packages
from Adobe and Macromedia, for both online and offline use. His mantra has always been
"The only limit to multimedia is the imagination." You can see more of his work and contact
him at www.comevandooren.com. and be sure to check out his chapter in the upcoming
New Masters of Photoshop: Volume 2 from friends of ED.

xv
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are a number of people whose help or advice was invaluable in the writing of this
book. First, there's Steve Rycroft, to whom we originally presented the idea of this book last
summer. He's been there almost daily, guiding, prodding, and pushing the project through to
the end. Peter Brouwers provided some valuable early documentation of the JavaScript API.
Without Robin Debreuil, we're sure we would never have figured out the fill matrix, and
much of the code describing it is directly from his description of it. Sharon Selden from
Macromedia was always helpful in answering questions or finding the answers, and continues
to do so over in the forums at www.flashextensibility.com. Finally, Peter Elst gave an
incredibly thorough technical review of each page of the book, including each line of the ref-
erence section, a job we can only imagine as tedious-so special thanks to Peter!

xvii
 1 INTRODUCTION TO FLASH
EXTENSIBILITY

Re Edit
• layer I :Frame I
Tools
Data
~~ Embedded Video ~
Pause
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EXTENDING MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004

Welcome to Extending Flash MX 2004! This book combines a rich introduction and tutorial
guide to all of the exciting new extensibility features of Macromedia Flash MX 2004, along
with a comprehensive reference dictionary cataloging all of the associated extensibility
technologies and language syntax. Our aim has been to make this book the best resource
to Flash extensibility available-the book that you'll keep on your desk and never
exhaust-complete with the most in-depth coverage possible to enhance your under-
standing and plenty of practical examples to inspire your creativity.

The extensibility architecture, introduced in Flash MX 2004, is one of the most powerful
enhancements to the authoring environment ever seen. As such, it's probably a good idea
to take a look at exactly what we mean by extensibility-what it can do, what it can't
do-and dive in with a few examples to get your feet wet.

We should mention here that everything we'll cover in this book applies to both
Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004. The main difference is that the
Professional version comes with a built-in script editor with which you can cre-
ate your extensibility scripts. That's certainly a nice bonus for users of this ver-
sion, but users of the standard version needn't worry-these scripts are created
in plain text, so you can use any text editor you like to do the same thing.

Personally, when we first heard the term, we initially associated it, incorrectly as you'll see,
with concepts and buzzwords like accessibility and usability. All well and good, but not too
exciting. Since many new features are available in Flash MX 2004, it's easy to overlook
extensibility as some other minor enhancement that you mayor may not need someday.
But when we're discussing the extensibility architecture, we're literally talking about the
ability to extend the authoring environment in Flash. And this doesn't only mean that Flash
MX 2004 is just extended beyond Flash MX-that much is obvious. What we're talking
about is you, the Flash user, being able to extend Flash MX 2004 to make it do things that
it couldn't do when you installed it. For example, you can add new drawing tools to the
toolbar to create any kind of shape or drawing imaginable, including some basic real-time
3D effects. In fact, we'll show you how to do just that in Chapter 3! You can create com-
mands that perform complex, time-consuming tasks instantly. These can be simple macro-
type commands or full programs that create new Flash documents, add content to them,
and publish them. Most of these enhancements make use of a new scripting language
called JavaScript Flash, or JSFL, which can be used to manipulate the authoring environ-
ment and its various elements. We'll present on overview of JSFL shortly, and you'll be get-
ting very familiar with the practical side of JSFL starting in Chapter 2.

What Is Flash Extensibility?

Let's take a look at the five main areas that fall under the heading of extensibility in Flash:

1. Commands 4. Behaviors
2. Tools 5. Advanced tools
3. Timeline Effects

2
 INTRODUCTION TO FLASH EXTENSIBILITY

Commands
If you take a look at the Flash MX 2004 authoring environment,
you'll see a menu item that wasn't there in previous versions of
Flash-Commands-as shown in Figure 1-1.

In Flash MX 2004, you can create new custom commands that can
be run from this menu. In Figure 1-1, you can tell that we've
already been going crazy with our own custom commands; if you
Commands Control

Run Commond ...

Circle Text
Detect Accossililly
getConflQDir
Moyle Explorer
wndow He
Manage ~ved Conmands, , ,
Get More Conmands .. ,

-
Process PDF page by page
haven't yet played around with this feature, your menu is likely to
Reload Effects
read No Commands Found at the moment. Not to worry though, Reload Tools
you'll soon be brimming with ideas for new commands! runscript test
Figure 1-1.
Selection to Grid
starBurst The Commands menu
The commands functionality of Flash MX 2004 is probably the W~ve Text
simplest level of Flash extensibility to get started with, as it
doesn't really require any technical know-how about the extensi-
bility framework at all. If you've ever recorded a macro in other popular programs, this can
be just as simple-you perform the actions you want and then save them as a command.
Anytime you need to perform those actions again, simply select that command from the
Commands menu, and those actions will be replayed.

But don't take that to mean your commands need to be simple. You can record almost any
number of actions into a command, and you can then go in and edit the resulting file to
customize it even further. As you become more confident, you can even create your own
commands from scratch, as simply as writing a script. Since these commands are merely
text files, you can easily share these with others in your work group, or if you create a par-
ticularly useful one, distribute it to whoever might find it handy. We're sure you'll soon be
able to download any number of commands from various open source repositories.

A key resource, and perhaps the first one online, is the companion website to
this book, www.flashextensibility.com. There you'll find all the commands
discussed in this book, as well as all of the other files created here. In addition,
visitors will be able to upload their own commands and share ideas and tech-
niques. This site will soon consist of a library of hundreds of useful extensibility
tools for you to use or study as examples.

TooLs
No doubt you're pretty familiar with the trusty toolbar in Flash, shown in Figure 1-2.
You've got your selection tools, your drawing tools, eyedropper, eraser, etc., all there, right
where you need them. Right where they've always been, like they're carved in stone. Well
say goodbye to that concept. In Flash MX 2004, you can not only rearrange the existing
tools however you like, but also add any number of new tools, created in the same way
you would code a custom command.

3
EXTENDING MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004

rook Tools are quite a bit more complex than commands, though. Although a com-
mand is generally a linear script that performs a series of actions and then ends,
tools become activated when selected and deactivated when another tool is
selected. While active, they are basically little programs running in the author-
ing environment, responding to various actions in a fully event-driven frame-
work.

The most common use for tools is in creating custom drawing shapes. Up to
Flash MX, we had a Line, Oval, Rectangle, and freehand drawing tools to draw
with. Now with Flash MX 2004 extensibility, any shape or form that can be math-
Figure 1-2. ematically or programmatically defined can be inserted right into the toolbar.
View
The Flash toolbar
~ 0. Macromedia has provided one new tool in this version of Flash, the PolyStar
tool, which was created with the new extensibility architecture. You can find it
on your toolbar right under the Rectangle tool. Just click and hold over the rectangle icon
and the PolyStar tool will slide out. We can imagine that before long, libraries of stars,
arrows, callouts, smiley faces, and lightning bolts will be circulating the Web, begging to be
plugged into your toolbar. In fact, you'll beat them to the punch when we demonstrate
how to create a couple of custom-built tools in Chapter 3.

TimeLine Effects
Face it: The first thing you likely did when you started using Flash was create a tween.
Following some book or tutorial, you put a shape on frame one, added some frames, cre-
ated a tween, made another keyframe, and changed the shape somehow. You probably
also remember, at some later point, digging into the advanced tutorials, trying to create
some really cool effect, struggling along trying to follow precisely what the author was say-
ing, and most likely making far too many mistakes before you either got it right or gave up.
Wouldn't it be nice if instead the author could have just recorded the actions you needed
to take, and you could just supply your symbol and say, "Yeah, do that to this!"

That's essentially what Timeline Effects are: prescripted tweens. You supply the symbol
and let the effect do its magic on it. These can even include user interfaces based on
Shockwave Flash (SWF), where you can tweak various parameters and preview the effect.
For a quick example of this, draw something onstage, a simple ellipse say, and right-click it
(CMD-click for Mac). From the context menu, choose Timeline Effects> Effects> Blur
(you can also get to this option via the Insert menu), and a panel opens up with the effect
interface created in Flash as you see in Figure 1-3-in fact, this is a SWF itself.

4
 INTRODUCTION TO FLASH EXTENSIBILITY

-
BLUR

Et1«1 Duration 16
RftOIUUOI'I 15

Sale O.H

OK ao_

Figure 1-3. User interface for the Blur Timeline Effect

Set up some parameters and click OK and test your movie. Admittedly not a hugely excit-
ing effect, but it shows off Flash's ability to create reasonably complex tweens at the click
of a button.

Once again, you're going to see a ton of these circulating around. From a creative stand-
point, we should advise you to use them with caution: A visitor to your site seeing the
same canned Timeline Effect they've seen on ten other websites isn't going to be very
impressed. With that in mind though, Timeline Effects can be a huge timesaver, particularly
if you know how to create effects of your own, which is exactly what is covered in detail in
Chapter 4. And don't forget to visit our website, www.flashextensibility.com. to check
out some of the cool effects available for download.

Behaviors
Behaviors are like a distant cousin to Timeline Effects. Rather than a pre-scripted tween,
here we're talking about a pre-scripted script. The simpler behaviors are largely going to
be for the designer who wants an object to have a certain behavior that can only be
scripted, but doesn't want to go through the trouble of learning ActionScript.

For another quick demo, create a movie clip on the stage and select it. Open the Behaviors
panel (Windows> Development Panels> Behaviors or SHIFT+F3) and click the plus sym-
bol. A context-sensitive list of potential behaviors occurs. Choose Start Dragging Movieclip
as shown in Figure 1-4.

5
EXTENDING MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004

-
... ~ l?~

~.='::=:2~
.~
6rftDForW41d
PrO)!ICtOf • Brno to Front
_ • 0\0>I<~_

wl!lb • GotoMdPla:fatframeorlab@l
G0t04ll'ldstop«fral'flecrlabel
load _ _

load"'_
Send_d
S!ndto Bad:.
Figure 1-4.
The Behaviors panel and associated options

You can also choose an event that will trigger the behavior, so set it as On Press. Test your
movie (CTRLICMO+ENTER) and click the movie clip. It should start dragging (following the
mouse). Of course, you'll probably also want to add a Stop Dragging Movieclip command
for On Release. All of this dragging and responding to mouse events is obviously done
behind the scenes with ActionScript, but you didn't have to write (or know) a single line
of code.

Multiple behaviors can be applied to the same object, based on the same or different
events, so some complex behaviors can be created through such "layering."

In this book we'll be demonstrating how to create behaviors, and we don't insist anywhere
that your behaviors be as simple as Start Dragging. Virtually any code you can write into an
event handler in ActionScript can be turned into a custom behavior. It goes without saying
that there will be plenty of these behaviors available at www.flashextensibility.com.

Advanced Tools
Finally, if all the features you've seen so far don't get some wild ideas going in your head
about what you can do, we've come to the section of items we'll lump together generally
as advanced tools. These mainly consist of a little command called MMExecute and
another tool that is used at the command line.

MMExecute is actually a new ActionScript built-in function. It takes a single argument,

which is a string. The string itself is actually a program in the same language as the com-
mands, tools, and Timeline Effects are written in, jSFL. For example, the following is a very
simple program written in jSFL that simply adds a circle to the current document:

var the_doc = fl.getDocumentDOM();

the_doc.addNewOval({top:l00, bottom:l00, left:2oo, right:200});

You can encode that into a string and store it in a variable like so:

thejSFL = "var the_doc =

-.fl.getDocumentDOM();the_doc.addNewOval({top:l00, bottom:l0o,
-.left:2oo, right:200});"

6
 INTRODUCTION TO FLASH EXTENSIBILITY

-
Then, you could use that string inside MMExecute to run that jSFL program:

MMExecute(thejSFL) ;

Don't worry if you don't follow this code yet-all will be revealed later in this book.
Essentially, this means that you can not only extend Flash through a menu, toolbar, and the
special timeline and behaviors functions, but also automatically run one of these extensi-
bility scripts from a SWF running in the authoring environment. That last phrase is impor-
tant; the extensibility tools only have power from within the authoring environment. Thus,
MMExecute must be contained in a SWF running in the authoring environment, such as a
live preview or custom UI SWF, for it to have any effect at all. The jSFL code that is run
affects the document that is open in the authoring environment. It does nothing at all to
the SWF that contains the MMExecute command.

This makes a whole bunch of things possible in the field of component creation. Flash MX
2004 components contain live previews, which are SWFs that can contain MMExecute state-
ments. In this way, once a component is added to a document, it can take certain actions
on that document such as adding or modifying content.

Lastly is the fact that these scripts can now be run from the command line, or even by
double-clicking the icon for a script. This will automatically open up Flash and perform any
actions you want, including creating documents, exporting SWF, and so on. This opens up
almost the entire Flash authoring application programming interface (API) to be run from
a command line, via an extensibility script. While this allows for batch processing or even
creation of Flash movies, you can also envision a program operating outside of Flash, feed-
ing scripts to the command-line tool. This could mean a whole new Flash UI! Another con-
cept is using Flash on a web server, where a web page calls a PHP or ASP script, creating a
script for Flash, and then runs that script, creating a brand new SWF on the server, which
is then fed back to the calling web page.

What Extensibility Isn't

As touched upon previously, the extensibility tools only have power within the Flash
authoring environment itself. The final SWF movie that you publish and put on a website
or CD or whatever isn't going to be able to do anything that it couldn't do before you
extended Flash. These tools are all strictly for you, the Flash author, to make your job
easier or to add more power to your creative abilities.

For example, certain extensibility commands enable you to create new movie clips and
insert graphic content into them. These would be called from a command, tool, or
Timeline Effect, or perhaps from a SWF running as a custom UI; but in any case, they
would be called from within the authoring environment. In a final exported SWF, the only
way to create a movie clip is the ActionScript function createEmptyMovieClip, which
remains unchanged since Flash MX. To add new graphics to it, you might use the
ActionScript drawing API, as in Flash MX.

7
EXTENDING MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004

Also available are extensibility commands to change the stage size or color or even change
the frame rate of a movie. This is only in the course of authoring a movie. There is still no
way to directly perform these actions from within a published SWF (though you still have
plenty of ways to fake it, of course!).

This mostly gets confusing when running the MMExecute function. When you have some
ActionScript in a movie with a line like setFPS(30), it's easy to get excited about how you
can now control the frame rate of a movie. We just want to save you the disappointment
later when you realize it doesn't work exactly like that.

To reiterate, the new extensibility features are enhancements to the authoring

environment of the Flash IDE. They are there to speed up the workflow for you,
the Flash designer or developer, or to make it possible to simply do things you
just couldn't do before. Once your movie is exported to a SWF or published on a
web page, the end audience isn't going to have access to any of these features.
The main benefit that they will see is higher quality work and more of it, pro-
duced faster by you and your design team!

The Underlying Technologies

In addition to extensibility architecture, you might have heard the terms JavaScript API
and JSFl. This has caused confusion among some, giving the impression that this somehow
enables some communication between a Flash movie and javaScript within a browser.
Remember, extensibility has nothing to do with the final SWF in the browser. We even had
one person tell us that Macromedia has done away with ActionScript and replaced it with
javaScript! So, let's look over the technologies that we'll be using throughout the book,
and how javaScript relates to it all.

JSFL-JavaScript Flash
The simple fact is that these extensibility scripts, which we've so vaguely been referring to
up to now, are written in javaScript. Why javaScript, you ask, when all the rest of Flash is
based on ActionScript? Well, that's a question for the engineers who designed it all, and
they probably had very good reasons. The good news, though, is that both javaScript and
ActionScript are based on the same standard, ECMA. So, if you have more than a raw
beginner's experience in ActionScript, you should feel quite at home with jSFL.

As mentioned, a jSFL file is a simple text file containing a script. You can create a jSFL file
with any text editor, or you can use the built-in editor in Flash MX Professional 2004. If you
are using the Professional version, you'll have the advantage of syntax highlighting, code
hinting and completion in the editor. This is a very useful feature, especially when you're

8
 INTRODUCTION TO FLASH EXTENSIBILITY

still learning jSFL. However, many fine external code editors are available out there that

-
can be configured to do the same thing. A popular one among Flash developers is
SciteFlash, available free for download at www.bomberstudios.com/sciteflash/. This
already has code completion and highlighting for ActionScript, and it will only be a matter
of time before configuration files are created for jSFL as well. In fact, SciteFlash has several
useful features not available in the built-in editor, such as code folding, through which you
can collapse a function or code block into a single line. With all due respect to the good
folks at Macromedia, it wouldn't surprise us if many Flash Pro users continue to use this
fine external editor.

Although the syntax of the script you create for your extensibility tools will be that of
javaScript, a large number of new objects, properties, and methods relate directly to Flash.
It's these objects and methods that are collectively known as the javaScript API. In hand
coding your new extensions, you'll be dealing with these new methods and properties for
the largest share of functionality of your script. Toward the end of this book you'll find a
comprehensive reference dictionary to all of these objects, methods, and properties.

The DOM
The Document Object Model (DaM) is the model of choice for all the objects in a Flash
document. If you've ever programmed in javaScript, this will be a familiar concept to you.
The DaM for a web page is a way of representing everything on the page as an object that
can be manipulated in a javaScript program. Thus, you have predefined objects for the
document itself, for each element in it, and even for such things as the browser and the
screen. Each of these objects has properties and perhaps methods that can be applied to
change the appearance or behavior of that particular element, or to manipulate and pres-
ent data within it. For example, in a browser, the document object refers to the HTML doc-
ument being displayed in the browser. This object has various methods and properties. An
example of one of its methods is write. Anything given to this method as a parameter will
be written into the document. You can test this directly by typing the following into the
address bar of your browser:

javascript:document.write("Hello browser")

Press ENTER and the message will be written to the browser window. An example of a doc-
ument property is bgColor, with which you can read or set the background color of the
current document. Enter this into your browser to see it at work:

javascript:document.bgColor=Oxff44bb;document.write("Hello browser!")

Similarly, jSFL has a Document Object Model that represents virtually every aspect of a
Flash movie in the authoring environment, a portion of which you can see in Figure 1-5.
Actually, the DaM encompasses the full authoring environment itself, any documents in it,
and several of the panels you see and use.

9
EXTENDING MACROMEDIA FLASH MX 2004

flash
documents - - - - - - - - - - - r - currentTimeline
tools - - - - - . - mouseIsDown time lines -----r- name
componentsPanel al tIsDown library
effects layers
activeEffect shiftIsDown livePreview
configDirectory ctlIsDown width currentFrame
screenTypes height
xmlui toolObjs backgroundColor frameCount
viewMatrix activeTool frameRate
Math selection currentLayer
penLoc
ou t pu tP ane 1 name
configURI penDownLoc screenOutline layerCount
version
drawing Layer accName
description
silent
forceSimple
auto Label
publish Profiles
current Publish Profile
Figure 1-5. Tree diagram showing just a few sections of the Flash DOM

We'll get into this in a lot more detail later, but to give you a rough idea of it, the base-
level object in the DOM is the flash object, which can also be accessed as fl. One of the
key properties of fl is documents, which is an array containing all the documents cur-
rently opened in Flash (see Figure 1-6). Thus, you can access the first document in the
authoring environment with the expression fl. documents [0]. Likewise, you can access the
currently active document at any time with fl.getDocumentDOMO.

Window ~
New Window Ctn+Alt+K Figure 1-6.
Toooba<s , Here you can see multiple documents open in Flash. Each
Project Shift+F8
document is an element in the fl. documents array.
\I Properties Ctrl+F3
Sa_
" Tmelne Ctrl+Alt+T
" Tools Ctrl+F2
Llxary FlI
, A document object most importantly contains a timeline
Design p",,-ds
, object, which is accessed through the document method
De"iopment p",,-ds
Other P....... , getTimeLineO. Once you have a reference to the timeline,
you can get access to the various layers of the timeline
HIde P.......
Pone! Sets
F~
, through a property called, obviously enough, layers. Again,
S."P...... L~ ... this is an array, with each element representing a layer in the
COS<o timeline.
Til.

'" 1 Unttied-I You're probably getting a clearer idea of this now, and may
2 GIld Tcd.jsII
3r~.fIa*
have even guessed that frames is a property of each layer-it's
4030130.fIa' an array containing all the frames in that layer.

Finally, you have the elements property of each frame. This is an array containing each
object in that frame, whether it's a button, movie clip, graphic, or simple shape, as shown
in Figure 1-7.

10
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of A voyage
round the world
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: A voyage round the world

Perfomed by order of His most Christian Majesty, in the
years 1766, 1767, 1768, and 1769.

Author: comte Louis-Antoine de Bougainville

Translator: Johann Reinhold Forster

Release date: April 19, 2024 [eBook #73429]

Language: English

Original publication: London: J. Nourse, 1772

Credits: Peter Becker, KD Weeks and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file
was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A VOYAGE

ROUND THE WORLD ***
 Transcriber’s Note:
Footnotes have been collected at the end of each
chapter, and are linked for ease of reference.
The editor has provided a list of errata at the end of
the text. These have been applied to the text. The
corrected words are underlined in red.
Other errors, attributable to the printer, have been
corrected. Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of
this text for details regarding the handling of any textual
issues encountered during its preparation.
Any corrections are indicated as hyperlinks, which will
navigate the reader to the corresponding entry in the
corrections table in the note at the end of the text.
 A
VOYAGE
ROUND THE
WORLD.

Performed by Order of

HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY,

In the Years 1766, 1767, 1768, and 1769.

BY

LEWIS DE BOUGAINVILLE,

Colonel of Foot, and Commodore of the Expedition, in the

Frigate La Boudeuse, and the Store-ship L’Etoile.

Translated from the French

By JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER, F. A. S.

LONDON,

Printed for J. Nourse, Bookseller to HIS MAJESTY, in the Strand; and

T. Davies, Bookseller to the Royal Academy, in Russel-street, Covent-
garden.

M DCC LXXII.
 TO

JAMES WEST, Esq.

High Steward of St. Alban’s, Recorder of Pool,

AND

President of the Royal Society.

SIR,
I Beg leave to offer you the Translation of a Work written by a
learned, intelligent, and judicious Traveller, which abounds with
remarkable events and curious observations; equally instructive to
future navigators, and interesting to science in general, and
Geography in particular.
The place you occupy with great honour in the Royal Society, the
zeal with which you promote and countenance whatever has a
tendency towards the advancement of Science, and the remarkable
kindness and favour you always have treated me with, encourage
me to prefix your name to this publication.
Accept then, Sir, this public acknowledgement of the deep sense
of gratitude and attachment your benevolence has raised, with the
sincerest wishes for your health, prosperity, and the enjoyment of
every intellectual and moral pleasure. Believe me to be, with the
truest esteem,
SIR,
Your most obliged,
and obedient
humble servant,
JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER.
 THE
TRANSLATOR’s PREFACE.

The present translation of Mr. de Bougainville’s Voyage round the

World merits, in more than one respect, the attention of the public.
Circumnavigations of the globe have been of late the universal
topics of all companies: every one takes upon him to be a
competent judge in matters which very few understand, mostly for
want of good and authentic information: this work will enable the
reader to judge with greater precision of the vague discourses held
on this subject.
Nautical advices and observations are always interesting, from
whatever quarter they may happen to come, provided they are
communicated by a man of known abilities; and nobody, we think,
will question those of Mr. de Bougainville.
The superiority of the British discoveries in the great ocean,
between America and Asia, cannot be ascertained, unless by an
authentic account of the discoveries of the rival nation; who, after a
great exertion, and the advantage of being supplied by the
Spaniards with all the necessaries at a great distance from home,
before they entered the South Pacific Ocean, however discovered
very little; and what they discovered, had partly been seen by
English navigators, or some Spanish ones of older date; so that the
honour of the greatest discoveries made within two centuries, in
those remote seas, is entirely reserved to the British nation, and
their spirit and perseverance in conducting this great and interesting
event.
The envious and scandalous behaviour of the Portuguese viceroy,
at Rio de Janeiro, towards our philosophers, which will for ever
brand that mean barbarian with indelible ignominy, is confirmed by a
similar act of despotic barbarism towards another nation, related in
this work.
The French, who are so remarkable for the gravings with which
they ornament their principal publications, will find, that the charts
joined to this translation, though reduced to a sixteenth part of the
surface of the originals, are, however, infinitely superior to them in
point of neatness, convenience, and accuracy. Without being less
useful, we have connected, in our charts, the whole run of their
ships, from the beginning of their discoveries to Batavia. The chart
of the Magellanic Straits is of the same size, and upon the same
scale as in the original, but more accurate; and the names by which
the English call the several points of land, the bays and the reaches,
are all added to the French names. The omission of the charts of Rio
de la Plata, and of the Falkland Isles, is by no means an
imperfection; because, very lately, two charts have been published in
England, one equally good of the first, and a better one of the latter;
it would therefore be needless to multiply the identical charts, or to
give the public some imperfect ones.
Though Mr. de Bougainville is a man of undoubted veracity and
abilities, he has, however, in a few instances, been misled by false
reports, or prejudiced in favour of his nation: we have, in some
additional notes, corrected as far as it was in our power these
mistakes, and impartially vindicated the British nation, where we
thought the author had been unjustly partial; for the love of one’s
country is, in our opinion, very consistent with common justice and
good breeding; qualities which never should be wanting in a
philosopher.
Our author endeavours to make it highly probable, that the spice-
trade, which has hitherto been the great source of the grandeur and
wealth of the Dutch East India Company, will soon be divided among
them, the French, and the English. We have reason to believe the
French to be in a fair way of getting the spices in their plantations,
as Mr. de Poivre has actually planted at Isle de France some
hundreds of clove and nutmeg-trees. Every true patriot will join in
the wish, that our English East India Company, prompted by a noble
zeal for the improvement of natural history, and every other useful
branch of knowledge, might send a set of men properly acquainted
with mathematics, natural history, physic, and other branches of
literature, to their vast possessions in the Indies, and every other
place where their navigations extend, and enable them to collect all
kinds of useful and curious informations; to gather fossils, plants,
seeds, and animals, peculiar to these regions; to observe the
manners, customs, learning, and religion of the various nations of
the East; to describe their agriculture, manufactures, and commerce;
to purchase Hebrew, Persian, Braminic manuscripts, and such as are
written in the various characters, dialects, and languages of the
different nations; to make observations on the climate and
constitution of the various countries; the heat and moisture of the
air, the salubrity and noxiousness of the place, the remedies usual in
the diseases of hot countries, and various other subjects. A plan of
this nature, once set on foot in a judicious manner, would not only
do honour to the East India Company, but it must at the same time
become a means of discovering many new and useful branches of
trade and commerce; and there is likewise the highest probability,
that some unsearched island, with which the Eastern Seas abound,
might produce the various spices, which would greatly add to the
rich returns of the Indian cargoes, and amply repay the expences
caused by such an expedition.
Mr. de Bougainville’s work abounds in marine phrases, which
makes the translation of it very difficult, even to a native; but a
foreigner, and a man unacquainted with nautical affairs, must be
under still greater difficulties: we should have been under this
predicament, had it not been for the kind assistance of two worthy
friends, who not only enabled us to do justice to the original, but
also to make the whole intelligible to men conversant with
navigation: it is therefore no more than justice to acknowledge this
favour publicly[1].
 INTRODUCTION.

I think it would be of use to give, at the head of my relation, an

account of all the voyages that ever were performed round the
world, and of the different discoveries which have hitherto been
made in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean.
Ferdinand Magalhaens, a Portuguese, commanding five Spanish
ships, left Seville in 1519, discovered the straits which bear his
name, and through them he came into the Pacific Ocean, where he
first discovered two little desart isles, on the south side of the Line,
afterwards the Ladrones, and last of all the Philippines. His ship,
called la Victoria, was the only one out of the five that returned to
Spain by the Cape of Good Hope: On her return she was carried on
shore at Seville, and set up as a monument of this expedition, which
was the boldest that had hitherto been undertaken by men. Thus it
was for the first time physically demonstrated, that the earth was of
a spherical figure, and its circumference ascertained.
Sir Francis Drake, an Englishman, set sail from Plymouth, with five
ships, the 15th of September, 1577, and returned thither with only
one, the 3d of November, 1580. He was the second that sailed round
the world. Queen Elizabeth dined on board his ship, called the
Pelican, which was afterwards preserved in a dock at Deptford, with
a very honourable inscription on the main-mast. The discoveries
attributed to Drake are very precarious. The charts of the South
Seas contain a coast which is placed below the polar circle, some
isles to the north of the Line, and likewise New Albion to the north.
Sir Thomas Cavendish, an Englishman, left Plymouth the 21st of
July, 1586, with three ships, and returned with two on 9th of
September, 1588. This voyage, which was the third round the world,
was productive of no new discoveries.
Oliver Van Noort, a Dutchman, sailed from Rotterdam the 2d of
July, 1598, with four ships, passed through the straits of
Magalhaens, sailed along the western coasts of America, from
whence he went to the Ladrones, the Philippines, the Moluccas, the
Cape of Good Hope, and returned to Rotterdam with one ship the
26th of August, 1601. He made no discoveries in the South Seas.
George Spilberg, a Dutchman, sailed from Zeeland the 8th of
August, 1614, with six ships; he lost two ships before he came to
the straits of Magalhaens, passed through them, attacked several
places on the coasts of Peru and Mexico; from whence, without
discovering any thing on his course, he sailed to the Ladrones and
Moluccas. Two of his ships re-entered the ports of Holland, on the
first of July, 1617.
James Lemaire and William Cornelius Schouten immortalized their
names much about the same time. They sailed from the Texel the
14th of June, 1615, with the ships Concord and Horn, discovered the
straits that bear the name of Lemaire, and were the first that ever
entered the South Seas by doubling Cape Horn. In that ocean they
discovered the Isle of Dogs, in 15° 15′ south latitude, and about
142° west longitude from Paris; the Isle without Bottom (Zonder
Grond) in 15° south latitude, one hundred leagues westward: Water
Island in 14° 46′ south latitude, and fifteen leagues more to the
west; at twenty leagues westward of this, Fly Island, in 16° 10′
south latitude; and between 173° and 175° west longitude from
Paris, two isles, which they called Cocos and Traitor’s; fifty leagues
more westward, the Isle of Hope; next the Isle of Horn, in 14° 56′
south latitude, and about 179° east longitude from Paris; they then
coasted New Guinea, passed between its western extremity and the
Isle of Gilolo, and arrived at Batavia in October 1616. George
Spilberg stopped them there, and they were sent to Europe, on
board the East India company’s ships; Lemaire died of a sickness at
the Isle of Mauritius; Schouten returned to his country; the Concord
and Horn came back in two years and ten days.
 James l’Hermite, a Dutchman, commanding a fleet of eleven ships,
sailed in 1623, with the scheme of making the conquest of Peru; he
got into the South Seas round Cape Horn, and harrassed the Spanish
coasts, from whence he went to the Ladrones, and thence to
Batavia, without making any discoveries in the South Seas. He died,
after clearing the straits of Sonda; and his ship, almost the only one
of the whole fleet, arrived in the Texel the 9th of July, 1626.
In 1683, Cowley, an Englishman, sailed from Virginia, doubled
Cape Horn, made several attacks upon the Spanish coasts, came to
the Ladrones, and returned to England by the Cape of Good Hope,
where he arrived on the 12th of October, 1686. This navigator has
made no discoveries in the South Seas; he pretends to have found
out the Isle of Pepis in the North Sea[2], in 47° southern latitude,
about eighty leagues from the coast of Patagonia; I have sought it
three times, and the English twice, without finding it.
Woodes Rogers, an Englishman, left Bristol the 2d of August,
1708, doubled Cape Horn, attacked the Spanish coast up to
California, from whence he took the same course which had already
been taken several times before him, went to the Ladrones,
Moluccas, Batavia, and doubling the Cape of Good Hope, he arrived
in the Downs the first of October, 1711.
Ten years after, Roggewein, a Dutchman, left the Texel, with three
ships; he came into the South Seas round Cape Horn, fought for
Davis’s Land without finding it; discovered to the south of the Tropic
of Capricorn, an isle which he called Easter Island, the latitude of
which is uncertain; then, between 15° and 16° south latitude, the
Pernicious Isles, where he lost one of his ships; afterwards, much
about the same latitude, the isles Aurora, Vesper, the Labyrinth
composed of six islands, and Recreation Island, where he touched
at. He next discovered three isles in 12° south, which he called the
Bauman’s Isles; and lastly, in 11° south, the Isles of Tienhoven and
Groningen; then sailing along New Guinea and Papua, he came at
length to Batavia, where his ships were confiscated. Admiral
Roggewein returned to Holland, on board a Dutch India-man, and
arrived in the Texel the 11th of July, 1723, six hundred and eighty
days after his departure from the same port.
 The taste for great navigations seemed entirely extinct, when, in
1741, Admiral Anson made a voyage round the world, the excellent
account of which is in every body’s hands, and has made no new
improvement in geography.
After this voyage of Lord Anson’s, there was no considerable one
undertaken for above twenty years. The spirit of discovery seems to
have been but lately revived. Commodore Byron sailed from the
Downs the 20th of June, 1764, passed through the straits of
Magalhaens; discovered some isles in the South Sea, sailing almost
due north-west, arrived at Batavia the 28th of November, 1765, at
the Cape the 24th of February, 1766, and in the Downs the 9th of
May, having been out upon this voyage six hundred and forty-eight
days.
Two months after commodore Byron’s return, captain Wallace
sailed from England, with the Dolphin and Swallow sloops; he went
through the straits of Magalhaens, and as he entered the South
Seas, he was separated from the Swallow, commanded by captain
Carteret; he discovered an isle in about 18°, some time in August,
1767: he sailed up to the Line, passed near Papua, arrived at Batavia
in January, 1768, touched at the Cape of Good Hope, and returned
to England in May the same year.
His companion Carteret, after having suffered many misfortunes in
the South Sea, and lost almost all his crew, came to Macassar in
March 1768, to Batavia the 15th of September, and to the Cape of
Good Hope towards the end of December. It will appear in the
sequel, that I overtook him on the 18th of February, 1769, in 11°
north latitude. He arrived in England in June.
It appears, that of these thirteen voyages which have been made
round the world[3], none belongs to the French nation, and that only
six of them have been made with the spirit of discovery; viz. those
of Magalhaens, Drake, Le Maire, Roggewein, Byron, and Wallace;
the other navigators, who had no other view than to enrich
themselves by their attacks upon the Spaniards, followed the known
tracks, without increasing the knowledge of geography.
In 1714, a Frenchman, called la Barbinais le Gentil, sailed, on
board a private merchant ship, in order to carry on an illicit trade,
upon the coast of Chili and Peru. From thence he went to China,
where, after staying some time in various factories, he embarked in
another ship than that which had brought him, and returned to
Europe, having indeed gone in person round the world, though that
cannot be considered as a circumnavigation by the French nation[4].
Let us now speak of those who going out either from Europe, or
from the western coasts of South-America, or from the East-Indies,
have made discoveries in the South Seas, without sailing round the
world.
It appears that one Paulmier de Gonneville, a Frenchman, was the
first who discovered any thing that way, in 1503 and 1504. The
countries which he visited are not known; he brought however with
him a native of one of them, whom the government did not send
back, for which reason, Gonneville, thinking himself personally
engaged, gave him his heiress in marriage.
Alfonzo de Salazar, a Spaniard, discovered in 1525 the Isle of St.
Bartholomew, in 14° north latitude, and 158° east longitude from
Paris.
Alvaro de Saavedra, left one of the ports of Mexico in 1526,
discovered, between 9° and 10° north, a heap of isles, which he
called the King’s Isles, much about the same longitude with the Isle
St. Bartholomew; he then went to the Philippines, and to the
Moluccas, and on his return to Mexico, he was the first that had any
knowledge of New Guinea and Papua. He discovered likewise, in
twelve degrees north, about eighty leagues east of the King’s Isles, a
chain of low islands, which he called Islas de los Barbudos.
Diego Hurtado and Hernando de Grijalva, who sailed from Mexico
in 1533, to search the South Seas, discovered only one isle, situated
in 20° 30′ north latitude, and about 100° west longitude from Paris;
they called it St. Thomas Island.
Juan Gaëtan sailed from Mexico in 1542, and likewise kept to the
north of the æquator. He there discovered, between 20° and 9° in
various longitudes, several isles; viz. Rocca Partida, the Coral Isles,
the Garden Isles, the Sailor Isles, the Isle of Arezisa, and at last he
touched at New Guinea, or rather, according to his report, at the
isles that were afterwards called New Britain; but Dampier had not
yet discovered the passage which bears his name.
The following voyage is more famous than all the preceding ones.
Alvaro de Mendoça and Mindaña, leaving Peru in 1567, discovered
those celebrated isles, which obtained the name of Solomon’s
Islands, on account of their riches; but supposing that the accounts
we have of the riches of these isles be not fabulous, yet their
situation is not known, and they have been sought for since without
any success. It appears only, that they are on the south side of the
Line, between 8° and 12°. The Isle Isabella, and the land of
Guadalcanal, which those voyages mention, are not better known.
In 1595, Alvaro de Mindaña, the companion of Mendoça, in the
preceding voyage, sailed again from Peru, with four ships, in search
of the Solomon’s Isles: he had with him Fernando de Quiros, who
afterwards became celebrated by his own discoveries. Mindaña
discovered between 9° and 11° south latitude, about 108° west
from Paris, the isles of San Pedro, Magdalena, Dominica St.
Christina, all which he called las Marquesas de Mendoça, in honour
of Donna Isabella de Mendoça, who made the voyage with him:
about twenty-four degrees more to the westward, he discovered the
Isle of San Bernardo; almost two hundred leagues to the west of
that, the Solitary Isle; and lastly, the Isle of Santa Cruz, situated
nearly in 140° east longitude from Paris. The fleet sailed from thence
to the Ladrones, and lastly to the Philippines, where general
Mindaña did not arrive, nor did any one know since what became of
him.
Fernando de Quiros, the companion of the unhappy Mindaña,
brought Donna Isabella back to Peru. He sailed from thence again
with two ships, on the 21st of December, 1605, and steered his
course almost west-south-west. He discovered at first a little isle, in
about 25° south latitude, and about 124° west longitude from Paris;
then, between 18° and 19° south, seven or eight low, and almost
inundated islands, which bear his name, and in 13° south lat. about
157° west from Paris, the isle which he called Isle of Beautiful
People. Afterwards he sought in vain for the Isle of Santa Cruz,
which he had seen on his first voyage, but discovered, in 13° south
lat. and near 176° east longitude from Paris, the Isle of Taumaco;
likewise, about a hundred leagues west of that isle, in 15° south lat.
a great continent, which he called Tierra austral del Espiritù Santo
and which has been differently placed by the several geographers.
There he ceased to go westward, and sailed towards Mexico, where
he arrived at the end of the year 1606, having again unsuccessfully
sought the Isle of Santa Cruz.
Abel Tasman sailed from Batavia the 14th of August, 1642,
discovered land in 42° south latitude, and about 155° east longitude
from Paris, which he called Van Diemen’s land: he sailed from thence
to the eastward, and in about 160° of our east longitude, he
discovered New Zeeland, in 42° 10′ south. He coasted it till to 34°
south lat. from whence he sailed N. E. and discovered, in 22° 35′
south lat. and nearly 174° east of Paris, the Isles of Pylstaart,
Amsterdam, and Rotterdam. He did not extend his researches any
farther, and returned to Batavia, sailing between New Guinea and
Gilolo.
The general name of New Holland has been given to a great
extent of continent, or chain of islands, reaching from 6° to 34°
south lat. between 105° and 140° east longitude from Paris. It was
reasonable to give it the name of New Holland, because the different
parts of it have chiefly been discovered by Dutch navigators. The
first land which was found in these parts, was called the Land of
Eendraght, from the person[5] that discovered it in 1616, in 24° and
25° south latitude. In 1618, another part of this coast, situated
nearly in 15° south, was discovered by Zeachen, who gave it the
name of Arnhem and Diemen; though this is not the same with that
which Tasman called Diemen’s land afterwards. In 1619, Jan van
Edels gave his name to a southern part of New Holland. Another
part, situated between 30° and 33°, received the name of Leuwen.
Peter van Nuitz communicated his name in 1627 to a coast which
makes as it were a continuation of Leuwen’s land to the westward.
William de Witts called a part of the western coast, near the tropic of
Capricorn, after his own name, though it should have born that of
captain Viane, a Dutchman, who paid dear for the discovery of this
coast in 1628, by the loss of his ship, and of all his riches.
 In the same year 1628, Peter Carpenter, a Dutchman, discovered
the great Gulph of Carpentaria, between 10° and 20° south latitude,
and the Dutch have often since sent ships to reconnoitre that coast.
Dampier, an Englishman, setting out from the great Timor Isle,
made his first voyage in 1687, along the coasts of New Holland; and
touched between the land of Arnhem and of Diemen: this short
expedition was productive of no discovery. In 1699 he left England,
with an express intention of visiting all that region, concerning
which, the Dutch would not publish the accounts they had of it. He
sailed along the western coast of it, from 28° to 15°. He saw the
land of Eendraght, and of De Witt, and conjectured that there might
exist a passage to the south of Carpentaria. He then returned to
Timor, from whence he went out again, examined the Isles of Papua,
coasted New Guinea, discovered the passage that bears his name,
called a great isle which forms this passage or strait on the east
side, New Britain, and sailed back to Timor along New Guinea. This
is the same Dampier who between 1683 and 1691, partly as a free-
booter or privateer, and partly as a trader, sailed round the world, by
changing his ships.
This is the short abstract of the several voyages round the world,
and of the various discoveries made in that vast Pacific Ocean before
our departure from France[6]. Before I begin the narrative of the
expedition, with which I was charged, I must beg leave to mention,
that this relation ought not to be looked upon as a work of
amusement; it has chiefly been written for seamen. Besides, this
long navigation round the globe does not offer such striking and
interesting scenes to the polite world, as a voyage made in time of
war. Happy, if by being used to composition, I could have learnt to
counterbalance, the dulness of the subject by elegance of stile! But,
though I was acquainted with the sciences from my very youth,
when the lessons which M. d’Alembert was so kind to give me,
enabled me to offer to the indulgent public, a work upon geometry,
yet I am now far from the sanctuary of science and learning; the
rambling and savage life I have led for these twelve years past, have
had too great an effect upon my ideas and my stile. One does not
become a good writer in the woods of Canada, or on the seas, and I
have lost a brother, whose productions were admired by the public,
and who might have assisted me in that respect.
Lastly, I neither quote nor contradict any body, and much less do I
pretend to establish or to overthrow any hypothesis; and supposing
that the great differences which I have remarked in the various
countries where I have touched at, had not been able to prevent my
embracing that spirit of system-making, so peculiar in our present
age, and however so incompatible with true philosophy, how could I
have expected that my whim, whatever appearance of probability I
could give it, should meet with success in the world? I am a voyager
and a seaman; that is, a liar and a stupid fellow, in the eyes of that
class of indolent haughty writers, who in their closets reason in
infinitum on the world and its inhabitants, and with an air of
superiority, confine nature within the limits of their own invention.
This way of proceeding appears very singular and inconceivable, on
the part of persons who have observed nothing themselves, and
only write and reason upon the observations which they have
borrowed from those same travellers in whom they deny the faculty
of seeing and thinking.
I shall conclude this preliminary discourse by doing justice to the
zeal, courage, and unwearied patience of the officers and crew of
my two ships[7]. It has not been necessary to animate them by any
extraordinary incitement, such as the English thought it necessary to
grant to the crew of commodore Byron. Their constancy has stood
the test of the most critical situations, and their good will has not
one moment abated. But the French nation is capable of conquering
the greatest difficulties, and nothing is impossible to their efforts, as
often as she will think herself equal at least to any nation in the
world[8].
 CHART
shewing the Track round
the World
of the
Boudeuse and Etoile
under the Command
OF
M. de Bougainville

1766-1769
 A

VOYAGE
ROUND THE

WORLD.
 PART the FIRST.

Departure from France——clearing the Straits of

Magalhaens.
 CHAP. I.
Departure of the Boudeuse from Nantes; puts in at Brest; run from Brest to
Montevideo; junction with the Spanish frigates, intended for taking possession
of the Malouines, or Falkland’s islands.

In February 1764, France began to make a settlement on the Isles

Malouines. Spain reclaimed these isles as belonging Object of the
to the continent of South America; and her right to voyage.
them having been acknowledged by the king, I 1766, November.
received orders to deliver our settlement to the
Spaniards, and to proceed to the East Indies by crossing the South
Seas between the Tropics. For this expedition I received the
command of the frigate la Boudeuse, of twenty-six twelve-pounders,
and I was to be joined at the Malouines by the store-ship[9] l’Etoile,
which was intended to bring me the provisions necessary for a
voyage of such a length, and to follow me during the whole
expedition. Several circumstances retarded the junction of this store-
vessel, and consequently made my whole voyage near eight months
longer than it would otherwise have been.
Departure from In the beginning of November, 1766, I went to
Nantes. Nantes, where the Boudeuse had just been built,
and where M. Duclos Guyot, a captain of a fireship, my second
officer, was fitting her out. The 5th of this month we came down
from Painbeuf to Mindin, to finish the equipment of her; and on the
15th we sailed from this road for the river de la Plata. There I was to
find the two Spanish frigates, called la Esmeralda and la Liebre, that
had left Ferrol the 17th of October, and whose commander was
ordered to receive the Isles Malouines, or Falkland’s islands, in the
name of his Catholic majesty.
Squall of wind.
 The 17th in the morning we suffered a sudden gust of wind from
W. S. W. to N. W. it grew more violent in the night, which we passed
under our bare poles, with our lower-yards lowered, the clue of the
fore-sail, under which we tried before, having been carried away.
The 18th, at four in the morning, our fore-top-mast broke about the
middle of its height; the main-top-mast resisted till eight o’clock,
when it broke in the cap, and carried away the head of the main-
mast. This last event made it impossible for us to Putting in at
continue our voyage, and I determined to put into Brest.
Brest, where we arrived the 21st of November.
This squall of wind, and the confusion it had occasioned, gave me
room to make the following observations upon the state and
qualities of the frigate which I commanded.
1. The prodigious tumbling home of her top-timbers, leaving too
little opening to the angles which the shrouds make with the masts,
the latter were not sufficiently supported.
2. The preceding fault became of more consequence by the nature
of the ballast, which we had been obliged to take in, on account of
the prodigious quantity of provisions we had stowed. Forty tuns of
ballast, distributed on both sides of the kelson, and at a short
distance from it, and a dozen twelve-pounders placed at the bottom
of the pump-well (we had only fourteen upon deck) added a
considerable weight, which being much below the center of gravity,
and almost entirely rested upon the kelson, put the masts in danger,
if there had been any rolling.
These reflections induced me to get the excessive height of our
masts shortened, and to exchange the cannon, which were twelve-
pounders, for eight-pounders. Besides the diminution of near twenty
ton weight, both in the hold and upon deck, gained by exchanging
the artillery, the narrow make of the frigate alone was sufficient to
render it necessary. She wanted about two feet of the beam which
such frigates have as are intended to carry twelve-pounders.
Notwithstanding these alterations, which I was allowed to make, I
could not help observing that my ship was not fit for navigating in
the seas round Cape Horn. I had found, during the squall of wind,
that she made water from all her upper-works, which might expose
part of my biscuit to be spoiled by the water getting into the store-
rooms in bad weather; an inconvenience, the consequences of which
we should not be able to remedy during the voyage. I therefore
asked leave to send the Boudeuse back to France from the Falkland’s
islands, under the command of the chevalier Bournand, lieutenant of
a ship, and to continue the voyage with the store-ship l’Etoile alone,
if the long winter nights should prevent my passing the Straits of
Magalhaens[10]. I obtained this permission, and the 4th of December,
our masts being repaired, the artillery exchanged, and the frigate
entirely caulked in her upper-works, we went out of the port and
anchored in the road, where we continued a whole day, in order to
embark the powder, and to set up the shrouds.
December. The 5th at noon we got under sail in the road of
Departure from Brest. I was obliged to cut my cable, because the
Brest.
fresh east-wind and the ebb prevented my tacking
about, as I was apprehensive of falling off too near the shore. I had
eleven commissioned officers, and three volunteers; and the crew
consisted of two hundred sailors, warrant-officers, soldiers, boys,
and servants. The prince of Nassau-Sieghen had got leave from the
king to go upon this expedition. At four o’clock in the afternoon, the
middle of the isle of Ushant bore N. by E. and from thence I took my
departure.
Description of During the first days, we had the wind pretty
the Salvages. constant from W. N. W. to W. S. W. and S.W., very
fresh. The 17th, afternoon, we got sight of the Salvages; the 18th,
of the Isle of Palma; and the 19th, of the Isle of Ferro. What is
called the Salvages, is a little isle of about a league in extent from E.
to W. it is low in the middle, and at each end a little hillock; a chain
of rocks, some of which appear above water, extend to the westward
about two leagues off the island; there are likewise some breakers
on the east-side, but they are not far from the shore.
Error in the The sight of these rocks convinced us of a great
calculation of error in our reckoning; but I would not make a
the course.
computation before I had seen the Canaries, whose
position is exactly determined. The sight of the Isle of Ferro gave me
with certainty the correction which I was desirous to make. The
19th, at noon, I took the latitude, and comparing it with the
bearings of the Isle of Ferro taken that same hour, I found a
difference of four degrees and seven minutes, which I was more to
the eastward, than by my reckoning. This error is frequent in
crossing from Cape Finisterre to the Canaries, and I had found it on
other voyages, as the currents opposite the straits of Gibraltar set to
the eastward with great rapidity.
Position of the I had, at the same time, an opportunity of
Salvages remarking, that the Salvages are improperly placed
rectified.
on M. de Bellin’s Chart. Indeed, when we got sight
of them the 17th, after noon, the longitude which their bearings
gave us differed from our calculation by three degrees seventeen
minutes to the eastward. However, this same difference appeared
the 19th of four degrees seven minutes, by correcting our place,
according to the bearings of the isle of Ferro, whose longitude has
been determined by astronomical observations. It must be observed,
that during the two days which passed between our getting sight of
the Salvages and of Ferro, we sailed with a fair wind; and
consequently there can be very little miscalculation in that part of
the course. Besides, the 18th, we set the Isle of Palma, bearing S.
W. by W. corrected; and, according to M. Bellin, it was to bear S. W.
I concluded, from these two observations, that M. Bellin has placed
the Isle of Salvages about 32′ more to the W. than it really is.
I therefore took a fresh departure the 19th of December at noon.
We met with no remarkable occurrences on our voyage, till we came
to the Rio de la Plata; our course furnished us only with the
following observations, which may be interesting to navigators.
1767. 1. The 6th and 7th of January 1767, being
January. between 1° 40′ and 0° 38′ north latitude; and about
Nautical
28° longitude, we saw many birds, which induced
observations.
me to believe, that we were near the rock of Penedo
San Pedro; though M. Bellin does not mark it on his chart.
Passing the 2. The 8th of January, in the afternoon, we
line. passed the line between 27° and 28° of longitude.
Remark on the 3. Since the 2nd of January we could no longer
variations. observe the variations; and I only reckoned them by